Network-based strategies for signalised traffic intersections

In this paper, different traffic light control structures over communication links, including the decentralised, quasi-decentralised, distributed and hierarchical networked structures, are considered. These structures used for coordinating multiple intersections, which could be a great application of networked control problem control for the signalised traffic light intersections that will help the designer to achieve certain objectives. Some of these objectives are, minimise the waiting time during the red light period and perform better control in the next green cycle, maximise the flow between consecutive intersections which will minimise the number of stops, minimise the average waiting time and more will be highlighted in this paper. A quick literature about all models used for traffic control problem is done. A generic state space model of traffic dynamics under these different control structures is proposed that takes into account many effects of lossy communication links such as networked induced delays, packet dropout and varying sample interval. Also, a sufficient condition for system stability is provided based on LMI. Finally, comparison of different types of networked control systems was done using MATLAB simulation.