DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF AUTOMATIC TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM

DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION OF AUTOMATIC TRAFFIC CONTROL SYSTEM

Chapter 1 – Introduction

1.1       Project Overview

The population growth is growing in an alarming rate in the developing countries. With this growing population, the number of vehicle is also increasing. This point out to the disastrous increment in traffic density causes the congestion in traffic and calamity in its controlling system. The traffic congestion is one of the most challenging factors in most of the cities of the developing countries. It causes many critical problems and also brings the human life under a serious question. To a traveller, congestion means the lost of time and productivity, trade opportunities, frustration, delays and increase in cost. To solve congestion problem is feasible only by improving the traffic control system by replacing the present day system with some new innovation and/or modification. A growing body of evidence proves that simply expanding a road infrastructure cannot solve traffic congestion problems. In fact, building new roads can actually compound congestion, in some cases, by inducing greater demands for vehicle travel – demands that quickly eat away the additional capacity. The saturating density of the traffic now points to the need of advance intelligent traffic signal systems to take place instead of the conventional manual and time based traffic control system. We are also very much aware of the fact that ambulances and various other emergency services get disrupted by getting caught up in traffic. On an average each ambulance/fire-engine takes over 28 % more time and in the case of cities and urban areas delays could even go as far as up to 1-2 hours regardless of distance to destination. Establishing proper coordination among authorities at all times is neither possible nor feasible, apart from this due to increased dependence on electronic and wireless systems there is the threat of undesired intrusions. Hence a smart, reliable and autonomous traffic control system is required to prevent the loss of many lives/collateral delays. On thorough, systematic evaluation of the problem we made the following observations – ambulances/emergency service vehicles get caught up in traffic due to taking less favourable (e.g. traffic prone) owing to the drivers’ lack of knowledge and also because those on the roads are unaware/unguided of an ambulance/emergency service vehicle approaching and the actions needed to be taken in order to make way for them. (Sharma, 2013)

Through the analysis of the problem it has been decided to solve the problem in two parts- the first part of the problem i.e. drivers’ awareness of approaching ambulance/emergency service vehicles and information for necessary measures/actions to be taken is solved by using the RF-Transceivers and a additional sensor on the  ambulance that transmits its location  on the road to nearby traffic-signal posts fitted with systems to react accordingly by warning and diverting traffic to make way for the ambulance/emergency service vehicle. The communication between the ambulances/emergency service vehicles and device at signal posts is done via RF signals using a secured low-power Zig bee wireless transmission protocol, a technology with proven ease of deployment, functionality and cost- effectiveness. The second part of the problem i.e. choosing the most favourable route is solved by gathering road- specific and other custom data of traffic conditions from various sensors (IR etc.) fixed at several strategic locations along the roads. The data obtained is then analyzed for information and searched for patterns to obtain a list of best routes (represented in colours based on traffic intensity, distance etc.) to guide the drivers at real-time assisted with in-vehicle GPS system. (Specification, 2014)

1.2       Background and Justification

In typical conventional traffic light controller, there are so many problems occurs which are mentioned below:

1. Heavy Traffic Jams: With increasing number of vehicles on the road, the heavy traffic congestion problem increased in cities. This usually happened in the morning, and in the evening. Due to this, people spend unnecessary time on the road. By developing the program which different setting delays for different junctions, we can solve these problems.
2. No Traffic, But Still Need to Wait: At certain junctions, the traffic is clear means there is no traffic but people have to wait until the green light. If people want to go in the red light, they have to pay fine. Our system proposed a solution to this problem which detects traffic flow on each road and set timings of signals accordingly.
3. Emergency Car Stuck In A Traffic Jam: At the traffic light junction, a road user waiting for the traffic light turns to green. During a traffic jam, the emergency vehicles such as ambulance, fire brigade, police, etc. will be stuck in a traffic jam. It can cause the emergency case become complicated. This becomes a very critical problem.

The proposed traffic control system solves this problem in the most effective way. When an emergency car came and number of vehicles are present in front of emergency car then the system give green signal to pass the emergency car and RED for other vehicle which lead to traffic conjunction problem and also leads to accidents, so only emergency cars will pass the signal for a particular time period. (Srinivasan, 2010)

1.3 Aim and Objectives of Project/Research

1.3.1       Aim

The system proposed here involves localized Traffic routing for each intersection junction based on wireless sensor Networks. The proposed system has a central microcontroller at every junction which receives data from tiny wireless sensor nodes place on the Road. The sensor nodes have sensors that can detect the presence of vehicle and the transmitter wirelessly transmits the traffic density to the central programmable microcontroller. The Microcontroller makes use of the proposed programmed algorithm to find ways to manage and regulate traffic in a systematic manner efficiently.

1.3.2       Objectives

• To research about design method of Automatic Traffic Control System and come out with a workable, implementable, and cost effective traffic control system circuit based on Microcontroller.
• Interface infrared sensor, serial memory, and display unit to the MCU.
• To implement hardware (solder the components together) for the project.
• To understand the structure and operation of micro processor chip
• To study the C language program and their programming technique
• To build the model of four-junctions of intelligent traffic light that can overcome some of major problems of current traffic light.

1.4       Motivation

The recent report and subsequent occurrence of accidents on the Nigeria high way is so alarming and the rate at which traffic jams occur on junctions and roundabout is also very  disturbing which needs an urgent attentions to rescue the lives of Nigerians.

1.5       Contribution to Knowledge

The original contributions to this work are:

• Development customised firmware for the Microcontroller Unit
• Develop hardware interface using Arduino mini pro based.
• Interface Arduino mini to infrared sensor, serial memory, LEDS display.
• Design a customized casing.

1.6       Scope and Limitation of project

The monitoring and control of city traffic light is becoming a major problem in many countries. The increasing number of vehicles and the lower phase of highways developments have led to traffic congestion problem especially in major cities such as Kuala Lumpur, Georgetown, Johor Bahru, and Ipoh. Travel time, environment quality, life quality, and road safety are all adversely affected as a result of traffic congestions. In addition, delays due to traffic congestions also indirectly affect productivity, efficiency, and energy losses. There are many factors that lead to traffic congestion such as the density of vehicles on the roads, human habits, social behavior, and traffic light system. One major factor is due to the traffic lights system that controls the traffic at junction. Traffic policeman are deployed at traffic intersection everyday in order to overcome these congestion during peak hour, thus one of the roots of the problem is due to ineffective traffic lights controllers. With effective control the intersection, it is believed that the overall capacity and performance of urban traffic network could be resolve.

There are several types of conventional methods of traffic light control; however they fail to deal effectively with complex and time varying traffic conditions. Currently, two types of traffic light control are commonly installed in Malaysia and many parts of the world: the preset cycle time (PCT) and vehicle actuated (VA). Due the deployment of a large number of traffic police in the city during peak hours, it is evident that these types of traffic lights controllers are inadequate. There is a need to research on new types of highly effective practical traffic light controllers.

This system will decreased the traffic congestion at traffic light by extend the time for the green signal if traffic density at that lane are high and give the priority to who first arrive at the junction to get a green signal.(researchgate, 2016)

This project work covers some area of electrical/electronic engineering, dealing with components such as transistors, resistors, capacitors, diodes, relay and other component required to produce an effectively working traffic regulation display. It lays emphasis on the rating properties and uses of these components. It also exposes students to price bargaining, designing and work assembling. A programmable controller sensor is used to automatically regulate and control the movements of vehicles and pedestrians. A timer circuit is used with 4017 counter to cause a delay in the movement. A variable resistor is used to adjust the time delay of the movements of the vehicles. The higher the time delay the lower the confliction at the T-junction.

This design and construction of a four-way traffic light provides numerous advantages as well application but it’s also subjected to many limitations and criticisms. This includes

• This device is relatively expensive
• It cannot work effectively with voltage below 20volts.
• The source needs periodic checking to maintain it.

1.7       Structure of the Report

This section will discuss the layout of the report, the chapters are;

Chapter 1 deals with the general introduction to the construction of Automatic Traffic Control System Considering Special Services Vehicles.

Chapter 2 this look at literature on Automatic Traffic Control System, Considering Special Services Vehicles

Chapter 3 this involves adopting engineering methodology, then implement the methodology on the construction of Automatic Traffic Control System Considering Special Services Vehicles.

Chapter 4 this section discusses test result, all measurement and analysis carried out on the construction of Automatic Traffic Control System Considering Special Services Vehicles.

Chapter 5 it states the conclusion, project appraisal, and recommendation.