European Journal of Scientific Research

ISSN 1450-216X Vol.32 No.4 (2009), pp.490-499

© EuroJournals Publishing, Inc. 2009
http://www.eurojournals.com/ejsr.htm

Development of a Low Cost Smart Traffic Controller System

Muhammad Ridwan Andi Purnomo

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi
Selangor, Malaysia
E-mail: ridwan_64@yahoo.com

Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab

Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi
Selangor, Malaysia

Azmi Hassan
Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering
Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi
Selangor, Malaysia

Riza Atiq Rahmat

Department of Civil and Structural Engineering.
Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi
Selangor, Malaysia

Abstract

This paper presents the development of a low cost smart traffic controller system.
The proposed smart traffic controller system consists of two parts, which are the controller
hardware and the software. The controller hardware is developed based on 8-kb MCS-51
microcontroller and equipped with a character LCD to monitor the internal timer, Real
Time Clock (RTC) IC to generate time and date data and EEPROM IC to save the green
time data at several time periods. The software is developed to enable the controller
hardware interfacing with the CCTV cameras as the traffic sensors, when used to optimise
the traffic flow at some junction. The software also can be used by the traffic expert to
change the setting of the controller hardware and perform manually control the traffic lights
through the controller hardware. Another function of the software is to perform traffic data
interchange. It will enable the controller hardware to communicate with other controllers
that are installed at the nearby junctions in order to optimise the traffic flow at the network
junction. The proposed smart traffic controller system is able to realise three kinds of traffic
flow optimisation strategies, which are green time split and time slot timing, green time
extension or vehicle actuated green time and offset optimisation strategy. The proposed
smart traffic controller system has been tested by installing at several busy junctions in
Development of a Low Cost Smart Traffic Controller System 491

Malaysia for more than a year, and it shows that the proposed smart traffic controller
system performs better than the existing traffic controller system. When the traffic flow
optimisation strategies are applied and realised using the proposed smart traffic controller
system, the total vehicles queuing time is reduced by up to 30 % compared to when using
the existing traffic controller system.

Keywords: Smart traffic controller system, hardware controller, software, traffic flow
optimisation.

1. Introduction
Studies on traffic flow optimisation have been widely investigated by several researchers. Most of the
studies did not discuss the traffic controller system, meaning that they assumed the traffic controller
system is able to realise the proposed traffic flow optimisation strategies. Actually, in the
implementation phase, the capability of the traffic controller system will be one of the critical factors
that must be considered. If the traffic controller system is designed with a close architecture, in which
it can not interact with others equipment, then it will not be able to work smartly in realising the traffic
flow optimisation strategies. It is worth noting that the traffic controller system must be designed with
an open architecture and must have high independency when integrated with others equipment. The
traffic controller system has to continue working even though the other equipments were down.
This paper presents the development of a smart traffic controller system which can be used to
realise several traffic flow optimisation strategies. The proposed smart traffic controller system
consists of two parts, which are controller hardware and the software part. The controller hardware is
developed based on cheaper but fulfil the industrial standard microcontroller, which is MCS-51
microcontroller. The controller hardware is able to control up to 10 phases traffic system with the
traffic flow optimisation strategies that can be changed from time to time based on the actual traffic
condition. The software is developed to enable the traffic controller hardware to be integrated with the
CCTV cameras as the traffic sensors and to perform traffic data interchange through wireless
communication to optimise the traffic flow at network junctions. The software also can be used by the
traffic expert to change the traffic controller hardware setting during operation time. The following
section will be divided into two sections, which are literature review and system development. In the
literature review section, several researches about traffic flow optimisation strategies are reviewed in
order to get the characteristics that must be provided by a smart traffic controller system. In the system
development section, several manipulation techniques when developing the traffic controller hardware
were discussed in detail. The explanation on software interface is also provided in this paper.

2. Literatures Review
Several studies about traffic flow optimisation have been conducted by previous researchers. Most of
the researchers were concern on traffic flow optimisation at isolated junction and network junction.
Technically, the traffic flow optimisations were achieved by optimising green time split, extending
green time for each approach based on the actual vehicles presence and determining optimum offset at
two nearby junctions. Previous researches about traffic flow optimisation have been reviewed in the
following section in order to get a deep understanding about the characteristics of smart traffic
controller system.
Some studies about green time split optimisation show that the green time split can be
determined using mathematical model that is usually developed based on the traffic historical data
(McShane et al., 1998; Oda et al., 2003, Jinyuan et al., 2007) and using Artificial Intelligence
technique (Taale, 2000; Murat and Gedizlioglu, 2005). The computational process is conducted by a
computer and the result will be transmitted to the hardware controller to control the traffic light.
Usually, the green time split is determined for a time period or for every cycle of traffic timing. For
492 Muhammad Ridwan Andi Purnomo, Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab,
Azmi Hassan and Riza Atiq Rahmat

that purposes, it can be concluded that the hardware controller must be able to store the green time split
data for several time periods and responding the signal about green time split for every cycle of traffic
timing from the computer during operation time.
The studies about traffic flow optimisation through green time extension were conducted by
several researchers. Trabia et al. (1999) have conducted the research using a two-stage Fuzzy logic to
optimise traffic flow at isolated junction. The first stage of Fuzzy logic is used to identify the intensity
of the traffic flow at the observed approach while the second stage of Fuzzy logic is used to examine
whether the current green time will be extended or terminated. Bingham (2001) has studied the use of
Neural Network-based Fuzzy Logic to determine green time extension. In that study, initially the
minimum green time is determined, that is 5 seconds. The green time will then be examined by
considering 2 factors, which are the number of vehicles in the observed approach and the number of
vehicles in the other approach. Wei and Wang (2003) have studied the use of Fuzzy-GA technique to
reduce vehicles delay through responsive green time determination. In that study, the current green
time extension is optimised based on several objectives in order to increase the drivers satisfaction.
Based on the studies above, it can be concluded that the hardware controller must have the minimum
green time data and must be able to response to the green time extension or termination signal from the
computer during operation time.
Usually, traffic flow optimisation at network junctions is carried out using complex model. The
use of mathematical model to optimise traffic flow at network junctions have been conducted by
previous researchers (Nagatani, 2008; Li et al., 2007; Chiou, 2007; Chang and Sun, 2004). The use of
Artificial Intelligence model instead of mathematical model to optimise traffic flow at network
junctions is also widely investigated by several researchers (Kosonen, 2003; Weng et al., 2004;
Vlahogianni et al., 2005; Hernandez et al., 2002). Even though the researchers have used different
models, it is worth noting that the traffic flow optimisation at the network junctions was carried out by
reducing the vehicles stop time at every junction. It can be achieved by determining the optimum offset
of two nearby junctions to give a green wave at the corresponding road. The optimum offset will be
determined based on the traffic demand at both junctions. Based on the explanation above, it can be
concluded that the traffic controller system must be equipped with a communication protocol and
software to perform data interchange.

3. System Development
3.1. Traffic Controller Hardware
The traffic controller hardware is developed using MCS-51 with 8Kbyte microcontroller. The
microcontroller has 32 pins I/O ports. The ports will be used to drive 10 phases traffic light system.
Since a phase has three lights, which are green, amber and red light, and each light is driven by a relay
switch, then the I/O ports will be used to drive 30 relay units. The I/O ports will also be used to drive 1
unit of character LCD, 30 LEDs to control the ports status, communicate with an industrial computer
through serial communication and communicate with the Real Time Clock (RTC) IC and EEPROM IC
through I2C communication. In order to perform all of the tasks, about 40 pins are required; 30 pins
used to drive the relays and the LEDs, 6 pins used to drive the character LCD, 2 pins to communicate
with the industrial computer and 2 pins to perform I2C communication. Hence, several manipulation
techniques are needed to save the use of the microcontroller’s ports.

3.1.1. Manipulation using Logic Gate IC

The traffic light system to be controlled works following green-amber-red sequence. It means, at the
first time, the green light will be on for several seconds. After that, the green light will be off and the
amber light will be on. After 3 seconds, the amber light will be off and the red light will be on. All of
Development of a Low Cost Smart Traffic Controller System 493

the phases will follow similar sequence. The logic of the traffic light sequence then can be summarised
as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: Logic of the Traffic Light Sequence

Logic Green Amber Red

1 1 0 0
2 0 1 0
3 0 0 1

Based on Table 1, the first logic shows that if the green light is on and the amber light is off
then the red light must be off. The second logic shows that if the green light is off and the amber light
is on then the red light must be off. The third logic indicates that the red light will be on only if the
green and amber light were off. Based on that logic, it can be concluded that the green-amber-light
traffic light system is following 2 inputs NOR (Not-OR) logic. The truth table of NOR logic is shown
in Table 2.

Table 2: Truth Table of NOR Logic

Input 1 (Green) Input 2 (Amber) Output (Red) Real Traffic System

1 0 0 Related
0 1 0 Related
0 0 1 Related
1 1 0 Never occurred

In order to perform NOR logic, the IC 74LS02 is used. The IC has 4 NOR logic gates, it means
1 unit of the IC can be used to control 4 phases traffic light system. Hence, in order to control 10
phases traffic light (30 relay units), 3 units of the IC were utilised. The diagram of the IC 74LS02 is
shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Diagram Inside IC 74LS02

By using the IC, only 20 pins of the microcontroller were utilised to control 30 relays and 30
LEDs. The use of the microcontroller’s ports can be saved up to 10 pins.

3.1.2. Manipulation using Latching IC

The other way to save the use of the microcontroller’s ports is the multiplexing technique. In this
technique, a port, or a pin, will be used to drive more than one device independently. The latching IC,
which is of the 74HC573 type, can be used for that purpose. The diagram inside the IC is shown in
Figure 2.
494 Muhammad Ridwan Andi Purnomo, Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab,
Azmi Hassan and Riza Atiq Rahmat

Figure 2: Diagram of IC 74HC573

Based on Figure 2, it can be seen that the D and Q pins are the input and output pins
respectively. The input pins will be used to capture the data from the microcontroller’s ports. The LE
(Latch Enable) pin is the ‘latching door’, when the pin is in high state then the ‘latching door’ will be
opened and the data at the D pins enter the latches. In this condition, the latches are transparent. The
latch outputs (Q) will change every time corresponding to the D pins. When the LE pin is in low state
then the ‘latching door’ will be closed and the data at the D pins will not affect the Q pins. Another pin
to be controlled is the OE (Output Enable) pin. When this pin is in low state then the content of the
latches are available to be transferred to the Q pins. When the OE pin is in high state then the Q pins
will go to the high impedance OFF-state condition.
Based on the explanation above, by utilising the IC 74HC573, several pins of the
microcontroller can be used to drive the relays, LEDs and the character LCD in a time. The schematic
diagram for that purpose is shown in Figure 3. By using the manipulation technique, the use of
microcontroller’s port can be saved up to 6 ports.
Development of a Low Cost Smart Traffic Controller System 495
Figure 3: Schematic Diagram of Using Latching IC to Drive Relays, LEDs and Character LCD

The number of microcontroller’s pins required to drive the 30 relays, 30 LEDs and character
LCD is 20 pins. Another 4 pins are required to perform serial communication with the industrial
computer and I2C communication with the RTC and EEPROM IC. Hence, the total number of
microcontroller’s pins to perform the entire task is 24 pins only. The manipulation techniques are
required not only to save the using of microcontroller’s pins but also to reduce the microcontroller’s
load in order to prolong its life cycle.

3.1.3. Processor Programs

The microcontroller as the processor needs to be programmed to work smartly with high
independency. The controller system is designed to be able to optimise the traffic flow using 3 kinds of
strategies, which are green time split and time slot, green time extension, and offset optimisation
strategy. In order to execute the entire strategies, except the time slot strategy, the controller must be
integrated with the CCTV cameras as the traffic sensor through industrial computer. The time slot
strategy is the backup strategy when the industrial computer and/or the CCTV cameras were down.
The green time data for the time slot strategy is saved in the external EEPROM IC.
Basically, there are three main tasks that must be handled by the processor, which are clock and
time slot data reading, timing and incoming data monitoring from the industrial computer. The first
task is performed at the beginning of every traffic cycle while the last two tasks must be handled in real
time. In order to handle the real time tasks, the internal timer interruption of the processor needs to be
activated. In the proposed traffic controller hardware, the timer interruption was set to 250 ms, it means
the timing and data monitoring process are executed 4 times per second. It will allow the tasks to be
carried out thoroughly. By using the technique, the processor will have a very high probability of
capturing the serial data from the industrial computer successfully. The complete program inside the
processor can be explained using Figure 4.
496 Muhammad Ridwan Andi Purnomo, Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab,
Azmi Hassan and Riza Atiq Rahmat

Figure 4: Flow Chart of the Programme inside the Processor

3.1.4. The Software

Actually, the controller hardware can work independently, without the need for integration with the
software. Since it optimises the traffic flow using CCTV cameras as the traffic sensor, the interface
software is needed. The software has the interfaces for displaying and changing the time slot timing
Development of a Low Cost Smart Traffic Controller System 497

data, adjusting the internal clock of the traffic controller hardware, sending the green time data for the
next phase and extending the current green time with both + (prolong) and – (shorten) value.
Communication with the microcontroller is performed through serial communication with the setting
of baud rate, data bits, parity, stop bits, and flow control is 9600, 8, none, 1, hardware. The interface of
the software when has been ran to control 4 phases traffic system is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Interface of the Software

4. System Testing
The proposed smart traffic controller system has been tested by installing at several busy junctions in
Malaysia for more than a year. It shows that the performance of the proposed control system is better
than the performance of the existing traffic control system. The proposed smart traffic control system
can realise the traffic flow optimisation strategies when used during free or busy hours. By using the
proposed smart traffic controller system, the total vehicles queuing time can be reduced up to 30%
compared to when using the existing traffic controller system.
498 Muhammad Ridwan Andi Purnomo, Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab,
Azmi Hassan and Riza Atiq Rahmat

5. Discussion
The proposed manipulation techniques to save the use of microcontroller’s pin cause the
microcontroller to drive fewer numbers of pin. It can reduce the microcontroller’s load and the use of
internal memory of the microcontroller. Other techniques proposed to reduce the microcontroller’s load
are the use of external ROM and clock. Data on time slot strategy will be saved in the external
EEPROM IC instead of the internal memory of the microcontroller, and also the microcontroller does
not have to handle the clocking process. The process will be handled by the external RTC IC. Through
the proposed techniques, the traffic controller system that has been installed in a real traffic system, it
has shown a remarkably stable performance.

6. Conclusions
This paper proposed the development of the smart traffic controller system. The use of a
microcontroller instead of other controllers, such as the Programmable Logic Controller (PLC), makes
the smart traffic controller hardware a low cost system. The proposed manipulation techniques to save
the use of microcontroller’s pin also can be implemented. The programme downloaded into the
microcontroller enables the microcontroller to have a high accuracy timing, high independency and
consistently successful in performing data interchange with the industrial computer. The developed
software also works well as the interface between the traffic controller hardware with the traffic
sensors and the traffic expert. The software can be used to perform traffic data interchange and it
enables the proposed smart traffic controller system to realise several traffic flow optimisation
strategies at a single or network junctions.

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