Methods and Means of Traffic Flow Control

Abstract

The article examines the causes and consequences of traffic jams, describes the types of traffic flow behavior, and analyzes various means and methods of solving the problem of traffic jams and delays. The increased number of vehicles has caused severe congestion, delays, traffic accidents, and environmental issues, especially in large cities. Traffic jams are divided into periodic and non-periodic. About half of all traffic jams are short and are caused by insufficient capacity of roads and intersections. Intermittent traffic jams occur for temporary and unpredictable reasons such as bad weather or traffic accidents. The classification of traffic light controllers is given based on the analysis of the methods used in the relevant works. Traffic light controllers are divided into controllers with constant and adaptive regulation. In turn, traffic light controllers of adaptive regulation are divided into local and network controllers. The article also examines existing cyber-physical traffic management systems and the leading technologies they use. The paper reviews existing cyber-physical traffic management systems such as SEA TCS, InSync, and MASSTR. Comparative characteristics of these systems are also given. Based on the presented classification of traffic light controllers, a method of solving the problem of traffic jams and delays is proposed, which consists of using the ant colony optimization algorithm for a more even distribution of the load between intersections. An experimental distributed traffic management system based on an ant colony optimization algorithm has been developed, which increases the availability and stability of the system by using several local mini-servers instead of one remote cluster and can potentially reduce traffic delays by 10% or more.