DESIGN OF INTELLIGENT TRAFFIC LIGHT CONTROLLER USING EMBEDDED SYSTEM Shilpa S. Chavan (Walke) 1 , Dr. R. S. Deshpande 3 , J. G. Rana 2 1. Student, M. E. (Electronics), 2. Professor and Head, Dept. of Electronics Engineering, Jawaharlal Nehru Engineering College, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, INDIA. 3. Dean and Professor, Dept. of Electronics, G H Raisoni Education Foundation’s College of Engineering and Management, Chas, Ahmednagar, INDIA. {E-mail id :shilpa.walke@rediffmail.com, raj.deshpande@yahoo.co.in, jaideeprana2003@yahoo.co.in} ABSTRACT : Present Traffic Light Controllers (TLC) are based on microcontroller and microprocessor. These TLC have limitations because it uses the pre-defined hardware, which is functioning according to the program that does not have the flexibility of modification on real time basis. Due to the fixed time intervals of green, orange and red signals the waiting time is more and car uses more fuel. To make traffic light controlling more efficient, we exploit the emergence of new technique called as “Intelligent traffic light controller”. This makes the use of Sensor Networks along with Embedded Technology. The timings of Red, Green lights at each crossing of road will be intelligently decided based on the total traffic on all adjacent roads. Thus, optimization of traffic light switching increases road capacity and traffic flow, and can prevent traffic congestions. GSM cell phone interface is also provided for users those who wish to obtain the latest position of traffic on congested roads. This is a unique feature of this project which is very useful to car drivers to take an alternate route in case of congestion. The various performance evaluation criteria are average waiting time, average distance traveled by vehicles, switching frequency of green light at a junction, efficient emergency mode operation and satisfactory operation of SMS using GSM Mobile. The performance of the Intelligent Traffic Light Controller is compared with the Fixed Mode Traffic Light Controller. It is observed that the proposed Intelligent Traffic Light Controller is more efficient than the conventional controller in respect of less waiting time, more distance traveled by average vehicles and efficient operation during emergency mode and GSM interface. Moreover, the designed system has simple architecture, fast response time, user friendliness and scope for further expansion. Keywords : Intelligent Traffic Light Controller, embedded system, Performance Evaluation, Microcontroller based system. I. INTRODUCTION Fast transportation systems and rapid transit systems are nerves of economic developments for any nation. All developed nations have a well developed transportation system with efficient traffic control on road, rail and air. Transportation of goods, industrial products, manpower and machinery are the key factors which influence the industrial development of any country. Mismanagement and traffic congestion results in long waiting times, loss of fuel and money. It is therefore utmost necessary to have a fast, economical and efficient traffic control system for national development. The monitoring and control of city traffic is becoming a major problem in many countries. With the ever increasing number of vehicles on the road, the Traffic Monitoring Authority has to find new methods of overcoming such a problem [1-4]. The measures taken are development of new roads and flyovers in the middle of the city; building of several ring such as the inner ring road, middle ring road and outer ring road; introduction of city trains such as the light rapid transit (LRT), and monorails; restricting of large vehicles in the city during peak hours; and also development of sophisticated traffic monitoring and control systems. Growing numbers of road users and the limited resources provided by current infrastructures lead to ever increasing traveling times [5,6]. One way to improve traffic flow and safety of the current transportation system is to apply automation and intelligent control methods to roadside infrastructure and vehicles [7]. Transportation research has the goal to optimize transportation flow of people and goods. As the number of road users constantly increases, and resources provided by current infrastructures are limited, intelligent control of traffic will become a very important issue in the future. The problems of typical conventional traffic light Controller are mentioned below: A. Heavy Traffic Jams With increasing number of vehicles on road, heavy traffic congestion has substantially increased in major cities. This happened usually at the main junctions commonly in the morning, before office hour and in the evening, after office hours. The main effect of this matter is increased time wasting of the people on the road. The solution for this problem is by developing the program which different setting delays for different junctions. The delay for junctions that have high volume of traffic should be setting longer than the delay for the junction that has low of traffic. This operation is calling Normal Mode[8]. B. No traffic, but still need to wait At certain junctions, sometimes even if there is no traffic, people have to wait. Because the traffic light remains red for the preset time period, the road users should wait until the light turn to green. If they run the red light, they have to pay fine. The solution of this problem is by developing a system which detects traffic flow on each road and set timings Second International Conference on Emerging Trends in Engineering and Technology, ICETET-09 978-0-7695-3884-6/09 $26.00 © 2009 IEEE 1086 Authorized licensed use limited to: GOVERNMENT COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY. Downloaded on April 22,2010 at 19:55:27 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.