TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROL BY COMPUTER

THE NEEDS OF TRAFFIC FLOW AT A SINGLE INTERSECTION MUST BE BALANCED AGAINST THE NEEDS OF TRAFFIC OVER AN AREA CONTAINING MANY INTERSECTIONS. COMPUTER CONTROL OF TRAFFIC SIGNALS IS INSTITUTED TO ACCOMPLISH THIS. THE SIEMENS COMPUTER PROGRAM IS ORGANIZED AT THREE LEVELS: (1) STRATEGIC CONTROL FOR OPTIMIZING TRAFFIC FLOW THROUGH AN AREA, (2) TACTICAL CONTROL FOR DETERMINING THE OPTIMUM GREEN WAVES IN THE DIRECTION OF TRAFFIC FLOW, AND (3) LOCAL CONTROL IN REAL-TIME FOR OPTIMUM USE OF AVAILABLE GREEN PERIODS AT AN INDIVIDUAL INTERSECTION. THE SIEMENS VSR 16000 TRAFFIC COMPUTER EMBODIES AN HIERARCHY OF COORDINATED, SELECTIVE, AND ON-LINE CONTROLS. INPUTS TO THE COMPUTER ARE BY SENSORS: INDUCTIVE LOOPS IN THE ROAD AND ULTRASONIC DETECTORS ON/OVER THE ROAD ARE PARTICULARLY SUITED TO THE VSR 16000. INPUTS ALSO INCLUDE DAY-OF-THE-WEEK AND TIME-OF-DAY INFORMATION CONCERNING EXPECTED KINDS OF TRAFFIC. THE COMPUTER HAS PROGRAMS TO RESPOND TO SITUATIONS AT ALL THREE LEVELS AND GIVE ON-LINE, REAL-TIME DECISIONS. THE PAPER GIVES A BRIEF OUTLINE OF SOME OF THE KINDS OF CONTROL THAT ARE AVAILABLE AND THE KINDS OF ANALYSIS THAT MUST BE PERFORMED BEFORE COMPUTER CONTROL CAN BE IMPLEMENTED. /BPR/

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Vol 16, pp 115-120
• Corporate Authors:

  Control Engineering

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Kohnert, D
  • Musiol, A
• Publication Date: 1969-6

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Information processing; Intersections; Optimization; Sensors; Time; Traffic flow; Traffic signal control systems; Traffic signal controllers; Ultrasonics; Vehicle detectors
• Old TRIS Terms: Time factor
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00225670
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Traffic Systems Reviews & Abstracts
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: May 13 1970 12:00AM