Intersection control in transportation networks: Opportunities to minimize air pollution emissions

Traffic management is nowadays a major relevant subject in the context of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). An important issue with regard to traffic management is efficient intersection control. Different techniques can be used to deal with intersection control, and to collaborate to improve traffic flow and to minimize the emission of pollutants. In this work, we evaluate intersections control algorithms in a transportation network with multiple intersections. The algorithms in question are classified into two distinct groups: platoon oriented aiming to provide efficiency in terms of throughput, and individual choices oriented aiming fairness. The algorithms were evaluated with the support of computer simulation using SUMO (Simulation of Urban MObility), a simulator specific to transportation networks. It was observed that platoon based approaches are suitable not only to maximizing throughput but also to reduce pollutants emissions.