Development of the Next Generation Smart Traffic Signal Devices

After a brief review of the current traffic signal control products, existing technology and standard, a novel traffic signal control scheme is proposed with a distributed local controller network and smart signal light units. The backbone of the proposed controller scheme is the versatile and reliable network which links the individual smart components, thus overcome the main vulnerability of current traffic control system in terms of reliability and flexibility. The signal light unit is designed to be multifunctional and possesses a certain degree of local traffic sensing capability. The design philosophy of the new traffic signal control scheme and its implementation are also discussed. The proposed signal control devices should demonstrate significant superiority in terms of reliability, flexibility and cost effectiveness, and can play a major role towards the smart transportation system which is now hotly pursued in China.