Personal Virtual Traffic Light Systems

TL;DR

This paper introduces a virtual traffic light system using BLE technology that manages intersection traffic by broadcasting signals to users' devices, integrating legacy and modern vehicles without traditional traffic lights.

Contribution

The work presents a novel virtual traffic light framework that combines legacy and modern vehicle communication, validated through real-world field tests.

Findings

Successful real-world validation of the virtual traffic light system.

Effective integration of legacy and modern vehicle communication.

Improved traffic management without dedicated infrastructure.

Abstract

Traffic control management at intersections, a challenging and complex field of study, aims to attain a balance between safety and efficient traffic control. Nowadays, traffic control at intersections is typically done by traffic light systems which are not optimal and exhibit several drawbacks, e.g. poor efficiency and real-time adaptability. With the advent of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), vehicles are being equipped with state-of-the-art technology, enabling cooperative decision-making which will certainly overwhelm the available traffic control systems. This solution strongly penalizes users without such capabilities, namely pedestrians, cyclists and other legacy vehicles. Therefore, in this work, a prototype based on an alternative technology to the standard vehicular communications, BLE, is presented. The proposed framework aims to integrate legacy and modern vehicular communication systems into a cohesive management system. In this framework, the movements of users at intersections are managed by a centralized controller which, through the use of networked retransmitters deployed at intersections, broadcasts alerts and virtual light signalization orders. Users receive the aforementioned information on their own smart devices, discarding the need for dedicated light signalization infrastructures. Field tests, carried-out with a real-world implementation, validate the correct operation of the proposed framework.