Author: Dickson Mulombwa
Mulombwa, Dickson, 2024 DYNAMIC SIGNAL TIMING AND PHASING OPTIMIZATION AT TRAFFIC INTERSECTIONS USING WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY, Flinders University, College of Science and Engineering
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This research thesis investigates the intersection traffic signal control problem (ITCP) extensively. The research conducts an extensive and detailed literature review on the current state of traffic management systems at traffic intersections, and highlights the key findings. The research literature review looks at the history of the development of traffic management systems, and their advancement over the years. The review also highlights the research gap on this topic.
The research also takes an innovative approach by modelling the two most popular traffic management systems, that’s is; the Fixed control system and the SCATS system. The research looks intensively into these two systems and highlights their strengths, their weaknesses and their performance. The highlight of this thesis is the addition of a third design system that is fully dynamic and actuated, here referred to as the “Dynamic traffic control system”. The research models all three systems and then compares their performance as they battle to manage a real-life scenario of rush hour traffic using a data sample from Adelaide CBD.
The research then pushed the modeled systems further with more tests, and one such test is the "what-if" scenario, in which the systems were introduced to an extremely high traffic demand scenario, and the goal was to examine their individual behaviors and determine which system was the best performing in terms of vehicle delays. The results showed that all three systems eventually become overwhelmed when the demand gets extremely high, however, the SCATS and Dynamic systems perform slightly better than the Fixed-timed system.
The research was limited to the functions and features available in the two softwares used in this study, which were SIDRA INTERSECTION and AIMSUN NEXT software.
The research then concludes the study with a series of recommendations based on the research findings, and highlights key areas that need further research and effort in order to advance the current situation with the intersection traffic signal control problem (ITSCP) currently experienced in major cities around the world.
Keywords: Dynamic signal optimisation, Advanced Actuated Traffic signals, SCATS, AIMSUN, Fixed intersection signals, ITSCP, Intersection Traffic control, Signal Optimisation, Modelling
Subject: Engineering thesis
Thesis type: Masters
Completed: 2024
School: College of Science and Engineering
Supervisor: Rocco Zitto