A cyber-physical dynamic control approach for smooth traffic and clean urban networks using a bi-objective regulation function at signalized intersections

Traffic flow rising in urban areas makes road networks more congested. This leads to delays, slow-downs and length queuing of vehicles. These issues impact directly the environment, the cities atmosphere, and harms society as well. Therefore, in order to minimize these negative impacts, urban traffic requires adequate regulation methods. To this end, we propose in this paper an adaptive traffic light control technique at signalized intersections. It is a dynamic control approach where the number of vehicles and their arrival times at urban intersections are considered for decision-making regarding lights switching. The dynamic behavior of the studied physical system can be seen as a discrete events system. As powerful modeling and analysis tool we use Timed-Synchronized-Petri-Net (TSPN). The technique of “Master-Slaves” is adopted in this approach. In fact, a “master” reactive controller takes care of the evacuation of the vehicles from the intersection and the switching of the lights “slaves”. These latter are represented by TSPN modules. The proposed control approach is based on the technique of Cyber-Physical systems where the digital model of the urban intersection (physical entity) is modeled and simulated using SUMO simulator. Thanks to the developed formal and simulation models, some interesting network's properties are analysed and checked. The proposed solution allows for a smoother traffic flow in the studied intersection, reducing energy consumption and environmental impact.