Dynamic Traffic Light Timing

Dynamic Traffic Light Timing

Tony FaillaciJohn GilroyBen HughesJustin PorterZach Zientek

Objective• To improve timing of traffic lights with a robust, extensible

solution that will ultimately cause less frustration at the wheel and improve gas mileage of traffic

Previous Solutions• Pressure Plate induction coil under pavement• Radar/Motion detecting camera • Police officers controlling traffic (for events and/or signal

outages)

• These options are viable solutions, however, they don’t employ any sophisticated traffic monitoring algorithms to change the timing of traffic lights to efficiently handle any change in traffic flow rates

Project Goals• Design and implement a four way intersection with traffic

flowing in each direction. • Traffic is monitored and accounted for utilizing our

proprietary software within budget and time constraints• Both hardware and software are extensible and can evolve

with new traffic conditions

Block DiagramC# Application

monitors intersection

PIC analyzes logic on LED

board

USB Interface to LED Board

Output to LEDs

Design Requirements• Traffic Light Timing/Flow Rate Algorithms• Visual Detection• Software to Hardware Interfacing• 40-pin PIC

Design Requirements• Traffic Light Timing/Flow Rate Algorithms

– Lane Prioritization– Left & Straight Turns– Yield & Override modes– Error detection

Design Requirements• Visual Detection

– Suspended camera• 1MP webcam mounted above intersection providing a birds eye view

– Microsoft Visual C#• Frame Comparison• Hot-Spot Monitoring• Lane Flagging & Vehicle Frequency• Control Center

Design Requirements• Visual Detection

– Suspended camera– Green boxes (hard to

see) watch intersection independently for motion

– Updates C# app when motion is detected and C# app updates light timings

Design Requirements• C# Application

– Controls intersection and allows for manual override of light timings

– Gives birds eye view and shows boxed detection regions

Design Requirements• Software to Hardware Interface:

– USB interface board– Reverse Logic– Power from USB port on computer @ 5V– Five output terminals @ 0.6V– Receives signal from computer, USB interface board relays the

high or low voltage through its output terminals, and sends it to a PIC

Design Requirements• 40-pin PIC

– 8 input terminals, 30 output terminals, 1 VDD/Gnd pin– Since the USB board outputs 0.6V, the PIC will not read that as

being a binary high. Pull-up resistors were used to up the voltage to 5V +- 5%

– PIC reads digital logic from the USB board, processes the data using our PIC Basic Pro code, and outputs logic to turn on/off LEDs

Debug Board Photo• Clearly you can see

the USB interface board on the left bottom

• The PIC decoder board is on the bottom right

• The LED testing board is on the top

Problems Encountered• PIC seems to have a mind of its own

– After programming the device, it will work, but given a day or two of rest, it needs to be reprogrammed

• Shipping of materials– Some items were on backorder and took a while to arrive here

• Soldering– Using a board from RadioShack was pretty cumbersome to solder.

Also having to make solder-lines was a learning experience• Software

– Continually finding more cases to add to PIC and C# applications

Project Management: Budget• Thus far, our project is within budget constraints set in June• Projected cost in June was $240• Total spent thus far is $240

• Items purchased, RadioShack board, LEDs, wire, dowel, PVC poles, Hot Wheels track and cars, light boxes for LEDs, USB interface board

Project Management: Task Allocation• Hardware

– Ben– Tony

• Software– Zach – John– Tony

• Setup and Demonstration– Justin– Ben– Zach– John– Tony

Project Management: Schedule Breakdown• June

– Write design proposal– Order/Receive parts– Design LED board– Design Software Framework

• July– Soldier and assemble LED board– Debug board– Status update– Test USB interface to LED board– Finalize software for both the PIC and C# application

• August– Preparation for demonstration– Write Final report

Summary• Project is on schedule and working as designed• Need to find a way to get demonstration cars to move through track

consistently without error• Instead of having one camera mounted above intersection, might make more

sense to have two cameras pointed opposite of each other monitoring traffic on traffic light pole

• Collectively we’ve learned to work efficiently and effectively as a team. Also, learned how to program a PIC and some of the intricacies of Microsoft Visual C# (found it to be fairly similar to Java)