Ensemble based traffic light control for city zones using a reduced number of sensors

Rapid advances in computing, sensing and telecommunication technology offer unprecedented opportunities for artificial intelligence concepts to expand their applications in the field of traffic management and control. Our methodology gravitates around a powerful decision-making method: ensemble-based systems. This technique is used to accurately classify the near future traffic conditions and to make efficient decisions for adapting the traffic lights sequences within an urban area to optimize the traffic flows. The proposed approach requires only measurements provided by traffic sensors located along the principal roads entering the zone. This reduced number of sensors are considered to be enough relevant for classifying the near future state of the traffic and moreover, their measurements can be validated through analytical/hardware redundancy. Our methodology is meant to be implemented within the framework of a wireless sensor and actuator network and is confirmed by computer simulation, including normal or abnormal traffic conditions, for the central part of the city of Timisoara-Romania.