A Swarm-Based Approach for Selection of Signal Plans in Urban Scenarios

This paper presents a swarm approach to the problem of synchronisation of traffic lights in order to reduce traffic jams in urban scenarios. Other approaches for reducing jams have been proposed. A classical one is to coordinate or synchronise traffic lights so that vehicles can traverse an arterial in one direction, with a specific speed, without stopping. Coordination here means that if appropriate signal plans are selected to run at the adjacent traffic lights, a “green wave” is built so that drivers do not have to stop at junctions. This approach works fine in traffic networks with defined traffic flow patterns like for instance morning flow towards downtown and its similar afternoon rush hour. However, in cities where these patterns are not clear, that approach may not be effective. This is clearly the case in big cities where the business centres are no longer located exclusively downtown.