THE AREA-WIDE REAL-TIME TRAFFIC CONTROL (ARTC) SYSTEM - A NEW TRAFFIC CONTROL CONCEPT

This paper presents a traffic control system, called areawide real-time traffic control (ARTC), which addresses frequent occurrences of congestion and provides areawide traffic progression. The signal controllers in ARTC are interconnected through a computer network. By exchanging traffic flow information among the signal controllers, ARTC provides a new concept in areawide traffic control. With a global view of the traffic in the area, ARTC anticipates congestion. Simulation results of the ARTC prototype control algorithm over a linear road topology is also presented, and the results show significant improvement over an optimized fixed time control. The signal controllers and the computer network are designed to support the real-time communication requirements and a sufficient level of fault-tolerance.