Congestion adaptive traffic light control and notification architecture using Google maps APIs

Mishra, S., Bhattacharya, D., & Gupta, A. (2018). Congestion Adaptive Traffic Light Control and Notification Architecture Using Google Maps APIs. Data, 3(4), [67]. DOI: 10.3390/data3040067Traffic jams can be avoided by controlling traffic signals according to quickly building congestion with steep gradients on short temporal and small spatial scales. With the rising standards of computational technology, single-board computers, software packages, platforms, and APIs (Application Program Interfaces), it has become relatively easy for developers to create systems for controlling signals and informative systems. Hence, for enhancing the power of Intelligent Transport Systems in automotive telematics, in this study, we used crowdsourced traffic congestion data from Google to adjust traffic light cycle times with a system that is adaptable to congestion. One aim of the system proposed here is to inform drivers about the status of the upcoming traffic light on their route. Since crowdsourced data are used, the system does not entail the high infrastructure cost associated with sensing networks. A full system module-level analysis is presented for implementation. The system proposed is fail-safe against temporal communication failure. Along with a case study for examining congestion levels, generic information processing for the cycle time decision and status delivery system was tested and confirmed to be viable and quick for a restricted prototype model. The information required was delivered correctly over sustained trials, with an average time delay of 1.5 s and a maximum of 3 s.publishersversionpublishe

Plataforma de gestão para sistemas de transportes cooperativos

The rapid evolution of technology led to increased research in domains such as smart devices. As a result, the Internet of Things technology has expanded rapidly and is being used to solve challenges needing vast quantities of data from many devices. With this, the Smart City concept became more popular with the goal of establishing a healthy ecosystem in which the functioning of the city is enhanced. The European Commission subsequently adopted Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS), which enables road users and traffic controllers to share information and coordinate their actions. In addition, the Institute of Telecommunications (IT) group has placed and continues to install Road Side Units (RSUs) on Portuguese roads. These intelligent devices may have radars, cameras, or other elements that aid in determining traffic patterns. This dissertation emerges in the context of offering a C-ITS platform capable of addressing the demands of IT researchers and delivering feedback to them and regular road users on traffic behavior or alerts. For the development of a proof-of-concept system, a user-centered design approach was adopted, beginning with the identification of target users and the collection of key requirements generated from usage scenarios. The developed system implemented a micro-service architecture. The proof-of-concept is composed by several modules responsible for handling the camera stream, admin privileges, radars data, creation of alerts and several streams of data. The presented system showed to be capable of providing useful information to the users and administrators. By using the developed platform, users may see a collection of information as charts, interact with the RSUs installed on the roadways, generate and display alerts, and interact with the camera’s live stream.A rápida evolução da tecnologia levou ao aumento da investigação em domínios como dispositivos inteligentes. Como resultado, a tecnologia da Internet of Things tem-se expandido rapidamente e está a ser usada para resolver desafios que necessitam de vastas quantidades de dados de muitos dispositivos. Com isto, o conceito de Cidades Inteligentes começou a ficar mais popular tendo por objetivo estabelecer um ecosistema saudável em que o funcionamento da cidade é melhorado. A Comissão Europeia adotou posteriormente os Sistemas Inteligentes de Transporte Cooperativos (C-ITS), o que permite aos utilizadores de estrada e controladores de tráfego partilhar informações e coordenar as suas ações. Mais adiante, o grupo do Instituto de Telecomunicações (IT) colocou e continua a instalar infraestrutura de comunicações (RSUs) nas estradas portuguesas. Estes dispositivos inteligentes podem ter radares, câmaras ou outros elementos acoplados que ajudam a determinar os padrões de tráfego. Esta dissertação surge no contexto de oferecer uma plataforma C-ITS capaz de atender às necessidades dos investigadores do IT e fornecer-lhes feedback bem como aos utilizadores regulares de estrada sobre o comportamento ou alertas do tráfego. Para o desenvolvimento de um sistema como prova de conceito, uma abordagem centrada no utilizador foi adotada, começando com a identificação dos utilizadores alvo e a recolha de requisitos-chave gerados a partir de cenários de uso. O sistema desenvolvido implementou uma arquitetura baseada em micro-serviços, composto por vários módulos responsáveis por manipular o fluxo de câmaras, privilégios de administrador, dados de radares, criação de alertas e diversos fluxos de dados. O sistema apresentado mostrou-se capaz de fornecer informações úteis aos utilizadores e administradores. Através da utilização da plataforma desenvolvida, os utilizadores podem ver um conjunto de informações como gráficos, interagir com as RSUs instaladas nas rodovias, gerar e exibir alertas e interagir com a transmissão ao vivo da câmara.Mestrado em Engenharia de Computadores e Telemátic

Vehicle Localization Kalman Filtering for Traffic Light Advisor Application in Urban Scenarios

The recent advancements in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) have revealed significant potential for enhancing traffic management through Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADASs), with benefits for both safety and environment. This research paper proposes a vehicle localization technique based on Kalman filtering, as accurate positioning of the ego-vehicle is essential for the proper functioning of the Traffic Light Advisor (TLA) system. The aim of the TLA is to calculate the most suitable speed to safely reach and pass the first traffic light in front of the vehicle and subsequently keep that velocity constant to overcome the following traffic light, thus allowing safer and more efficient driving practices, thereby reducing safety risks, and minimizing energy consumption. To overcome Global Positioning Systems (GPS) limitations encountered in urban scenarios, a multi-rate sensor fusion approach based on the Kalman filter with map matching and a simple kinematic one-dimensional model is proposed. The experimental results demonstrate an estimation error below 0.5 m on urban roads with GPS signal loss areas, making it suitable for TLA application. The experimental validation of the Traffic Light Advisor system confirmed the expected benefits with a 40% decrease in energy consumption compared to unassisted driving

Safe Intelligent Driver Assistance System in V2X Communication Environments based on IoT

In the modern world, power and speed of cars have increased steadily, as traffic continued to increase. At the same time highway-related fatalities and injuries due to road incidents are constantly growing and safety problems come first. Therefore, the development of Driver Assistance Systems (DAS) has become a major issue. Numerous innovations, systems and technologies have been developed in order to improve road transportation and safety. Modern computer vision algorithms enable cars to understand the road environment with low miss rates. A number of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITSs), Vehicle Ad-Hoc Networks (VANETs) have been applied in the different cities over the world. Recently, a new global paradigm, known as the Internet of Things (IoT) brings new idea to update the existing solutions. Vehicle-to-Infrastructure communication based on IoT technologies would be a next step in intelligent transportation for the future Internet-of-Vehicles (IoV). The overall purpose of this research was to come up with a scalable IoT solution for driver assistance, which allows to combine safety relevant information for a driver from different types of in-vehicle sensors, in-vehicle DAS, vehicle networks and driver`s gadgets. This study brushed up on the evolution and state-of-the-art of Vehicle Systems. Existing ITSs, VANETs and DASs were evaluated in the research. The study proposed a design approach for the future development of transport systems applying IoT paradigm to the transport safety applications in order to enable driver assistance become part of Internet of Vehicles (IoV). The research proposed the architecture of the Safe Intelligent DAS (SiDAS) based on IoT V2X communications in order to combine different types of data from different available devices and vehicle systems. The research proposed IoT ARM structure for SiDAS, data flow diagrams, protocols. The study proposes several IoT system structures for the vehicle-pedestrian and vehicle-vehicle collision prediction as case studies for the flexible SiDAS framework architecture. The research has demonstrated the significant increase in driver situation awareness by using IoT SiDAS, especially in NLOS conditions. Moreover, the time analysis, taking into account IoT, Cloud, LTE and DSRS latency, has been provided for different collision scenarios, in order to evaluate the overall system latency and ensure applicability for real-time driver emergency notification. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed SiDAS improves traffic safety

Developing and Simulating a Communication Plan for Mitigation of Secondary Crashes: Leveraging Connected Vehicle Technologies

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) has identified secondary crashes (SCs) on United States (US) highways as one of the core transportation issues that needs to be addressed. These crashes contribute to increased property damage, injuries, and fatalities and a decline in traffic flow conditions on freeways and adjacent arterials. The purpose of this study was to 1) propose a communication plan that leverages connected vehicle (CV) technologies to increase awareness to road users to target the mitigation of SCs, and 2) to evaluate the potential benefits of the proposed communication plan with CV technologies in alleviating SCs. This study used VISSIM microscopic software to model a freeway road segment on Florida’s Turnpike system and Lyons Road, a parallel arterial. The software was used to replicate the proposed communication plan and CV applications to issue advisories, such as speed, lane-change, or detour advisory to drivers during an incident. A safety evaluation was performed using the Surrogate Safety Assessment Model (SSAM) software by importing trajectory files from VISSIM to analyze generated traffic conflicts. The change in the number of simulated conflicts was used to evaluate the mitigation of SCs. The results showed significant safety benefits using the proposed communication plan with CV technologies. A conflict reduction of up to 98% was observed with full penetration of CVs at low traffic volume. Statistical analysis indicated that different penetration rates of CVs were required to achieve significant safety benefits depending on the analyzed scenario, i.e., traffic volume, number of lanes closed, side of the road the lane is closed, and dissemination of detour advisory

TCitySmartF: A comprehensive systematic framework for transforming cities into smart cities

A shared agreed-upon definition of "smart city" (SC) is not available and there is no "best formula" to follow in transforming each and every city into SC. In a broader inclusive definition, it can be described as an opportunistic concept that enhances harmony between the lives and the environment around those lives perpetually in a city by harnessing the smart technology enabling a comfortable and convenient living ecosystem paving the way towards smarter countries and the smarter planet. SCs are being implemented to combine governors, organisations, institutions, citizens, environment, and emerging technologies in a highly synergistic synchronised ecosystem in order to increase the quality of life (QoL) and enable a more sustainable future for urban life with increasing natural resource constraints. In this study, we analyse how to develop citizen- and resource-centric smarter cities based on the recent SC development initiatives with the successful use cases, future SC development plans, and many other particular SC development solutions. The main features of SC are presented in a framework fuelled by recent technological advancement, particular city requirements and dynamics. This framework - TCitySmartF 1) aims to aspire a platform that seamlessly forges engineering and technology solutions with social dynamics in a new philosophical city automation concept - socio-technical transitions, 2) incorporates many smart evolving components, best practices, and contemporary solutions into a coherent synergistic SC topology, 3) unfolds current and future opportunities in order to adopt smarter, safer and more sustainable urban environments, and 4) demonstrates a variety of insights and orchestrational directions for local governors and private sector about how to transform cities into smarter cities from the technological, social, economic and environmental point of view, particularly by both putting residents and urban dynamics at the forefront of the development with participatory planning and interaction for the robust community- and citizen-tailored services. The framework developed in this paper is aimed to be incorporated into the real-world SC development projects in Lancashire, UK

C-V2X Communications for the Support of a Green Light Optimized Speed Advisory (GLOSA) Use Case, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2021, nr 2

Rapid expansion of 5G affects a number of sectors, including vehicular communications relying on cooperative intelligent transportation systems (C-ITS). More specifically, in the context of the Internet of Vehicles (IoV), a particular emphasis is placed on modern cellular V2X (C-V2X) technologies aiming to further improve road safety. This work originates from the detailed scope of the ongoing 5G-DRIVE research project promoting cooperation between the EU and China, with the aim of demonstrating IoV services that rely on vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications. With the C-V2X approach serving as a point of departure, we analyze and describe a specific green light-optimized speed advisory (GLOSA) use case, for which we provide a detailed descriptive framework, a proposed architectural framework for trials, as well as specific KPIs for the joint assessment of trials between the EU and China. We also discuss the context for performance test procedures to be conducted as part of the intended trials. GLOSA provides end-users with short-term information on upcoming traffic light status to optimize traffic flows, help prevent speed limit violations, improve fuel efficiency, and reduce pollutio

Cyber Threats Facing Autonomous and Connected Vehicles: Future Challenges

Vehicles are currently being developed and sold with increasing levels of connectivity and automation. As with all networked computing devices, increased connectivity often results in a heightened risk of a cyber security attack. Furthermore, increased automation exacerbates any risk by increasing the opportunities for the adversary to implement a successful attack. In this paper, a large volume of publicly accessible literature is reviewed and compartmentalised based on the vulnerabilities identified and mitigation techniques developed. This review highlighted that the majority of research is reactive and vulnerabilities are often discovered by friendly adversaries (white-hat hackers). Many gaps in the knowledge base were identified. Priority should be given to address these knowledge gaps to minimise future cyber security risks in the connected and autonomous vehicle sector

Using Distributed Ledger Technologies in VANETs to Achieve Trusted Intelligent Transportation Systems

With the recent advancements in the networking realm of computers as well as achieving real-time communication between devices over the Internet, IoT (Internet of Things) devices have been on the rise; collecting, sharing, and exchanging data with other connected devices or databases online, enabling all sorts of communications and operations without the need for human intervention, oversight, or control. This has caused more computer-based systems to get integrated into the physical world, inching us closer towards developing smart cities. The automotive industry, alongside other software developers and technology companies have been at the forefront of this advancement towards achieving smart cities. Currently, transportation networks need to be revamped to utilize the massive amounts of data being generated by the public’s vehicle’s on-board devices, as well as other integrated sensors on public transit systems, local roads, and highways. This will create an interconnected ecosystem that can be leveraged to improve traffic efficiency and reliability. Currently, Vehicular Ad-hoc Networks (VANETs) such as vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) communications, all play a major role in supporting road safety, traffic efficiency, and energy savings. To protect these devices and the networks they form from being targets of cyber-related attacks, this paper presents ideas on how to leverage distributed ledger technologies (DLT) to establish secure communication between vehicles that is decentralized, trustless, and immutable. Incorporating IOTA’s protocols, as well as utilizing Ethereum’s smart contracts functionality and application concepts with VANETs, all interoperating with Hyperledger’s Fabric framework, several novel ideas can be implemented to improve traffic safety and efficiency. Such a modular design also opens up the possibility to further investigate use cases of the blockchain and distributed ledger technologies in creating a decentralized intelligent transportation system (ITS)