Identification and control of traffic at one or more traffic junctions

• US 10,078,962 B1
• Filed: 04/28/2017
• Issued: 09/18/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 04/28/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Epperlein, Jonathan, Marecek, Jakub, Nair, Rahul
• Primary Examiner(s): King, Curtis
• Application Number:
  US15/581,918
• Time in Patent Office: 508 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/08 according to detected number or speed of vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/082 Controlling the time between beginning of the same phase of a cycle at adjacent intersections
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/083 Controlling the allocation of time between phases of a cycle

Abstract

Techniques for autonomously optimizing traffic flow amongst one or more traffic junctions are provided. In one example, a computer-implemented method can comprise generating, by a system operatively coupled to a processor, a piece-wise sinusoidal representation of traffic arrival at a first traffic junction. The computer-implemented method can also comprise determining, by the system, an offset a parameter of one or more traffic junctions based on the piece-wise sinusoidal representation and a polynomial objective.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a memory that stores computer executable components;

a processor, operably coupled to the memory, and that executes the computer executable components stored in the memory, wherein the computer executable components comprise;

an identification component that generates a piece-wise sinusoidal representation of traffic arriving at a first traffic junction;

an optimization component that determines an offset between a start of a first phase sequence of the first traffic junction and a start of a second phase sequence of a second traffic junction based on the piece-wise sinusoidal representation; and

generating, by the system, a multi-variate polynomial describing an average queue length of a defined traffic type from a plurality of traffic types at the first traffic junction based on the piece-wise sinusoidal representation for the plurality of traffic types.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, by the system, a parameter to vary the offset, utilizing the multi-variate polynomial describing average queue length of traffic at the traffic junction and a polynomial objective, wherein the polynomial objective distinguishes between the defined traffic type and a second defined traffic type from the plurality of traffic types and between queue lengths, delays relative to a time table, or delays relative to a fastest possible journey.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the defined traffic type is a traffic type selected from a group consisting of a car, a bus, a bicycle, a motorcycle, an emergency vehicle, a truck, a tram, a trolley, and a train.

4. A non-transitory computer program product for controlling traffic, the computer program product comprising a computer readable storage medium having program instructions embodied therewith, the program instructions executable by a processor to cause the processor to:

generate a piece-wise sinusoidal representation of traffic arrival at a first traffic junction;

determine an offset between a first parameter of the first traffic junction and a second parameter of a second traffic junction based on the piece-wise sinusoidal representation, wherein the first parameter is a start of a first phase sequence and the second parameter is another start of a second phase sequence; and

generate a multi-variate polynomial describing an average queue length of traffic at the first traffic junction over a phase sequence based on the piece-wise sinusoidal representation, and wherein the determining is based on the generated multi-variate polynomial.

5. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 4, wherein the program instructions further cause the processor to generate a control directive to minimize a polynomial objective by varying the offset, wherein the first parameter is a start of a phase sequence at the first traffic junction and the second parameter is a start of a phase sequence at the second traffic junction, the offset being a difference between the start of the phase sequence at the first traffic junction and the start of the phase sequence at the second traffic junction, and the control directive alters the start of the phase sequence at the first traffic junction and the start of the phase sequence at the second traffic junction, to alter the offset.

6. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 4, wherein the traffic is a first traffic type selected from a group consisting of a car, a bus, a bicycle, a motor cycle, a truck, an emergency vehicle, a tram, a trolley, and a train.

7. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 4, wherein the multi-variate polynomial distinguishes between a first average queue length of a first traffic type at the first traffic junction over the first phase sequence and a second average queue length of a second traffic type at the first traffic junction over the first phase sequence.

8. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 4, wherein the multi-variate polynomial further describes a time delay of the traffic at the first traffic junction over the first phase sequence.

9. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 4, wherein the first traffic junction comprises a traffic route and the first phase sequence comprises a first period in which the traffic route is prohibited to traffic and a second period in which the traffic route is permitted to the traffic.

10. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 5, wherein the program instructions further cause the processor to communicate with the first traffic junction and the second traffic junction via a cloud environment.

11. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 4, wherein the multi-variate polynomial further describes a polynomial objective that indicates a traffic type priority.

12. The non-transitory computer program product of claim 4, wherein the program instructions further cause the processor to control one or more devices at the first traffic junction based on the first parameter and the second parameter.