Quasi-dynamic Traffic Light Control for a Single Intersection

Abstract: We address the traffic light control problem for a single intersection by viewing it as a stochastic hybrid system and developing a Stochastic Flow Model (SFM) for it. We adopt a quasi-dynamic control policy based on partial state information defined by detecting whether vehicle backlog is above or below a certain threshold, without the need to observe an exact vehicle count. The policy is parameterized by green and red cycle lengths which depend on this partial state information. Using Infinitesimal Perturbation Analysis (IPA), we derive online gradient estimators of an average traffic congestion metric with respect to these controllable green and red cycle lengths when the vehicle backlog is above or below the threshold. The estimators are used to iteratively adjust light cycle lengths so as to improve performance and, in conjunction with a standard gradient-based algorithm, to seek optimal values which adapt to changing traffic conditions. Simulation results are included to illustrate the approach and quantify the benefits of quasidynamic traffic light control over earlier static approaches.