Real-time traffic signal control of multi-way intersection using H-GA-PSO algorithm based on optimization of traffic jam probability

Traffic jam has become a serious problem with exponential increase of vehicles recently. In urban area, almost all traffic congestion occurs at intersections. The intersections can be divided three types according to the number of road at the intersections: T-junction (3-way intersection), Crossroads (4-way intersections), and Multi-way intersection (more than 4). The traffic signal phases are generally more complicated at the multi-way intersections. Consequently, traffic jams occur very often. One of the ways to solve this problem is to extend roads, but it is not easy to realize in urban areas. In such cases, traffic signal control is considered as an effective way to solve the problem. In this paper, we propose a real-time traffic signal control system for the multi-way-intersection. The aim of the control is to search the optimal traffic signals to minimize traffic-jam probabilities using a new H-GA-PSO algorithm, which includes a modified PSO, an initial generation of particles, and a modified GA.