Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Sustainable Systems (ICISS 2017)

IEEE Xplore Compliant - Part Number:CFP17M19-ART, ISBN:978-1-5386-1959-9

A Review of IoT devices for Traffic

Management System
N. B. Soni1, Jaideep Saraswat2
1
Head of Department, Department of Electrical Power & Energy, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies
2
M. Tech. Renewable Energy Engineering, University of Petroleum & Energy Studies

[email protected]

compared to same period in the previous year. [2] Freight

Abstract— In recent times, traffic congestion has increased volume in India is increasing at an alarming rate of 9.08% and
at a breakneck speed especially in metropolitan cities. that of vehicles at 10.76% whereas that of road by 4.01%. [3]
Traffic congestion leads to increase in noise pollution, Moreover, it has been seen that the conventional ways of
traveling time, pollution, and fuel wastage etc. There are curbing traffic congestion by signaling system with pre-
defined set time for signals is not efficient and is failing to
short term and long term causes of traffic congestion. achieve its objectives. Hence, the idea to make the traffic
Short term causes include traffic signal failures, inefficient signaling system adaptive depending upon vehicle density on
law enforcement, inadequate road infrastructure, the road was introduced first in USA in 1982. [4] Many
accidents etc. Long term causes are attributed to economic researchers have come up with a model to deal with traffic
growth of the society, changes in lifestyle of people etc. As congestion in a real-time scenario. Kok Mun Ng et al. have
a result, traffic management has become one of the vital emphasized on control and intelligent systems to address
traffic congestion. [5] Wen has proposed model in which the
areas to be looked into. It includes monitoring of traffic
number of vehicles and their speeds are provided by sensors to
density, communication, rerouting of traffic to avoid a backend server to alter the traffic signal pattern as a traffic
further delay. Internet of things can help in smooth decongestion strategy. [6] Syed has come up with a strategy to
implementation of traffic management system. There are provide traffic signal control to onsite traffic police officer
different methods of traffic management – video analysis, with the help of smart phone as a traffic response strategy. [7]
wireless sensor network, adaptive traffic control system
that are closely knit around IoT devices. Traffic management system is the only way one can address
the problem of traffic congestion in Indian cities where the
Index Terms—IoT, Wireless Sensor Network, Traffic scope for augmenting road infrastructure is very minimal. IoT
Management System can help in altering traffic signal patterns, providing real-time
traffic information and alerts to the drivers. This will
ultimately save time and money of the driver.
I. INTRODUCTION

I Internet of things or IoT was first introduced by Kevin

Ashton. IoT refers to system that involves all the physical
objects around us and their communication with each other
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Methods of Traffic Management
over the internet. The data that is communicated can be Video Data Analysis: Video data analysis system comprises
analyzed to generate meaningful analytical results. The main of video camera or sensors, communication and a central
motive of IoT is to simplify the day to day life of human monitoring station. Traffic is incessantly monitored using the
beings. Intelligent IoT related to traffic can be divided into camera and the video is then transmitted to central monitoring
three layers – Application, Network and Acquisition. station after compression. In some scenarios there can be real-
Acquisition Layer comprises of sensors like RFID, IR etc. time transmission of video between camera and central
Network layer includes Wi-Fi, cellular mobile network, monitoring station. This video analysis helps in computing
Zigbee, Bluetooth etc. Application layer makes use of traffic statistics like average speed of vehicles, frequency of
information collection and analysis, intelligent traffic and vehicles, lane occupancy etc. Video Analysis can also reduce
driver management etc. [1] crime rates as it can be used as a piece of evidence as well.
Certain problems associated with this system are high capital
Traffic congestion has become the newly generated cost, high operation and maintenance cost, loss of reliability of
conundrum in metropolitan cities of India. Traffic congestion system during fogs and rains as well as during night time. The
on roads is the slower speed or halt of vehicles causing longer latter issue can be addressed using infrared cameras which can
trip times and increased queues. Traffic congestion is said to augment the visibility during night time. But the system cost
occur when the number of vehicles on road is greater than the increases further due to high cost of infrared cameras.
capacity of the road. There is an increase in passenger vehicle
registration in Delhi by 9.23% in April-March 2017 as

978-1-5386-1959-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 1052

 Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Sustainable Systems (ICISS 2017)
IEEE Xplore Compliant - Part Number:CFP17M19-ART, ISBN:978-1-5386-1959-9

Adaptive Traffic Control System (ATCS): In this kind of is then read by electronic circuit connected via a lead wire to
approach the traffic is diverted from the main streets where the load cell. Thus load cell helps in determination of number
traffic congestion is frequent. This is followed mostly in USA, of vehicles present on the road which in turn helps in
San Jose, and Portland etc. [8] One of the main drawbacks determination of traffic density. This information is then
with this approach is that it increases traffic on residential transmitted to central monitoring station for further actions.
streets. IR Sensor: IR sensor or infrared sensor contains two packages
– Transmitter and receiver. Transmitter emits the infrared
Wireless Sensor Network: Sensor is the basic element of waves that travel through space. In case of the presence of an
wireless sensor network. Sensors are the elements that record object the waves transmitted by the transmitter are reflected
changes in the physical environment like temperature, back and are detected by the receiver. The receiver sends a
pressure, wind speed etc. Sensors can then transmit the command to the further electronic circuitry about the presence
recorded data across the gateways like Ethernet or cellular of an object in the near vicinity. Vehicles on-board with IR
mobile network. Cellular mobile networks come with an sensor can intimate the driver about vehicles in the near
advantage of placing the sensors anywhere there is an vicinity and avoid collision.
availability of cellular service. These sensors need not be in
the wireless range of network gateway because of their mesh
connection. One node or sensor can transfer the data to the
nearby node and so the data can be transmitted to the network
gateway.

Figure 2: Working of IR sensor

Radio Frequency Identification:

Figure 1: Sensor Mesh Network It is termed as radio frequency identification as it uses radio
Wireless sensor network can be classified in three architecture waves for object identification. It is not a line of sight
models for Traffic management system – ad-hoc, technology. Multiple objects can be detected through this
infrastructure based, hybrid. Ad-hoc architecture includes technology. RFID system mainly consists of RFID reader and
three types of sensor communication networks – on road RFID Tag. RFID tag is attached to the object. The RFID
sensor, on vehicle sensor, on road and on vehicle sensor. reader is continuously sending radio waves. Whenever a RFID
Infrastructure based architecture emphasizes on improvement tag comes in the vicinity of radio waves, it sends a feedback
of on road infrastructure while hybrid architecture is a signal to RFID reader. This feedback signal contains the
combination of both. [9] information contained in the RFID tag. RFID tags are of two
types – Active and Passive. Active tags have a dedicated
battery for themselves whereas as passive tags doesn’t.
Types of Sensors:
Passive tags get their required power from the radio waves
Inductive Loop Detector: Inductive loop Detector works on sent by the RFID reader. Non-volatile memory is generally
the principle of electromagnetic induction. A single turn or used for storing tag information. RFID can be extensively
loops of insulated wire is placed in the vehicular passage such used for traffic monitoring, parking management as well as
that the presence of vehicle changes the voltage induced in the toll collection.
loop. This change in voltage is detected by the electronic
circuit located in the controller cabinet which is connected to
the loop using a lead wire. Hence, inductive loop detection can
be used to detect vehicular presence, occupancy, and counting
the number of vehicles passing through the area etc. Some of
the problems associated with this system are lack of reliability
in areas where frequent digging is carried out or application of
sealant over the cutout in the roadway where the loop was
placed. Figure 3: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
Load cell: A load cell is a type of transducer that converts the
force applied into electrical signals. Piezoelectric load cells are
frequently used for traffic management system. Load cells are Applications of RFID:
applied on road infrastructure which converts the force of 1. Automatic collection of toll charges: Each country
gravity of vehicles into electrical signals. This electrical signal follows a different path to address toll charge

978-1-5386-1959-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 1053

 Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Sustainable Systems (ICISS 2017)
IEEE Xplore Compliant - Part Number:CFP17M19-ART, ISBN:978-1-5386-1959-9

collection. In case of RFID, RFID reader installed at versions- IPv4 and IPv6. IPv4 is 32 bits long. Due to personal
the toll booth continuously send radio signals. The computing we are already running out of IPv4 addresses. IPv6
data stored in the RFID tag is then sent to RFID address is 128 bits long and was launched in 2012. [11] IPv6
provides internet protocol security called IPsec and can meet
reader using the radio waves. This information from
large number of IP address requirement.
the RFID card reader is sent to the central monitoring
station for further analysis and actions. Information IV. SECURITY OF IOT DEVICES (PHYSICAL & VIRTUAL)
includes vehicle number, date of registration, amount
Often in developing countries, installation of high-end
present in the tag etc. Accordingly toll charges are infrastructure comes with a risk of physical security. There
calculated and new amount after detection is updated occur numerous instances round the year where a device
in the tag. Dynamic toll charge collection algorithm installed for public benefit is found missing the very next day.
is shown in Figure 4. With unavailability of sensors installed at the primary level the
system becomes non-functional. To restore the system, new
sensor need to be procured which further adds to the cost and
delay to the system. Moreover, it reduces the interest of the
investors which might affect the future development projects.
Wireless communication often compromises on cyber
security. Dedicated communication link between a transmitter
and a receiver increases the cost and time of installation of
system. But it does come with an added advantage of cyber
security. Wireless sensor network has weaknesses like
encrypted radio signals, factory default username and
password used by network devices etc. This enables any
intruder to control intelligent traffic signal system for their
personal gain or can cause traffic congestion. Implementation
of cloud server for data storage can provide three levels of
security – device security, connection security and cloud
security.

Figure 4: Dynamic Toll Charge Algorithm using RFID V. CONCLUSION

2. Parking Guidance – RFID sensors can be Current traffic signal controlling method has turned obsolete
implemented to send the status of the parking space in addressing different traffic situations arising in the course of
a day. Also, it has been observed that some sort of control
to the central monitoring station. Instead of travelling
must be provided to onsite traffic police officer for emergency
the whole parking space in search of parking, the situations.
driver can directly request for the vacant parking spot Traffic congestion has an adverse impact on financial health of
to a dedicated URL through his smart phone. This a country. It leads to enormous fuel wastage, irreparable
will intimate the driver about the nearest vacant damage to the environment and inferior quality of life
parking spot. Moreover, hefty man hours are also lost behind the wheel
3. Automatic vehicle speed detection- RFID reader which could have been utilized for productive work. . As per a
report, congestion on Delhi roads cost about Rs 60,000 crore
continuously sends the radio waves. The time it takes
annually. [12] It can be seen that using IoT for traffic
for the radio wave to be received with information is management system can address traffic congestion effectively.
used to determine the speed of the vehicle. IoT can enhance the efficiency of information transmission,
traffic monitoring and management. This will augment vehicle
III. COMMUNICATION & ADDRESSING OF IOT DEVICES efficiency, reduce trip times, reduce fuel wastage and ensure
With advent of time numerous smart devices like sensors, cost effectiveness. It can also provide higher priority to
network adapters will be installed at the primary level. These emergency vehicles.
smart devices must communicate with each other through It should also be clear that a certain traffic management
certain protocol. Protocol is a set of rules that define how a algorithm successfully implemented in a particular region
communication task is performed. A collection of protocols might not be successful in other regions. Data collected from
leads to protocol stack. TCP/IP or Transmission control the sensors must be stored on the internet via techniques like
protocol/Internet protocol is one of the easiest and most cloud computing etc. This stored data must be analyzed and a
widely used protocol architecture today. TCP/IP is a result of a region oriented algorithm must be developed. Moreover, it is
project called ARPANET funded by USA Defense Agency in necessary to implement this algorithm for test periods to fine
1970s. [10] tune them for implementation in real life scenario.
Each of the devices is provided with a unique IP address for
communication with others. There are two type of IP address

978-1-5386-1959-9/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 1054

 Proceedings of the International Conference on Intelligent Sustainable Systems (ICISS 2017)
IEEE Xplore Compliant - Part Number:CFP17M19-ART, ISBN:978-1-5386-1959-9

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The authors will like to thank Prof. Ranjan Mishra for help
and assistance during the tenure of the paper, Electrical Power
and Energy department, UPES for their incessant support.

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