13th International Conference on Electronics Computer and Computation (ICECCO 2017 1

An Intelligent Traffic Control System

Aneesa Saleh 1∗ Steve A. Adeshina 2∗ Ahmad Galadima 3∗ & Okechukwu Ugweje 4∗
1,2,3,4
Department of Electrical/Electronic Engr., Nile University of Nigeria, Abuja,
E-mail : aneesa.saleh@gmail.com
E-mail : steve.adeshina@nileuniiversity.edu.ng
E-mail : ahmad.galadima@nileuniversity.edu.ng
E-mail : o.ugweje@nileuniversity.edu.ng

Abstract - The design and construction of an intelligent
traffic light control system is presented in this work. The sys-
tem controls traffic lights based on the density of traffic on
each side of the intersection. Infrared sensors and Cameras,
combined with an image processing algorithms were used
to detect traffic density. Red-light runners were detected
using a metal detector as a trigger, and images of offenders
are captured. A scaled-down model of a traffic intersection
is used to demonstrate the efficiency of the system. Results
are comparable to what obtains in the literature.
Index Terms—Intelligent traffic control,computer vision, digital image
processing, infrared sensor, red-light camera, metal detector, Canny
Edge detection.
1 I NTRODUCTION
Traffic light systems that use fixed-time controls do not
respond to traffic conditions causing time and fuel wastage.
Though a lot work had gone into intelligent traffic control,
many countries still depend on the fixed time or pro-
grammable traffic control systems. Fuel wastage from fixed
time and programmable traffic control systems increase the
level of pollution being experienced in the world today. The
psychological frustration experienced by drivers who are in
a hurry and suddenly being stopped by a traffic light with
no other vehicles on the other sides of the intersection can
only be imagined.
This work seek to solve these problems by taking advan-
tage of advancement in technology to design a workable
prototype using vehicle detection algorithms, single board
micro-controller (Arduino), infra-red sensors and metal de-
tectors. In doing the foregoing, our intelligent traffic con-
trol systems compute the timing of each cycle dynamically
based on traffic density.
Various technologies have been used to estimate traffic
density, these include inductive-loop detectors, video image
processors, infrared sensors, radar sensors and ultrasonic
sensors [1]. These systems may also implement other traffic
monitoring and control methods such as detection of red-
light runners, speed limit detection, collision avoidance
systems, automatic number plate recognition and synchro-
nization with databases to store information.
Several studies on intelligent traffic control models have
also been conducted. Video image processing is used in
[2], [3] and [4] to determine traffic density. Infrared sensors
to detect traffic density using passive or active infrared
technology [5][6]. Fuzzy logic [7][8] and Genetic algorithms
[9] are used to determine traffic density. Video analysis can
be used to detect red light runners by analyzing real-time
videos of traffic [10] or from cameras within vehicles [11].
RFID-based detection was used in [12] for detection of red
light violations.
Whereas most of the above approaches attempted to
solve specific problems using specific technology, such as
traffic control, red-light violation detection, etc., we have
integrated several of these functionality into a single system
and intelligently controlling a plethora of activities. The
approach we have taken allows high quality images to
be stored for further processing. Our system can easily be
extended to Vehicle number detection especially of red-light
violators. We are not aware of such an integrated approach
to traffic control in the literature.
This paper presents a density-based system of traffic con-
trol using infrared sensors and cameras to estimate traffic
volume. Timing for each cycle was estimated dynamically
to reduce time wasted at traffic lights. Both methods were
implemented to compare the efficiency and limitations of
each. Red light cameras were also implemented to detect
running of red lights and capture images of offenders. A
model of a 4-way intersection was used to demonstrate how
the system operates.
2 METHODOLOGY
The intelligent traffic light control system consisted of traffic
light control and the red-light camera. Figure 1 shows a
block diagram of Traffic Light Control (TLC) and Red Light
Camera (RLC). TLC was coordinated by an Arduino Mega.
Density for two sides of the intersection was detected using
infrared sensors, and transmitted to a computer. The com-
puter system uses a MATLAB algorithm to activate cameras
and process images captured to find the density for the other
two sides of the intersection. The computer system stored
the density for all sides in a database using MySQL. The
density information was sent back to the Arduino, which

978-1-5386-2501-9/17/$31.00 
c 2017 IEEE
 2

calculates the time for the next side of the intersection and
changes the lights accordingly. The RLC is controlled by
an Arduino Uno connected to a metal detector circuit, an
SD Card Module and a camera. Another Arduino Uno is
used to detect frequency in the metal detector circuit and
recalibrate the circuit after a car has been detected. When
a car is detected, an image is captured and stored in an
SD card. The RLC Arduino takes an input from the TLC
Arduino to determine when the side of the intersection with
the RLC has a red light.
one second apart and finding the absolute difference
between them.
 The absolute value was compared with a threshold
value. Metal object detection was registered when the
absolute value
 When a car was detected, the camera captured an
image of the offender and saved it to a memory card.
2.3 Canny Edge Detection Algorithm [19]
Canny edge detection algorithm was used in the imple-
mentation of vehicle detection algorithm. We discuss this
algorithm below.

1) A Gaussian filter is applied to smoothen the image

and reduce noise. The operation is represented by

g(m, n) = Gσ (m, n) ∗ f (m, n) (1)

where f (m, n) is the image, and G(m, n) is the

Gaussian filter given by
 
1 m2 + n 2
Gσ = √ exp − (2)
2πσ 2 2σ 2
2) The intensity gradients of the image g(m,n) are
Fig. 1: Overall system block diagram computed using any gradient operator such as Sobel
or Prewitt to get M (n, n) and (m, n)
2.1 Traffic Light Control 
M (n, n) = gm 2 (m, n) + g 2 (m, n) (3)
m
The traffic lights were controlled using logic circuits. The
density of traffic on each side of the intersection was esti- and
mated to determine the length of time for each cycle. Two
sides of the intersection used infrared detectors, and the θ(n, n) = tan−1 [gn (m, n)/gm (m, n)] (4)
other two used cameras. Both methods were implemented
to determine their efficiency. 3) Threshold T is applied to M to get MT (m, n), where
Infrared sensors: The infrared sensors detect the dis- T is chosen to suppress noise without eliminating
tance of an object in their field of view. To determine the edges:
value each sensor would produce with a car present, a 
threshold value for each sensor was chosen. This value was M (m, n) if M (m, n) > T
MT (m, n) = (5)
high enough to prevent a high signal for an empty road and 0 otherwise
low enough to produce a high value when there was a car
in the outermost lane. An output voltage higher than the 4) Non-maximum suppression is applied to MT to
threshold signaled that a vehicle had been detected. thin edges. Each non-zero MT (m, n) is checked to
Cameras: The number of cars was found by capturing see if it is greater than its two neighbours in the
an image of the road and processing it with MATLAB. The (m, n) direction. All MT (m, n) that do not meet this
value of interest was the maximum value of the number of condition are set to 0.
cars in each lane found as follows: 5) A double threshold is applied to the resulting image
 An image of the empty road was captured and used using t1 and t2 (wheret1 < t1 ) to obtain two binary
as the background image. images T 1 and T 2. The edges in T 2 represent the
 An image of the road with cars present was captured. strong edges, while those present in T 1 but not in
 The absolute difference of the two images was found T 2 represent weak edges. The edges removed by t1
and processed to find the number of cars in each lane. represent noise and are suppressed.
The maximum value was used as the output value for 6) Edges are tracked by hysteresis. All strong edges
traffic density are used in the final image. Weak edges with at
least one strong neighbour will be preserved, while
others will be suppressed as noise.
2.2 Red light Camera
7) 7. The edge segments in T 2 are linked to form
A metal detector was used as the trigger used to activate the continuous edges. Each segment is traced in T 2 to
red-light camera. To detect and capture an image: its end and its neighbours in T 1 are searched to find
 The differential frequency of the metal detector cir- any edge segments to bridge the gap until reaching
cuit was measured by taking the two readings spaced another edge segment in T 2.
 3

TABLE 1: State table for traffic light control in one lane respectively (for the model used). To measure
State N E W S Q3 Q2 Q1 Q0 the density and determine time, the highest number of
0 R R R R 0 0 0 0 cars out of the three lanes was determined. Four seconds
1 G R R R 0 0 0 1 was assumed to be enough time for each car to cross the
2 Y R R R 0 0 1 0 intersection. The density was multiplied by four seconds to
4 R G R R 0 1 0 0
5 R Y R R 0 1 0 1
determine the time for the green light.
7 R R R G 0 1 1 1 Infrared sensors : The infrared sensors used are prox-
8 R R R Y 1 0 0 0 imity sensors that produce output analogue voltage propor-
10 R R G R 1 0 1 0 tional to the distance of objects in their field of view [13].
11 R R Y R 1 0 1 1
Each infrared sensor consists of a position sensitive detector,
an infrared light emitting diode and a signal-processing
unit. The detector and emitter have a fixed distance and
3 IMPLEMENTATION
orientation relative to each other, thus the sensor calculates
The model of the intelligent traffic control system is shown the distance of the object by looking at the angle at which
in Figure 2 the emitted light hits the detector and calculating the angle
of the reflected light [14]. A threshold value was chosen to
determine when a car was present. To find the threshold
value for each sensor, the following steps were taken:

Fig. 2: Model of traffic light intersection
The model represented a four-way (+) intersection, with
each side of the intersection having three lanes. It had the
following components (as numbered in the image):
 Traffic density cameras
 Red-light camera
 Red-light camera sensor (inductor)
 Infrared proximity sensors
 Traffic lights
The model had four sets of traffic lights, which operated
as standard traffic lights, that is, red-yellow-green-red. Each
set consisted of three individual traffic lights: one for each
lane. Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs) were used to represent
the traffic lights. The intelligent traffic light control system
consisted of two parts: Traffic light control and a Red-light
camera.
3.1 Traffic light control
The traffic lights were controlled using logic circuits pro-
grammed into an Arduino Mega. The inputs Q0, Q1, Q2 and
Q3 were used to change the lights, as shown in Table I. The
required Q inputs were determined using Karnaugh-map
reduction. The letters N, E, S and W represent the North,
East, South and West sides of the intersection respectively,
and Y, G and R represent yellow, red and green lights
respectively.
Traffic density was measured on a scale from 0 to 3,
which were the minimum and maximum number of cars
x The road was cleared of all cars and the output volt-
age of each sensor was recorded. These values were
recorded over a period of time (five minutes) and the
maximum value used, to increase the accuracy of the
reading.
y A car was placed in front of each sensor at the
outermost lane relative to the sensor. The output
voltages were recorded over a period of time and
the minimum value was used.
z For each sensor, a value that was high enough to
prevent a high signal for an empty road, but low
enough to produce a high value when there was a
car in the outermost lane was chosen. The threshold
value for each sensor was chosen as halfway between
the values in (1) and (2) above.
For an output voltage higher than the threshold, the Ar-
duino registered the presence of a car. To improve accuracy,
the output voltage was measured five times a second at 200
millisecond intervals, and the average value was used as the
output.
Cameras : On two sides of the intersection, cameras were
used to acquire images, which were processed with MAT-
LAB to determine traffic density. The computer transmitted
density information serially from MATLAB to an Arduino
Mega. The maximum number of cars in each lane was found
as follows:
1) An image of the empty road was captured and used
as the background image.
2) Regions of interest were identified and used to
form masks. The regions of interest were the areas
occupied by each of the lanes. Steps (1) and (2) were
performed only once when the program was first
run.
3) An image of the road with cars present was cap-
tured.
4) The absolute difference of the two images was
found.
5) The difference image was converted to gray-scale.
6) The gray-scale image was converted to a binary im-
age. In this image, all pixels with luminance greater
than the specified level were replaced with the value

1 (white), and all other pixels were replaced with the
value 0 (black). The binary image was padded with
zeros so that any cars on the border of the image
would be detected.
7) Canny edge detection (Section 2.3) was used to
detect the edges of the cars. This detection method
finds edges by smoothing the image with a Gaus-
sian filter, computing the gradient magnitude and
orientation using finite-difference approximations
for the partial derivatives, and applying non-
maxima suppression to the gradient magnitude. The
technique is especially effective on noisy images
using a double-thresholding algorithm to detect and
link edges [15].
8) The lines of the edges were dilated to make them
more prominent and close any gaps present.
9) All holes in the image were filled. This produced a
solid output for all cars present on the road.
10) The image at this stage still had noise due to shad-
ows and other background noise. Blobs (collections
of pixels) smaller than a threshold value were re-
moved from the image.
11) The number of blobs in each lane was counted.
This was done by applying the mask for each lane
individually and counting the blobs in the resulting
image. The highest value was used as the estimate
of traffic density.
Figure 3 shows sample the output of the program.
The detected vehicles have yellow bounding boxes drawn
around.
Fig. 3: Sample output image of vehicle detection
The Arduino and the computer system communicate
serially to determine traffic density. The following steps
were taken to control the traffic lights:
1) The Arduino transmitted the character ’a’ to the
computer.
2) The computer acknowledged by sending back the
character ’a’. This marked the start of serial commu-
nication.
3) The density for the west and south sides of the inter-
section were determined using infrared sensors as
explained above, and transmitted to the computer.
4) When MATLAB received the string, it determined
the density for the north and east sides of the
4
intersection, saved the density information for all
sides to a database and sent it to the Arduino as a
formatted string.
5) The Arduino used the density information to cal-
culate the time for the next green light. For the
sides of the intersection with cameras, the scale was
divided by 3 to convert it to a scale from 0 to 1. For
the sides of the intersection with infrared detectors,
there were two conditions: The density was 0 or
2 (neither or both detectors activated respectively)
and the value was divided by 2 to convert it to a
scale from 0 to 1; or the density was 1 (one detector
activated) and the density was taken to be halfway
between one-car and three-car density. The value
returned in this case was 2/3.
6) The scaled density values were multiplied by 12
(maximum density time) to find the amount of time
for the green light. The time found was sent to the
computer to be displayed. If the time was not zero,
the green light was given to the next side of the
intersection. Any side of the intersection where no
cars were detected was skipped.
7) Once the cycle was completes, steps (3) to (6) were
repeated.
3.2 Red-light Cameras
The red light camera had two parts: the metal detector and
camera and SD card control. The metal detector circuit is
shown in figure 4
3.2.1 Metal detector Circuit
Fig. 4: Metal detector circuit [16]
Figure 4 shows the Metal detector circuit. The circuit
was calibrated by taking three measurements one second
apart, and checking whether they were within 200Hz of
each other. This was done to prevent false readings due
to the initial instability of the circuit. An NE555 timer was
used as an Astable Multivibrator to continuously produce
a rectangular wave without any external trigger. An RLC
circuit was connected between the output and the trigger-
threshold connection point. When a metal object is brought
near an inductor, its inductance changes. The impedance

between the two terminals depends on the values of the
inductor and capacitor when the applied signal frequency
is constant. Differential frequency was measured using an
Arduino Uno by taking the two readings spaced one second
apart and finding the absolute difference between them. A
metal object was detected when the differential value was
greater than the threshold (500Hz was used). After detection
of a metal object, the circuit was recalibrated to reduce
occurrence false detections. When a car was detected during
a red light, the camera captured an image of the offender.
The code to capture an image was originally developed by
LinkSprite [17] and was modified for this project. A JPEG
camera transmitter and receiver were connected to the dig-
ital pins of the Arduino and communicated with it serially.
Once an image was captured, the camera transmitted it to
the Arduino. As the image data was being read from the
camera, it was written to a JPEG file in the SD card. A red
LED was used to indicate when a red-light violation was
detected. A sample of an image taken using the red-light
camera is shown in Figure 5
Fig. 5: Image captured by red-light camera
3.2.2 Camera and SD Card circuit
Figure 6 show The Arduino Uno coordinates the circuit.
The JPEG camera transmitter and receiver are connected to
the digital pins of the Arduino. They communicate serially
using the Software Serial library. Once an image is captured,
it sends it in hexadecimal format through the serial connec-
tion. The ports CIN and MIN are as discussed above. The
SD card module has four ports: SS (Slave Select), SCK (Slave
Clock input), MISO (Master In, Slave Out), MOSI (Master
Out, Slave In). As the image data is being read from the
camera, it is written to a JPEG file in the SD card. The LED
connected to digital pin 9 is used to signify when a red-light
violation is detected.
5
Fig. 6: Camera and SD Card circuit
4 R ESULTS
Infrared sensors and cameras combined with image process-
ing were used to find density for the traffic control system.
To compare the two methods, the program was run 130
times, and their rates of false detection were compared. The
rates for the cameras were 13.1% for the north side of the
intersection and 2.3% for the east side of the intersection.
For the infrared detectors, the rates were 0.8% for the south
side of the intersection and 15.4% for the west side of the
intersection.
To determine the average efficiency of vehicle detection
for the red light camera, the metal detector was tested by
passing a metal vehicle across it 50 times. The percentage
of instant vehicle detections was 38%; the percentage of
delayed vehicle detection was 40%; while the percentage
for no detections was 22%. In theory, the cameras are more
accurate than the infrared sensors, as they count the actual
number of cars and don’t have any blind spots. In practice,
however, the limitations of both methods caused a similar
number of false detections.
5 D ISCUSSION
Traffic control needs to be made more efficient to avoid time
and fuel wastage associated with fixed-time traffic lights.
Providing a means of persecuting red-light runners is critical
to deterring drivers from running red lights. The aim of
this work is to develop a traffic light control system that
alters time based on traffic density, and detects and captures
images of red-light runners.
The infrared sensors had reduced accuracy due to the
presence of blind spots between sensors where cars could
not be detected. Cars in the outer lanes sometimes did not
produce a high enough signal to be detected. Reflection of
the emitted light by objects that were not cars also caused
false detections. Adjusting the threshold value, using more
sensors or placing them at a different orientation relative to
the road would improve accuracy.
The cameras were sensitive to presence of non-vehicular
objects and changes in light intensity. Increasing the thresh-
old level for converting images to binary and removing
small blobs reduced background noise. A potential solution
to the sensitivity to light intensity is capturing a large
number of background images at different light intensities.

A background image can be selected based on the light
intensity at the time of image acquisition.
The metal detector circuit for the red-light camera had
delayed detections caused by the low baud rate used for
measuring frequency. When a metal object passed the sensor
at the exact instant the circuit frequency was measured, a
delayed response occurred. Using a device with a higher
baud rate and a more stable circuit that does not need
calibration could solve this problem.
Improvements can be made to the system to enhance
overall speed and accuracy. The traffic control system took
approximately two seconds to calculate time based on den-
sity. This was mainly due to the relatively slow processing
speed of MATLAB and the serial communication between
the Arduino and MATLAB. This problem can be solved by
using a faster computer vision tool such as OpenCV [18]
with C++. In a real-life implementation of the system, an
integrated, specialized computer (with Graphic Processing
Units (GPUs)) designed specifically for density based traffic
control would make the system much faster and more effi-
cient. The red light camera took approximately 27 seconds
to capture an image and store it in the SD card. In a practical
implementation of the system, this speed is too slow. A
high-speed camera and memory system designed for this
purpose would be an efficient solution to this problem. The
traffic density records stored in the database have many
applications. They can be used to estimate timing when
density information is not available; for planning new road
networks; and for GPS and navigation applications. Crucial
information such as frequency and details of accidents for
each intersection can also be stored in the database. Images
of red-light runners can be processed to detect their number
plates, making the process more efficient and less error
prone than manually reading characters of plate numbers
from the images. Records of offenders can be stored in a
database and the process of prosecution can be automated.
A renewable power source independent of the national
grid such as wind or solar power can be integrated into
the system to reduce down time. This would make it more
sustainable in countries like Nigeria with unstable power
supplies.
As a proof of concept, this work shows that a vision
based Traffic Control system is plausible. We are confident
that these results will be improved by using C++ and asso-
ciated computer vision tools. A faster memory and graphic
(GPUs) systems will facilitate faster access and much better
results. That we are able to achieve a 2.3% at one intersection
means that we can achieve similar or lower results in other
intersections if parameters like lighting and background
thresholds are improved.
6 C ONCLUSION
This work has demonstrated the principle of density-based
timing of traffic light control systems, and the operation of
red-light cameras to capture red light runners. Potentially,
it could be scaled up to develop intelligent traffic control
systems that meet the specific needs of the Nigerian trans-
portation sector. The fully functional system would con-
trol traffic, generate vehicular movement data for decision
making and document traffic offenses. A scaled-up version
6
of this project will not only increase the effectiveness and
efficiency of traffic regulating bodies such as the Federal
Road Safety Corps (FRSC) and the Vehicle Inspection Office
(VIO), it also has potential to generate revenue.
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