National ICT Centre of Excellence: smarter traffic control systems
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National ICT Australia Limited216 217 (NICTA) has been established through the Australian Government's ICT Centre of Excellence program. NICTA undertakes ICT research at the highest international standard and associated research training, industry development and commercialisation.
NICTA's new technologies makes traffic control systems smarter by giving them better, more comprehensive sensory input and making novel use of mathematical and computational techniques to establish an understanding of how traffic is flowing over the wide area network of traffic. It uses that information to compute changes at the level of each traffic light to optimise traffic flows across that network.
The problems of traffic congestion
As the world's major cities continue to grow, traffic congestion is becoming an ever-increasing problem. While investing in public transport infrastructure can alleviate some of the pressure, the number of vehicles using urban roads continues to climb.
In the 1970s the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) invented a new traffic control system which continually measures and adapts the flow of traffic through its major intersections. This system (called Sydney Co-ordinated Adaptive Traffic System - SCATS) uses sensors built into the road to detect cars waiting at intersections and a network of computers to coordinate the flow of traffic. It has undergone continual improvement and is now used across Australia and in 130 cities in over 25 countries around the world.
In 2005 NICTA formed a research partnership with the NSW Roads and Traffic Authority to develop the next generation of traffic control systems.
Innovative technology improves transport and roads
Specifically, this is achieved by NICTA:
- Developing new computer vision technology to provide reliable, low-cost vehicle detection and tracking, queue length estimation and vehicle classification at intersections. This information is fed into an artificial intelligence (AI) based control system running on an hierarchical network of computers.
- Working with the NSW Government's Transport Management Centre at Eveleigh to develop better computer interfaces for RTA personnel engaged in traffic management. This work involves measuring the cognitive load (load on the brain) of traffic control room operators during emergencies and designing new computer systems which improve response time and reduce fatigue. Improved response times are critically important for getting emergency services and other traffic management vehicles to an accident scene quickly. They can also reduce the knock-on effect of a traffic jam, which increases exponentially with time.
- Developing a new communications network protocol to ensure that school zone warning lights are operating reliably. This improves safety in school zones. The protocol ensures that lights are working and switched on at the right time. Messages are sent wirelessly to a large number of crossings, and to others via wired networks. This is done centrally and simultaneously.
NICTA is trialling its computer vision and AI based control algorithms at a major intersection of the Illawarra and Princes Highways, near Albion Park, south of Wollongong. This system is predicted to improve the flow of vehicles through the intersection in peak periods by 5 per cent, which translates into a flow-on significant improvement in travel times and safety.
All of these improved traffic management systems will initially be deployed in NSW. They are also expected to be implemented in other states of Australia and elsewhere in the world using the existing RTA distribution network. These research initiatives will also have environmental benefits through reducing local particulate pollution from vehicles delayed in traffic and minimising fuel wastage.
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[216] Reuse or distribution of this case study must include the following attribution: Australia's Digital Economy: Future Directions © National ICT Australia Limited and Commonwealth of Australia, 2009, www.dbcde.gov.au/digital_economy/final_report
[217] See http://nicta.com.au/
