Abstract:In this paper, we propose to use vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) to collect and aggregate real-time speed and position information on individual vehicles to optimize signal control at traffic intersections. We first formulate the vehicular traffic signal control problem as a job scheduling problem on processors, with jobs corresponding to platoons of vehicles. Under the assumption that all jobs are of equal size, we give an online algorithm, referred to as the oldest job first (OJF) algorithm, to minimize the delay across the intersection. We prove that the OJF algorithm is 2-competitive, implying that the delay is less than or equal to twice the delay of an optimal offline schedule with perfect knowledge of the arrivals. We then show how a VANET can be used to group vehicles into approximately equal-sized platoons, which can then be scheduled using OJF. We call this the two-phase approach, where we first group the vehicular traffic into platoons and then apply the OJF algorithm, i.e., the oldest arrival first (OAF) algorithm. Our simulation results show that, under light and medium traffic loads, the OAF algorithm reduces the delays experienced by vehicles as they pass through the intersection, as compared with vehicle-actuated methods, Webster’s method, and pretimed signal control methods. Under heavy vehicular traffic load, the OAF algorithm performs the same as the vehicle-actuated traffic method but still produces lower delays, as when compared with Webster’s method and the pretimed signal control method.