Solar Powered Traffic Control System Based on Traffic Density with Emergency Vehicle Alert

The objective of this paper is to use the solar energy in powering density-based traffic control system with remote override facilities. Since solar energy is one of the major renewable sources and is non-polluted an attempt is made to utilize this energy in the traffic control system. A photovoltaic system is utilized for powering the system continuously. During normal time the signal timing changes automatically on sensing the traffic density at the junction by IR interruption method. But in the event of any emergency vehicle like ambulance,fire brigade etc.… requiring priority are built in with RF remote control unit to override the set timing by providing instantaneous green signal in the desired direction by blocking the other lanes by red signal. Higher traffic density at one side of the junction demands longer green time as compared to specific allotted time. The proposed traffic control system using a microcontroller of 8051 family duly interfaced with photo sensors, changes the junction timing automatically to accommodate movement of vehicles smoothly to avoid unnecessary waiting time at the junction. The density of the vehicles is measured in three zones i.e., low traffic zone, medium traffic zone, high traffic zone based on which timings are allotted accordingly. The override feature in this unit is activated by an on board RF transmitter operated from the emergency vehicle which in turn provides a high priority for all emergency vehicles.