Software Design Assignment: Project of Smart Traffic Light

Question

Task: You are required to develop a software design assignment on the projectto design an embedded system using the Arduino and other sensors available in your starter kit. You are also required to justify your design solution by describing into sufficient detail the rationale for eachdecision.

Answer

Introduction to Software Design Assignment
In this era, automation plays a significant role where emerging technologies and control systems are used for performing daily life activities through computer systems and devices automatically. Traffic control is a major concern in the world that impact on the transportation systems in countries and produce serious problems. The smart traffic light is leading automation which is capable to control and handle the flow of automobiles through the junction of numerous roads and manage traffics significantly. It is found that the conventional traffic systems are not capable to solve traffic congestion and troubles faced by the individuals in the cities due to which it is difficult to handle traffics and accidents. The aim of this project is to develop and implement a smart traffic light using Arduino controller and manage traffic-related concerns and issues. This project will help to enhance understanding in automation, traffic control and Arduino controller and smart traffic lights.

Relevant background information
Traffic lights refer to the signalling devices which are mainly placed for controlling the flows of traffics road intersections, crossings and other locations. In this generation, the level of transportation is increasing quickly and every person is using a personal vehicle that also increases the traffic level in the cities. Mainly, traffic lights contain three universal colours such as green light, yellow light and red light (Albatish, and Abu-Naser, 2019). It is demonstrated that green light enables traffic to proceed in the give direction and yellow light warns cars and other vehicles to prepare for the short stoppage.

On the other side, red light prohibits any traffic fromproceeding. The smart traffic light is mainly proposed for automatically handling these three lights on roads and capable to control traffics in a significant manner. It is found that traditional traffic systems are not able to handle variable flows approaching the junctions and produce problems at roads. In this project, we are designing and implementing a smart traffic light system using Arduino controller so that traffic problems and issues can be managed in a significant manner.

Arduino is a leading microcontroller which is capable to enable for developing effective automated systems and connect numbers of components significantly (Ghazal, et al., 2016). This project will help to control and monitor traffic lights automatically based on the traffics and vehicles and address the serious dilemma. This project proposes a significant, lower cost and real-time smart traffic system that helps to enhance traffic management.

Methodology
This project is completely based on the smart traffic light where traffic signals will be controlled and monitored through automated control systems and devices. There are following three design methods are included in the project:

Hardware design
Hardware design is a key part of the smart traffic light that helps to design a significant system for traffic control in the cities. In order to develop a smart traffic system numerous kinds of hardware components are selected which are highlighted below:

Arduino UNO is a type of microcontroller which is a key part of the traffic light system that has the potential to handle switching of the LED lights and control their timings in the cities. It also enables to connect the number of components and devices through a single device and perform automated operations significantly (Miz, and Hahanov, 2014). The LEDs are used for performing operations like red, yellow and green lights and connected to the Arduino UNO controller. The largest current that may be allowed through such lights is 20mA that will be sufficient to perform smart traffic system operations.

Software design
Software design is used in this project in order to design a prototype of the smart traffic light and develop codes for the project. Following two software tools are selected for this project:

• Arduino software
• Proteus software

It is demonstrated that Arduino is a significant tool which is used in this project in order to develop programming codes and compile the developed codes so that errors and problems can be identified. In terms of effectiveness, Arduino software is more effective and reliable that enabled to propose significant programming code as per the block diagram and circuit (Thakare, et al., 2013). On the other side, Proteus software is included in the project that provides a platform to design a prototype of the circuit where the number of components and elements are stored. Using both tools effective software protocols can be developed in regards to the smart traffic light system.

Circuit design and implementation
The traffic light system contains various LED devices which will be implemented for controlling and monitoring traffic signals. We require three LED devices for example Red, Yellow and Green for every intersection of the smart traffic system. The proposed intersection is categorized into major four lanes, for example, Signal1, Signal2, Signal3 and Signal4. All these LEDs are linked to the Arduino UNO board and power supply can be provided using the Arduino controller. The below figure shows a circuit diagram of a smart traffic light:

Final design solution
As this project is a smart traffic light where controlling and monitoring of traffic signals can be performed in a significant manner and traffic issues can be handled effectively. It contains UNO microcontroller,LEDs, resistors and power supply. In order to understand the working of the smart traffic light, the below Lane intersection can be reviewed:

It is demonstrated that green light of the first signal and red lights at other traffic signals will light up for providing time to the vehicles or cars at signal 1. After some delay, the yellow light at signal 1 will light up for providing an indication that the red signal at 1st signalwill be included and also provide asign to the cars or automobiles at 2nd signal that the green light will be indicated.

Below images show the final design of the smart traffic light system using Arduino UNO:
So after few delays, red light at 1st signal will be included and green light will be raisedthat shows that vehicles at 1st signal must not move and vehicles at 2nd signalwill be capable to move. Likewise, the traffic light system will work for signal 3 and signal 4 and enable to monitor traffic at roads.Below Arduino coding is used for performing operations of the smart traffic lights:

int Signal1[] = {13,12,11};
int Signal2[] = {10,9,8};
intSignal3[] = {7,6,5};
intSignal4[] = {4,3,2};
void setup()
{
for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
pinMode(Signal1[i], OUTPUT);
pinMode(Signal2[i], OUTPUT);
pinMode(Signal3[i], OUTPUT);
pinMode(Signal4[i], OUTPUT);
}

for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
{
digitalWrite(Signal1[i], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal2[i], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal3[i], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal4[i], LOW);
}
}

void loop()
{
digitalWrite(Signal1[2], HIGH);
digitalWrite(Signal3[0], HIGH);
digitalWrite(Signal4[0], HIGH);
digitalWrite(Signal2[0], HIGH);
delay(7000);

digitalWrite(Signal1[2], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal3[0], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal1[1], HIGH);
digitalWrite(Signal3[1], HIGH);
delay(3000);

digitalWrite(Signal1[1], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal3[1], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal1[0], HIGH);
digitalWrite(Signal3[2], HIGH);
delay(7000);

digitalWrite(Signal3[2], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal4[0], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal3[1], HIGH);
digitalWrite(Signal4[1], HIGH);
delay(3000);

digitalWrite(Signal3[1], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal4[1], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal3[0], HIGH);
digitalWrite(Signal4[2], HIGH);
delay(7000);

digitalWrite(Signal4[2], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal2[0], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal4[1], HIGH);
digitalWrite(Signal2[1], HIGH);
delay(3000);

digitalWrite(Signal4[1], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal2[1], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal4[0], HIGH);
digitalWrite(Signal2[2], HIGH);
delay(7000);

digitalWrite(Signal1[0], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal2[2], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal1[1], HIGH);
digitalWrite(Signal2[1], HIGH);
delay(3000);

digitalWrite(Signal2[1], LOW);
digitalWrite(Signal1[1], LOW);
}

Conclusion
From the above research, it may be concluded that smart traffic light is more effective and reliable that helped to manage traffic related problems effectively. This project helped to enhance understanding and experience in regards to the smart traffic system. We have observed that Arduino is a reliable microcontroller used in this project that helped to connect numbers of components and develop an automated system for controlling traffic signals.

As compared to the conventional traffic systems, smart traffic light system is more effective and accurate that helped to manage traffic related problems and controlled traffic signals in a reliable manner. It also enables us to connect the number of components and devices through a single device and perform automated operations significantly. In terms of effectiveness, Arduino software is more effective and reliable that enabled to propose significant programming code as per the block diagram and circuit. It is found that the included software tools are effective that helped to develop a program or code for the project and also developed a design model as per the circuit diagram.

References
Albatish, I.M. and Abu-Naser, S.S., (2019) Modeling and Controlling Smart Traffic Light System Using a Rule-Based System. In 2019 International Conference on Promising Electronic Technologies (ICPET), 5(4), pp. 55-60.

Ghazal, B., ElKhatib, K., Chahine, K. and Kherfan, M., (2016) Smart traffic light control system. In 2016 third international conference on electrical, electronics, computer engineering and their applications (EECEA), pp. 140-145.

Miz, V. and Hahanov, V., (2014) Smart traffic light in terms of the cognitive road traffic management system (CTMS) based on the Internet of Things. In Proceedings of IEEE east-west design & test symposium (EWDTS 2014), 6(4), pp. 1-5.

Thakare, V.S., Jadhav, S.R., Sayyed, S.G. and Pawar, P.V., (2013) Design of smart traffic light controller using embedded system. IOSR Journal of Computer Engineering (IOSR-JCE), 10(1), pp.30-33.