Programs & Labs
SMART-Signal
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Overview
Henry Liu, associate professor of civil engineering, developed the SMART-Signal system.
Performance monitoring for arterial traffic control and management systems is a rapidly expanding area of intelligent transportation systems research and development—one that promises to significantly improve urban traffic management. The SMART-Signal system, developed by principal investigator Henry Liu of the civil engineering department, meets the need for high-resolution arterial traffic data by integrating traffic sensors into traffic signal control equipment.
SMART-Signal (Systematic Monitoring of Arterial Road Traffic Signals) collects and archives event-based traffic signal data at multiple intersections and automatically generates real-time performance measures including travel time, number of stops, queue length, intersection delay, and level of service.
“We’ll know when a phase started, ended, when a vehicle crossed through the intersection, and over time, how many vehicles passed by,” said Liu. This will allow engineers to set individual signals to the right timing schedules.
A signal control cabinet and controller hardware in the Minnesota Traffic Observatory.
Liu began working on the project in 2006, developing the software and hardware necessary to collect signal data and calculate performance measures. Liu worked with the Minnesota Traffic Observatory to develop SMART-Signal using the MTO’s hardware-in-loop simulation capabilities. By feeding data from an advanced microscopic traffic simulator through signal-controller hardware in the laboratory, the research team was able to test and fine-tune the system before deployment.
SMART-Signal is now deployed on three major arterial corridors in Minnesota, including six intersections on Trunk Highway 55 in Golden Valley, eleven intersections on France Avenue in Bloomington, and three intersections on Prairie Center Drive in Eden Prairie. The equipment is installed in signal controller cabinets.
Minnesota Traffic Observatory director John Hourdos discusses SMART-Signal with Shelley Row, director of the USDOT’s ITS Joint Program Office.
Hennepin County officials believe SMART-Signal will provide performance data that will help guide the development of effective strategies for dealing with oversaturated conditions. According to Eric Drager, traffic operations engineer for Hennepin County, the program has already helped confirm the results of an engineering consulting firm’s signal timing study of the corridor.
“SMART-Signal…will be able to tell us how our systems are functioning in real time and at any time,” said Drager. “The county is looking to develop more ITS-related applications and implementations, so this project fits quite nicely with that goal.”
The success of the initial SMART-Signal deployment garnered the 2009 CTS Research Partnership Award for the researchers and agency personnel involved in the development and implementation of the system. The University of Minnesota also filed a patent to protect the intellectual property on the SMART-Signal system in 2009.
Recently, the University has issued a temporary license to Iteris, Inc. in California for a demonstration project in Pasadena. SMART-Signal was installed at six intersections on Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena, California, between March and April 2011. It began collecting traffic data in May 2011.
Funding and in-kind support for the SMART-Signal system has been provided by MnDOT, the ITS Institute, the Minnesota Local Road Research Board, Hennepin County, and the National Cooperative Highway Research Program.
ITS Institute research projects
The ITS Institute is involved in a set of interrelated research projects that focuses on the development of an arterial performance-measure system using traffic data available from existing signal systems.
SMART-Signal: Systematic Monitoring of Arterial Road Traffic and Signals-Phase 2
As part of the ongoing project, the SMART-Signal (Systematic Monitoring of Arterial Road Traffic and Signals) system is being developed and evaluated on 11 consecutive intersections of France Avenue in Hennepin County, Minnesota. The SMART-Signal system is also being at six intersections on T.H.55, supported by MnDOT's Innovative Ideas Program. Currently, the SMART-Signal system can simultaneously collect and archive event-based traffic signal data and automatically generate real-time performance measures such as travel time and number of stops along an arterial, and delay, queue length, and level of services for intersections.
Learn more about SMART-Signal:
Development of A Real-Time Arterial Performance Monitoring System Using Traffic Data Available from Existing Signal Systems
Despite recent developments in real-time measurement of freeway performance using routinely available loop detector data, no similar approaches exist for monitoring the performance of urban arterial street networks. This project aims to fill in that gap by developing a real-time online performance monitoring system for arterial streets. The arterial performance data will also be archived and made available to various stakeholders for operations, planning, research, and traveler information systems, similar to the way freeway performance data are used. In this project, data availability and requirements from existing signal systems will be analyzed, and algorithms for the estimation and prediction of real-time arterial travel time and speed will be developed depending on data resolution. The project has two distinct phases: the first will focus on the data from the existing system only, without additional field instrumentation; the second will attempt to obtain higher resolution data through the installation of additional field instrumentation.
Learn more about this project (Phase 1 of SMART-Signal):
Development of Algorithms for Travel Time Based Traffic Signal Timing, Phase I
With nationwide demonstrations taking place on vehicle infrastructure integration (VII), high-resolution probe data from VII-equipped vehicles may soon be available to traffic engineers. But the existing signal-timing optimization techniques are based on traditional loop-detector data and historical field data, and these models cannot utilize the full potential of VII probe data. To fill this gap, this research aims to develop a real-time online or offline performance-monitoring and signal-optimization system for isolated and coordinated signalized intersections. Researchers will also explore how to combine multiple data sources (VII and non-VII sources) to provide reliable and efficient traffic signal control. Researchers will use hardware-in-the-loop simulation to evaluate and improve the proposed control system. The purpose of this project is to support Mn/DOT and its partners in evaluating uses and benefits of VII-related data in traffic management. As such, the project complements parallel efforts of the United States Department of Transportation, VII-C, and others, to design and deploy the VII network, vehicle equipment, and initial applications.
Learn more about SMART-Signal:
Real Time Arterial Performance Monitoring System
The primary purpose of this project is to implement a low-cost system that can accurately estimate arterial travel times (suitable for public traveler information systems) with only minor revisions to the Minnesota Department of Transportation's standard detection layout. The secondary goal of the project is to provide accurate mainline turning movement counts and minor street approach counts at a level accurate enough for traffic analysis and signal timing work.
Learn more about this project: