Advanced Leader Election for Virtual Traffic Lights

[Abstract] We examine the network performance of algorithms for self⁃organized traffic management. In particular, we focus on wireless networking between cars. One of many technologies that make road traffic safer and more efficient is the Virtual Traffic Light (VTL) system, which is able to coordinate the traffic flow at intersections without the need for physical lights. VTL takes a leading vehicle at an intersection and uses it to control the traffic lights. We developed algorithms for leader election and traffic light computation in realistic vehicular networking scenarios. Our key contribution is the extension of this algorithm to support arbitrary intersection layouts. We investigated the proposal in synthetic and realistic scenarios. The results show that, overall, VTLs use network resources efficiently and positively influences driving experience. It performs better than stationary traffic lights for a low to medium network load. We also identify potential optimizations to deal with high network load and to improve fairness.

[Keywords] virtual traffic lights; self⁃organization; vehicular networks