Traffic Signal Beacon Feedback for False Green Request Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current traffic control systems face challenges in accurately diagnosing and mitigating faults, particularly false green requests and undetected true green requests, which can lead to inefficient traffic management and potential safety issues.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a traffic control device equipped with a processing module, cameras, radio frequency transceivers, and state-affecting sensors, which uses a state machine to control traffic and communicates with remote resources to identify and verify false or true green requests, and adjust operations accordingly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traffic control devices use state machines to control traffic flow, then traffic management efficiency is improved, but the system becomes vulnerable to false green requests and undetected true green requests that can compromise safety
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where traffic control devices send green request data to remote facilities, which analyze the requests using machine learning models and send back verification results. This closed-loop feedback system allows the traffic control device to distinguish between false and true green requests, maintaining safety while preserving traffic management efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a remote facility as an intermediary between the traffic control device and the green request verification process. The remote facility receives green request data, performs analysis using trained machine learning models, and returns verification results to the traffic control device, thereby protecting the system from false requests without compromising the state machine's traffic control functionality.
2Reliability
If traffic control devices implement comprehensive fault detection and verification systems, then reliability is improved, but device complexity and processing requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the fault detection system into two segments: the traffic control device that collects and transmits green request data, and the remote facility that performs complex machine learning analysis. This segmentation allows the traffic control device to maintain simplicity while the remote facility handles the complex verification processes using trained models.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements preliminary action by training machine learning models in advance using historical green request data. These pre-trained models are then deployed at the remote facility to quickly verify incoming green requests without requiring complex real-time processing at the traffic control device, thus reducing device complexity while maintaining high reliability.
3Measurement precision
If traffic control devices transmit green request data to remote facilities for verification, then false request identification is improved, but communication requirements and data transmission overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the essential green request data (such as timestamp, location, and request characteristics) that is necessary for verification, rather than transmitting complete traffic control system data. This selective data extraction reduces communication overhead while maintaining sufficient information for accurate false request identification by the remote facility.
Data Source
AI summary
Traffic control systems implement methods for detecting various malfunctions including faulty sensors and sensor connections that may result in false green requests, undetected green requests, and faults with the visual displays of a traffic control device (TCD). The sensors may include inductive loops and pedestrian pushbuttons. A TCD may communicate with remote resources to help identify faults. The remote resources may include computer systems, which may be configured to interact with human resources such as crowdsourced resources. A TCD's communications with the remote resources may go through vehicle computers and smart phones of vehicles' occupants and pedestrians. A TCD may emit signals to enable vehicle computers to improve accuracy of position location. A TCD may emit its state and time-to-state-change information, in real or substantially real time. A vehicle computer may receive the state and/or time to state changes and in response vary operation of the vehicle's power train.