Smart Traffic Control - Byte of 87

• 

  4 way traffic lights on a breadboard

• 

  closer look at the traffic lights.

Inspiration

Traffic Lights in Copenhagen, Denmark. People are able to smoothly flow through intersections due to the fact that traffic lights constantly monitor traffic and change lights accordingly. Here in Edmonton, there could be no cars crossing the intersection for what feels like hours, yet you still have to wait for the whole cycle to go through until you get a green light.

What it does

Reduces wait times at traffic lights by constantly counting cars using a light detector, and cycles the traffic lights accordingly to reduce waypoints.

How we built it

Breadboard with LEDs, photresistors, and an LCD screen with a Raspberry Pi Pico to control everything.

Challenges we ran into

Implementing multithreading to keep track of cars while traffic lights were operating.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We finished within the time limit. We were able to work together as a team to create a working prototype that displays the functionality we set out to accomplish.

What we learned

MicroPython, multithreading, servo, photoresistors as a sensor to detect cars.

What's next for Smart Traffic Control

Scaling it up to a microcontroller with more pins, implementing bus and pedestrian priority, and using lasers for vehicle detection (longer range).

Built With

• micropython
• python
• raspberry-pi