Application of Back-Pressure Algorithm to Traffic Signal Control in Road Networks of Finite Road Capacity

Back-pressure algorithm has been increasingly attractive to reduce traffic congestion for road networks. Recent work has shown the performance superiority of back-pressure based traffic signal control algorithms. However, these back-pressure based traffic signal control algorithms either assume each road can hold infinite vehicles (infinite road capacity) or need to have prior knowledge of vehicle turning ratios, all of which are not realistic for applications. In this paper, we propose a back-pressure based traffic signal control algorithm that can efficiently reduce traffic congestion, and thus vehicle delay, for realistic road networks with finite road capacity and without prior knowledge of vehicle turning ratios. As validated by simulations, our algorithm reduces average vehicle delay by 66.7% under moderate vehicle arrival rate when compared to fixed cycle traffic signal control.

Back-pressure algorithm has been increasingly attractive to reduce traffic congestion for road networks. Recent work has shown the performance superiority of back-pressure based traffic signal control algorithms. However, these back-pressure based traffic signal control algorithms either assume each road can hold infinite vehicles (infinite road capacity) or need to have prior knowledge of vehicle turning ratios, all of which are not realistic for applications. In this paper, we propose a back-pressure based traffic signal control algorithm that can efficiently reduce traffic congestion, and thus vehicle delay, for realistic road networks with finite road capacity and without prior knowledge of vehicle turning ratios. As validated by simulations, our algorithm reduces average vehicle delay by 66.7% under moderate vehicle arrival rate when compared to fixed cycle traffic signal control.