SMART TRAFFIC: Low-cost system for urban traffic analysis, simulation, optimization, and prediction

The development of smart cities depends on effective traffic management, based on tools for analyzing, simulating, optimizing, and predicting vehicle flow. Existing solutions of this kind tend to be very expensive because they are geared toward high-fidelity visualization, which makes it especially worthwhile to develop a flexible, low-cost solution for small and medium-sized cities that need a configurable system adapted to their needs.

In the absence of dedicated sensors deployed in the city, the project studied how to integrate existing traffic surveillance camera systems so they could be used as a network of traffic flow sensors, given that many cities already have this type of infrastructure.

Objectives:

• Make use of the video surveillance devices already installed in cities to monitor vehicle flow at key points.
• Obtain historical vehicle flow data to serve as a basis for intelligent traffic management strategies through simulation and prediction.
• Achieve a solution that is robust against variations in lighting, urban traffic conditions, and environmental conditions.

CTIC carried out SMART TRAFFIC with funding from the Asturias Program 2014-2015, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) of the European Union and by the Principality of Asturias through the Plan de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación 2013-2017.