Design and Evaluation of an Adaptive Bus Signal Priority System Base on Wireless Sensor Network

Transit priority control strategy can not only improve operation performance of transit vehicles, also increase transit schedule reliability, reduce operation cost and attract passenger volume. This paper presents a framework for real-time bus priority control system. This derived framework composes one control center and two modules, detection-communication module (DCM) and signal priority control module (PCM). DCM receives bus priority requests in real-time and send them to the center by wireless sensor network (WSN). The WSN system has been validate that much economical and efficient than other AVL systems. PCM includes three hierarchies: priority classification, passive priority strategy and active priority strategy. The upper level of PCM focuses on classifying and filtering different priority requests. The middle level gives a priority timing plan based on statistical data. The lower level will make priority decisions online. These decisions include predicting schedule deviation, selecting control object of signal priority, finding critical intersections, deciding the priority frequency and establishing a recovery strategy. The proposed system architecture integrated active and passive strategies and adding a priority classification level, can provide efficient bus priority control and minimize overall effects to motor vehicle movements under different traffic condition.