DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF ELECTRONIC TRAFFIC LIGHT

Abstract

The control of traffic at road junction, which was done purely by human effort, proves to be inefficient owing to the increasing rate of both motorists as well as the complexity of road networks. This inadequacy brought about the use of discrete solid-state electronics up to the usage of a computer controlled microprocessor, but the intelligence of this method was still limited to meet the demand of modern age. Thus, the need for the development of a microcontroller-based standard traffic light control system. Traffic lights are signalling devices situated on the road at intersection points which are used to control the completing flows of traffic. In generally, a traffic light consists of a set of three lights. They are red, yellow and green. This paper explores the design and implementation of a microcontroller-based standard traffic light system for road intersection control. The traffic light system is designed using Programmable Integrated Circuit (PIC) 16F84A microcontroller, power section, crystal oscillator and light emitting diode (LED). Then, for effective traffic control, the PIC is implemented via an IC programmer using a mikroC program written in C- language. The developed traffic light control system is tested by constructing a prototype that resembles the real application. The overall system design for the implementation of developed microcontroller-based traffic light control system entails four subunits. The subunits include the power supply unit, the sensing unit, the control unit and LED display unit. The functionality of the prototype shows that the developed system can be used for a real life traffic control at road intersection. Besides, the developed system can be employed as a training kit in learning traffic light control system design and operation. Also, it can be used as a teaching aid in schools for various road users.