Real-time optimal traffic management in signal-controlled intersections: A receding-horizon approach

Adequate traffic signal control strategies are essential to achieve a significant reduction of traffic congestion in urban environment. This work presents a receding-horizon approach for the optimal management of a singular signalized intersection via a computationally efficient Model Predictive Control (MPC) formulation. The control strategy aims at minimizing the overall number of vehicles in queue at the traffic lights in each road, while satisfying additional safety constraints connected to the intersection's layout. Pedestrian requests are explicitly handled and potential deadlock situations in low traffic scenarios are avoided. The presented approach is validated through a realistic microscopic traffic simulator based on SUMO, in which a real intersection layout from the Italian city of Monza has been accurately reproduced and real-world traffic profiles have been provided as input.