International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management

and Science (IJAEMS)

Peer-Reviewed Journal
ISSN: 2454-1311 | Vol-11, Issue-2; Mar-Apr, 2025
Journal Home Page: https://ijaems.com/
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.22161/ijaems.112.12

Density Based Traffic Control System and Emergency

Vehicle Detection Using Arduino
Ankita Jangir, Divya Jain, Khushi Nayak, Vikas Ranveer Singh Mahala

Department of Electrical Engineering, Swami Keshvanand Institute of Technology, Management & Gramothan, Jaipur, India.

Received: 03 Mar 2025; Received in revised form: 25 Mar 2025; Accepted: 31 Mar 2025; Available online: 07 Apr 2025

Abstract—Urban traffic congestions cause delays and ineffi- cient fuel expenditure in cities. Regular fixed-
time-based traffic systems are not able to respond quickly to real-time conditions and thus cannot manage traffic
efficiently. This paper proposes an adaptive traffic control system using an Arduino microcontroller to
automatically adjust signal timings based on vehicle density detected by IR sensors. Moving traffic is monitored
by the system in real-time to optimize signal changes for better flow and reduce congestions. The other
technology associated is RFID, which creates a foolproof emergency vehicle pass using minimal time delay at
intersections. The system provides priority to emergency vehicles while optimizing other traffic. This system
improves the efficiency of traffic and decreases the waiting time, which enables better road clearance for
emergency service vehicles. The model is cost-effective, very adaptable, and promises a great step forward in
urban traffic management.
Keywords—Adaptive Traffic Control, Arduino, IR Sensors, RFID, Emergency Vehicle Priority, Urban
Traffic Management.

INTRODUCTION delays in life-saving operations. In critical cases, a

Traffic congestion has been and is one of the matter of a second could spell the difference
significant challenges facing urban planners in every between life and death; every second counts, and
corner of the world. As cities expand and the one can just imagine the lifeline lost just by one
number of vehicles increases, tra- ditional traffic second of intersection delay [4]–[7]. At present,
controlling systems either remain unable to manage traffic management authorities are depending upon
the increased traffic flow or do so ineffectively. Con- manual systems or dedicated lanes for emergency
ventional traffic signals are based on a fixed time vehicles, which does not guarantee efficacy,
interval-and hence do not change, to best suit real- especially during peak hours. It is imperative that,
time traffic conditions in order to cut down emergency response times
considerably, an automated smart system is called
[1]–[3]. This leads to prolonged delays, increased
for, whereby an emergency vehicle being able to
consumption of fuel, and created air pollution due to
automatically detect and grant itself priority
long idling vehicles at traffic lights. Instead, the
clearance [8]–[10]. To mitigate this problem, an
density-based adaptive traffic control system seems a
adaptive traffic light controlling system based on
more efficient solution that changes signal timing
traffic density on the road, using IR sensor to detect
according to the real-time density of vehicles. Such a
number of vehicles at an intersection, is proposed
system enables smooth traffic flow with less problem
where the proposed system also detects the
caused by traffic congestion. Besides general
emergency vehicle separately to give priority to
congestion, emergency vehicles, such as ambulances,
emergency vehicles [11]–[13].
fire trucks, and police cars, often get stuck at
intersections behind traffic lights, causing further

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Jangir et al. International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 11(2) -2025

METHODOLOGY 5VDC [VDD] through the DC power supply to

The entire design approach entails the design and run the IR sensor, the controller, the RFID module,
the implementation of the input subsystem, control and the traffic lights. The sensors provide
unit (control program), and output subsystem. The information to the controller, and based on that,
input subsystem is composed of sensors logical operations are executed to set the traffic
programmed and implemented according to some lights’ state to control traffic at the road intersection.
already existing principles to guarantee the
maximum operational performance. The control unit
is brought into operation through a microcontroller-
based control program that interprets the input and
interprets it to generate a desired output.
A. Block Diagram
Fig.1 shows the block diagram of the entire system
that gives an idea of the basic elements of the
system- Mains Supply, DC Power Supply, IR
Sensors, Controller, Traffic Lights, and RFID module.
Fig. 1: Block diagram of density based traffic light control
The block diagram was drawn in such a way as to
system
give an exact idea of the overall working of the
system in a single glance; so the main supply
supplies 230VAC power, which gets converted into

Fig. 2: Flow chart of the system

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The main power supply builds a battery which and efficiency for the remote monitoring and
increases the voltage steady thereon the safety management of the system. All these features
controller, sensors, and many other components. The together contribute to making Arduino an ideal
IR sensors fixed near the road check the density of option for the construc- tion of an efficient and
the vehicles flowing at an intersection. This data is value-for-money smart traffic control system.
sent to the controller to dynamically vary the B. Flow chart
duration of the traffic signals on the basis of the
Fig.2 shows the flowchart of the entire system. The
actual vehicle counts: a longer green light for higher
flowchart represents the systematic lanes priority
traffic density and a shorter green light under low
based on traffic volume. First, it calls attention
traffic density.
toward special cases for example, emergency
In addition to handling normal traffic, this system vehicles like ambulance, fire brigade, etc. Then he
is in- tended to facilitate the clearing of emergency follows simple hierarchy comparisons to decide
vehicles when they approach illuminated Traffic which lane should get the green light, leading to
Signal Junctions. Each such vehicle (in emergencies, restrictions based on traffic volume. This particular
typically ambulances, fire engines, and police cars) decision process is aimed at traffic management for
normally has an RFID tag attached to it. Upon streamlining vehicular movement in a safe and
approaching the traffic junction, the RFID reader efficient manner.
reads the tag from the vehicle and sends a signal to
This flowchart is the decision-making process for
the controller,
determin- ing which lane Broads A, B, C, or D gets
which shifts the green traffic light to the emergency the green signal at intersections. Following is a
vehicle immediately. There will not be any manual stepwise description:
interference; response times in critical conditions will
be minimized. The microcontroller acts as the brain
of the system, takes inputs from both the IR sensors 1) Start
as well as the RFID module, efficiently provides • The process begins with the ”Start”
intelligent control, and manages the flow of traffic symbol.
lights accordingly.
2) Checking for Emergency Vehicles
The system design relied on Arduino because of its • The system first checks if an emergency
simplic- ity, cost-effectiveness, and flexibility. It can vehicle is present in any lane.
be easily paired with several other sensors such as
• If Yes: The signal is adjusted to allow
infrared or ultrasonic to analyze traffic flow as well as
the emer- gency vehicle to pass.
detect emergency vehicles; quick responses made
possible with real-time processing techniques adjust • If No: The system proceeds to analyze
the signal based on traffic variations to contribute to traffic con- ditions.
the overall efficiency of the flow and the priority to 3) Comparing Lanes to Determine Priority
emergency vehicles upon their detection; low power
• The system prioritizes lanes based on
consumption keeps the overall operating cost low,
traffic volume using a series of
allowing continuous activity without heavy energy
comparisons.
expenses; in addition, because of Ar- duino’s
modular nature, it allows scalable aspects whereby Case 1: A ≥ B
new sensors or components can be easily introduced • If lane A has traffic volume greater than
whenever or equal to
necessary; being an open-source platform, Arduino B, further checks are performed:
boasts extensive community support whereby many – If A ≥ C, then check if C ≥ D:
resources and libraries lengthen and quicken the
∗ If Yes: C gets the green signal.
development phase. Some connection options such
as Wi-Fi or GSM appear to pro- vide convenience ∗ If No: Since C < D, lane D gets the green

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signal. system. The Arduino Uno [14]–[16] will receive

– If A < C, then check if A ≥ D: signals from the sensors, processes the input, and
produce outputs, such as a traffic light change, or an
∗ If Yes: A gets the green signal.
emergency vehicle detection. Fig.3 shows arduino
∗ If No: Since A < D, lane D gets the green uno board.
signal.
Case 2: A < B
• If lane A has less traffic than B, the
comparison continues with D:
– If B ≥ C, a simpler comparison is made
with
D:
∗ If Yes: C gets the green signal. Fig. 3: Arduino uno
∗ If No: Since C < D, lane D gets the green
signal.
Infrared Sensors on the separate lanes:This
– If B < C, then check if B ≥ D: consists of four Infrared (IR) sensors [17] placed in
∗ If Yes: B gets the green signal. appropriate locations to observe traffic density from
∗ If No: Lane D gets the green signal. the different lanes of the intersection; and each
sensor can figure out if a vehicle either passed over
4) Final Decision
or interrupted the infrared beam. The number of
• Based on direct comparisons, the lane vehicles detected by the IR sensors is fed to the
with the highest traffic volume is granted Arduino Uno for evaluating the situation of traffic
the green signal. in each lane, as the sensors are placed in such a way
that they can identify or monitor the flow of traffic
of each lane independently, which would contribute
EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
in a comparative way as occur in monitoring a
In order to demonstrate the function of the traffic specific lane signal more adequately. By means of
man- agement system that has been developed, a these sensors, the system determines an
prototype was designed for testing in an accumulation of traffic on some specific lane and
environment of real-world demon- stration. The thus will adjust the signal timings to eliminate the
testing scenario for the system was created to allow bottlenecks. Fig.4 shows infrared sensor used in
for traffic flows to be monitored for the management experimental setup.
of emergency vehicles, and in regard to this page,
there are no processes for emergency vehicles. Fig.6
represents the exper- imental setup of the density-
based traffic light control system in operation, which
was used for our research project, while Fig.7 shows
the connections of the Arduino with IR sensors and
the RFID module. The experimental setup includes:
Fig. 4: Infrared Sensor
Arduino Uno Microcontroller: It is the core of the
system; will act as the central control unit for the
whole system and is quite simple with regard to RFID Module for Emergency Vehicle Detection:
implementation, as an open-source microcontroller is This system has an RFID module [18] for the very
used often as a more concerned notion of other types, important task of emergency vehicle detection, for
such as minimal price, multi-usage, and simplicity. which all emergency vehicles are fitted with
This would be the main processing unit for the electronically labeled or tagged from the entire

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length of the RFID module. When an emergency A system inclusive of different traffic management
vehicle comes to the intersection, the RFID module scenarios was effectively tested to examine the
sends a signal to Arduino Uno in order to get a performance. The types of tests simulated various
real-time response and prioritizes the emergency real-life situations with varied traffic density along
vehicle’s passage. The system then adjusts the traffic the lines of emergency vehicles involved:
signals by turning red for all other lanes, allowing Traffic Density Variations: The experiment
the emergency vehicle to pass through the evaluates the appropriateness of the system
intersection without any obstruction or delay. Fig.5 adjusting for different traffic density conditions at an
shows RFID module. intersection. The low-density traffic condition
LED Based Traffic Signals: This project incorporates indicates a situation with minimal vehicles, and
LED-based traffic signals, simulating real-life traffic the system minimizes the green lights duration,
signals which offer advantages over the classical which ulti- mately permits very rapid passage of
forms of traffic sig- nals. The LEDs allow better vehicles with limited waiting times for the initial
visibility while providing massive power savings in vehicle. The infrared sensors sense very few
the traffic signals simulation. Arduino Uno will vehicles and the Arduino Uno decreases the amount
control the traffic signals working with inputs of green light duration to eliminate non-existent
coming from the IR sensors and the RFID module. traffic queue and allow traffic passage to resume
The LED signals based upon the detected without delay. The moderate-density traffic
emergency vehicle will, as such, turn the non- condition allows the Arduino Uno to dynamically
emergency vehicle lanes to red enabling the extend the green light duration for traffic lanes with
emergency vehicle lane dynamic enumerate moderate densities of heavy traffic or multiple
processes. All this general traffic logic is controlled vehicles present. The traffic lights changes thus will
by the Arduino Uno, which actuates command upon be displayed in real time allowing the system to
input from the IR sensors and RFID module. optimally relieve traffic lane congestion and still
promote efficient passage with moderate- density
traffic conditions. The high-density traffic condition
allows queues of vehicles to form, and the system
allows the traffic lights to maximize the green light
for the lane with the highest congestion while
adjusting for all other lanes to not remain at red
lights for extended periods. Each of the above
conditions results in the adaptive signal timing to
allow for the ultimate finite limits of passage of
Fig. 5: RFID module existing intersection. During the continuation of
traffic density conditions the signal timing are
dynamically adjusted based on the data of the
Power Supply Unit: To power all the system infrared sensors which limits wait time, enhance
components, there must be a stable and resilient throughput. This direct signal timing adjustment
supply. Such a supply will enable proper feeding of largely aids in congestion relief, minutes and
the voltage and current to the system including the seconds will ensure the decisiveness of the delay,
Arduino Uno, IR sensors, RFID module, and LED promotes traffic flow, and can optimize signal
traffic signals to keep it functional. This is of utmost performance for intersections with high volume or
importance in order to provide the necessary minutes, so an overall goal of intersection
integrity to the system and ensure that constant optimization is achieved.
testing should be operational throughout the total
Emergency Vehicle Scenarios: The second series
procedure experiment. A stable power supply unit
of pro- cedures introduced an emergency vehicle
ensures that the system remains operational and
into the system at intervals of time. When
responsive in real-time.
emergency vehicles that have RFID tags get close

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Jangir et al. International Journal of Advanced Engineering, Management and Science, 11(2) -2025

to the intersection, the RFID module

Fig. 6: Density based traffic light control system in operation

green for that lane of traffic and change other traffic

lights to red. The objective is to provide the
emergency vehicle as unobstructed
of a pathway through the intersection as possible.
The system is designed to display traffic light
patterns that respond to the arrival of emergency
vehicles, and will do its best to provide priority to
the emergency vehicle and allow the emergency
vehicle to travel through the intersection without
delay. Other vehicles will be stopped at the red
traffic light to ensure the intersection is clear as soon
as possible, while still minimizing the risk of
delaying other traffic and enhancing emergent
service response time.
Combination of Traffic and Emergency Vehicles:
The last evaluation emulated a scenario of a heavily
congested junction where traffic density converged
Fig. 7: Connections of arduino with IR sensors and RFID
with the presence of an emer- gency vehicle at the
module
intersection. This evaluation was meant to ascertain
how well the system was capable of handling not
will detect the emergency vehicle. When the RFID only an emergency vehicle’s request for
module detects the emergency vehicle, it will send a prioritization, as needed, while allowing normal
signal to the Arduino Uno, which will receive the traffic flow to maintain normal operations. Upon
detection data and change the traffic light state to observing the emergency vehicle traveling through
facilitate the emergency vehicle’s movement through the intersection using the RFID module, the
the intersection. When the system detects an Arduino Uno modified or transitioned the traffic
emergency vehicle, it will change the traffic light to signal to prioritize the emergency vehicle’s lane

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