A Bus Signal Priority Control Method Based on Deep Reinforcement Learning

Abstract

To investigate the issue of multi-entry bus priority at intersections, an intelligent priority control method based on deep reinforcement learning was constructed in the bus network environment. Firstly, a dimension reduction method for the state vector based on the key lane was proposed, which contains characteristic parameters such as the bus states, the flow states, and the signal timing. Secondly, a control action method that can adjust phase sequence and phase green time at the same time was proposed under the constraints of maximum green and minimum green. Furthermore, a reward function, which can be uniformly converted into the number of standard cars, was established focusing on the indexes such as the busload and maximum waiting time. Finally, through building an experimental environment based on SUMO simulation, a real-time bus signal priority control method based on deep reinforcement learning was constructed. The results show that the algorithm can effectively reduce the waiting time of buses without affecting overall traffic efficiency. The findings can provide a theoretical basis for the signal control method considering bus priority and improve the operation efficiency of public transport.

Keywords

• traffic engineering
• bus priority
• signal control
• deep reinforcement learning
• sumo simulation