Urban traffic control structure based on hybrid Petri nets

An urban network of signalized intersections can be suitably modeled as a hybrid system, in which the vehicle flow behavior is described by means of a time-driven model and the traffic light dynamics are represented by a discrete event model. In this paper, a model of such a network via hybrid Petri nets is used to state and solve the problem of coordinating several traffic lights with the aim of improving the performance of some classes of special vehicles, i.e., public and emergency vehicles. The proposed model has been validated using real traffic data relevant to the city of Torino, Italy. Some relevant experimental results are reported and discussed.