Automatic

traffic signal
controller

done by
L.N.ARAVINDAN
H.PRAVEN
D.PARTHASARATHY
 INTRODUCTION
Now a days due to ever increasing vehicles on the road, it
require a efficient control on the four way junction of road. In
order to find a solution to this problem the concept of an
automatic traffic controller is conceived. Apart from providing
efficient control of traffic, it also eliminate chance of human
errors since it function automatically.

The automatic traffic controller automatically switches on

the four way junction for 15 seconds for direction control.

The main circuit components used are 555-Timer and 4-bit

binary synchronous counter (74160). The 555-Timer generates
a clock signal for 15 seconds. This signal is used to clock
counter circuit. Binary counter is converted to 3 bit–counter to
achieve 8 possible cases. The traffic light control is done by
different Boolean function of logic gate.
CIRCUIT DIAGRAM:
COMPONENTS REQUIRED:-

Components Specification Quantity

1.555 Timer 4.5 to 15 V, 1

200mA

2.Capacitors 10μf,16v 1
0.01μf 1

3.Resistors 240kΩ 1
270kΩ 1
470Ω 1
8

4.LED Green 10
Red 4
Yellow 4

5.IC 74160 1
7432 2
7404 1
7411 3
7408 1

6.IC base 8Pin 1

14Pin 7
16Pin 1

7.connector SIP2 5
SIP3 2
SIP4 2
THE WORKING OF THE SYSTEM:

The corresponding circuit automatically controls the traffic

signal during the day as well as nights.

In this system there are one 555 timer and one 74160
synchronous 4 bit counter, which is controlling whole device.
Along with there are some electronic equipments like 7404,
7408, 7411 gate, capacitor, resistor, LED (yellow, green, red)
etc. The time period for which green, yellow, and red traffic
signals remain ‘on’ (And then repeat) for the straight moving
traffic is divided into eight units of 8 seconds (or multiples
thereof) each.
 flow of traffic in all possible directions:
Fig. above shows the flow of traffic in all permissible directions
during the eight time units of 8 seconds each. For the left- and
right turning traffic and pedestrians crossing from north to
south, south to north, east to west ,and west to east, only green
and red signals are used.
TABLE I

Table I shows the simultaneous states of the signals for all

the traffic. Each row represents the status of a signal for 8
seconds. As can be observed from the table, the ratio of green,
yellow, and red signals is 16:8:40 (=2:1:5) for the straight
moving traffic. For the turning traffic the ratio of green and red
signals is 8:56 (=1:7), while for pedestrians crossing the road
the ratio of green and red signals is 16:48 (=2:6) In Table II (as
well as Table I) X, Y, and Z are used as binary variables to
depict the eight states of 8 seconds each. Letters A through H
indicate the left and right halves of the roads in four directions
as shown in Fig. 1. Two letters with a dash in between indicate
the direction of permissible movement from a road. Straight
direction is indicated by St, while left and right turns are
indicated by Lt and Rt, respectively. The Boolean functions for
all the signal conditions are shown in Table II. The left- and the
right-turn signals for the traffic have the same state, i.e. both
are red or green for the same duration, so their Boolean
functions are identical and they should be connected to the same
control output. The circuit diagram for realizing these Boolean
functions is shown in circuit diagram. Timer 555 (IC1) is wired
as an astable multivibrator to generate clock signal for the 4-bit
counter 74160 (IC2). The time duration of IC1 can be adjusted
by varying the value of resistor R1, resistor R2, or capacitor C2
of the clock circuit. The ‘on’ time duration T is given by the
following relationship: T = 0.693C2(R1+R2) IC2 is wired as a
3-bit binary counter by connecting its Q3 output to reset pin 1
via inverter N1. Binary outputs Q2, Q1, and Q0 form variables
X, Y, and Z, respectively. These outputs, along with their
complimentary outputs X’, Y’, and Z’, Respectively, are used as
inputs to the rest of the logic circuit to realize various outputs
satisfying Table I. You can simulate various traffic lights.
Using green, yellow, and red LEDs and feed the outputs of the
circuit to respective LEDs via current-limiting resistors of 470
ohms each to check the working of the circuit. Here, for turning
traffic and pedestrians crossing the road, only green signal is 23
made available. It means that for the remaining period these
signals have to be treated as ‘red’ in practice, the outputs of
Fig. 2 should be connected to operate high – power bulbs.
Further, if a particular signal condition (such as turning signal)
is not applicable to a given road, the output of that signal
condition should be connected to green signal of the next state
(refer Table I).

The traffic signals can also be controlled manually, if it

desired. Any signal state can be established by entering the
binary value corresponding to that particular state into the
parallel input pins of the 3-bit counter. Similarly, the signal can
be reset at any time by providing logic 0 at the reset pin (pin 1)
of the counter using an external switch.
THE 555 TIMER – NE 555 DESCRIPTION:-
The 8-pin 555 timer must be one of the most useful chips ever
made. This is a highly stable device for generating accurate
time delay or oscillation .With just a few external components it
can be used to many circuits, not all of them that involve timing!
A single 555 timer can provide time delay ranging from
microseconds to hours whereas counter time can have maximum
timing range of days. The 555 can be used with a supply voltage
(Vs) in the range 4.5 to 15V (18 V absolute) and can drive load
up to 200 mA. Because of wide range of supply voltage, the 555
timer is versatile and easy to use in various applications.
PIN CONFIGURATION :
Functional block diagram of 555 IC
SAMPLE GRAPH:
ASTABLE OPERATION USING 555 TIMER :

An astable circuit produces a 'square wave', this is a digital waveform

with sharp transitions between low (0V) and high (+Vs). Note that the
durations of the low and high states may be different. The circuit is
called an astable because it is not stable in any state: the output is
continually changing between 'low' and 'high'.

The time period (T) of the square wave is the time for one complete
cycle, but it is usually better to consider frequency (f) which is the
number of cycles per second.
T=.7X(R1+2R2)XC1

f=1.4/(R1+2R2)C1

T = time period in seconds (s)

f = frequency in hertz (Hz)
R1 = resistance in ohms ( )
R2 = resistance in ohms ( )
C1 = capacitance in farads (F)

The time period can be split into two parts: T = Tm + Ts

Mark time (output high): Tm = 0.7 × (R1 + R2) × C1
Space time (output low): Ts = 0.7 × R2 × C1

here in this circuit we are going to design a pulse having a time period
of 8 seconds

therefore the total time T will be 8 seconds

the value of capacitance C1=10 μF

R1=240k

R2=470k
T = .7 x (240k + 940k) x 10μ

= 8.26 seconds

WAVEFORM :

the time for which the traffic signal should be in a particular

state can be altered by altering the time period of this astable
multivibrator by varying the values of the resistors and
capacitors. Time period of upto to even hours can be obtained
by using this 555 timer.
74160 IC:

These are synchronous counters so their outputs change

precisely together on each clock pulse. This is helpful if you
need to connect their outputs to logic gates because it avoids the
glitches which occur with ripple counters. The count advances
as the clock input becomes high (on the rising-edge). The
decade counters count from 0 to 9 (0000 to 1001 in binary). The
4-bit counters count from 0 to 15 (0000 to 1111 in binary). For
normal operation (counting) the reset, preset, count enable and
carry in inputs should all be high. When count enable is low the
clock input is ignored and counting stops. The counter may be
preset by placing the desired binary number on the inputs A-D,
making the preset input low, and applying a positive pulse to the
clock input. The inputs A-D may be left unconnected if not
required. The reset input is active-low so it should be high
(+Vs) for normal operation (counting). When low it resets the
count to zero (0000, QA-QD low), this happens immediately
with the 74160 and 74161 (standard reset), but with the 74162
and 74163 (synchronous reset) the reset occurs on the rising-
edge of the clock input. Counting to less than the maximum (15
or 9) can be achieved by connecting the appropriate output(s)
through a NOT or NAND gate to the reset input. For the 74162
and 74163 (synchronous reset) you must use the output(s)
representing one less than the reset count you require, e.g. to
reset on 7 (counting 0 to 6) use QB (2) and QC (4). 52
Connecting synchronous counters in a chain the diagram
below shows how to link synchronous counters such as 74160-3,
notice how all the clock (CK) inputs are linked. Carry out (CO)
is used to feed the carry in (CI) of the next counter. Carry in
(CI) of the first 74160-3 counter should be high.
ADVANTAGES:

1. simple and efficient circuit.

2. working requirement is easily met.

3. no instant and direct manual operation is needed.

4. consumes very small amount of power for operation.

5. it also saves a considerable amount of power.

6. a very practical and low cost device.

7. it can make to work by using solar cell or wind cell for

power requirements.
CONCLUSION :

The Automatic traffic signal controller was designed by

using IC 555 timer and a simple digital logic which can be
modified efficiently to suit the needs of any modern traffic
system.