Received 8 October 2024, accepted 12 December 2024, date of publication 18 December 2024, date of current version 24 January 2025.

Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3519512

Smart City Traffic Flow and Signal Optimization

Using STGCN-LSTM and PPO Algorithms
TUXIANG LIN1 , AND RONGLIANG LIN 2, (Member, IEEE)
1 Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology, Technische Universität Darmstadt, 64289 Darmstadt, Germany
2 College of Intelligent Manufacturing Engineering, Zhanjiang University of Science and Technology, Zhanjiang 524094, China

Corresponding author: Rongliang Lin ([email protected])

ABSTRACT Urban traffic congestion remains a critical challenge for smart city development, necessitating
innovative approaches to improve traffic flow and reduce delays. This study presents a novel framework that
integrates the Spatiotemporal Graph Convolutional Network-Long Short-Term Memory (STGCN-LSTM)
model for traffic flow prediction with the Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO) algorithm for dynamic traffic
signal control. The STGCN-LSTM model captures complex spatiotemporal dependencies, achieving an R2
of 0.904 on the METR-LA dataset. Extensive experiments and ablation studies highlight the complementary
strengths of STGCN and LSTM, with the hybrid model outperforming standalone variants. The PPO
algorithm dynamically adjusts signal timings, reducing vehicle waiting times by 30% and increasing traffic
throughput by 15%. Incorporating external factors, such as weather and holidays, enhances the framework’s
robustness in dynamic conditions, including adverse weather and traffic surges. GPU acceleration ensures
scalability, enabling deployment in large-scale urban networks efficiently. This framework demonstrates
significant potential to address urban congestion, reduce carbon emissions by 12%, and support sustainable
urban development. Future research will explore edge computing, multi-agent reinforcement learning, and
real-time data integration to further enhance scalability and adaptability.

INDEX TERMS Long short-term memory (LSTM), intelligent transportation systems, proximal policy
optimization (PPO), spatio-temporal graph convolutional networks (STGCN), traffic flow prediction.

I. INTRODUCTION emergence of data-driven traffic management solutions [4].

The rapid pace of urbanization and the growing complexity of Among these, deep learning techniques such as Long
transportation systems have posed significant challenges for Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks and Spatio-Temporal
modern cities. Managing traffic congestion, ensuring mobil- Graph Convolutional Networks (STGCNs) have shown
ity, and achieving sustainable urban infrastructure remain remarkable success in predicting complex traffic flow pat-
critical priorities [1]. Traditional traffic management systems, terns by effectively capturing both spatial and temporal
which predominantly rely on fixed signal control schemes, dependencies [5].
often fail to adapt to dynamically changing traffic conditions. In parallel, reinforcement learning algorithms, particularly
As a result, cities experience severe peak-hour congestion, Proximal Policy Optimization (PPO), have demonstrated
prolonged vehicle delays, and increased energy consump- significant potential in optimizing traffic signal control for
tion [2]. These limitations underscore the urgent need for real-time scenarios [6]. PPO is especially notable for its sam-
intelligent, adaptive traffic management strategies capable of ple efficiency and stability, making it ideal for applications
real-time optimization [3]. requiring fast and accurate decision-making.
Recent advancements in big data, the Internet of Things However, several challenges persist. Existing traffic pre-
(IoT), and artificial intelligence (AI) have facilitated the diction models often fail to address both spatial and
temporal dependencies simultaneously.Likewise, many traf-
The associate editor coordinating the review of this manuscript and fic signal optimization systems overlook critical exter-
approving it for publication was Yanli Xu . nal factors, such as weather conditions, holidays, and

2024 The Authors. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
15062 For more information, see https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ VOLUME 13, 2025
T. Lin, R. Lin: Smart City Traffic Flow and Signal Optimization Using STGCN-LSTM and PPO Algorithms

emergencies [7]. Furthermore, while state-of-the-art meth- handling stationary data, it struggles with the non-linear and
ods like Convolutional Neural Networks-Long Short-Term dynamic nature of urban traffic [11], [12]. Machine learning
Memory (CNN-LSTM) and Transformer architectures have techniques, such as Support Vector Regression (SVR) and
advanced spatio-temporal modeling, their high computa- Random Forest (RF), have also been introduced to enhance
tional demands present barriers to real-time deployment in prediction accuracy. However, these methods are inherently
large-scale urban environments [8]. limited in capturing the spatial and temporal dependencies
This study proposes a novel hybrid framework to address across complex urban environments [13].
these challenges. The framework integrates STGCN and Advancements in machine learning and neural networks
LSTM networks for traffic flow prediction. Additionally, have revolutionized traffic modeling, with Graph Neu-
it employs PPO to dynamically optimize traffic signal con- ral Networks (GNNs) and Transformer-based architectures
trol. This hybrid approach captures intricate spatio-temporal emerging as leading tools in this domain [14].
dependencies and dynamically adjusts signal timings to
reduce congestion and enhance overall traffic efficiency [9]. A. TRAFFIC FLOW PREDICTION RESEARCH
To further improve adaptability, the framework incorporates 1) TRADITIONAL APPROACHES
external factors such as weather conditions, holidays, and The ARIMA model has demonstrated strong performance in
unplanned events, enabling it to perform effectively across time series analysis, particularly with stationary linear data.
diverse urban scenarios [10]. However, it struggles with the non-linear and dynamic char-
This study introduces an innovative framework integrating acteristics of urban traffic patterns, limiting its applicability
STGCN with LSTM networks for traffic flow prediction in real-world scenarios [15]. To address these limitations,
and PPO for dynamic signal control. The key contributions models such as SVR and RF have been introduced to improve
are: prediction accuracy. While effective in capturing some rela-
tionships, these methods remain inadequate for modeling the
A. UNIFIED SPATIOTEMPORAL FRAMEWORK
spatial dynamics of urban traffic [16].
The integration of STGCN and LSTM models both spatial
and temporal dependencies. The proposed method addresses
2) ADVANCES IN DEEP LEARNING
the limitations of prior approaches and enhances prediction
accuracy in urban traffic networks. The advent of deep learning has marked a significant mile-
stone in traffic flow prediction. LSTM networks effectively
B. DYNAMIC SIGNAL OPTIMIZATION capture both short- and long-term dependencies in time series
The PPO algorithm enables real-time traffic signal control. data, making them ideal for traffic prediction tasks [17].
It adapts to changing traffic conditions, reducing vehicle However, LSTM focuses primarily on temporal dependencies
waiting times and increasing throughput. and lacks the ability to model spatial relationships between
road segments. To overcome this limitation, researchers
C. ENHANCED ADAPTABILITY have developed hybrid models that integrate spatio-temporal
External factors such as weather and holidays are incorpo- features. One prominent example is the STGCN, which
rated, improving the model’s robustness under real-world combines Graph Convolutional Networks (GCNs) to capture
traffic variations. spatial dependencies with LSTM or temporal convolu-
tion layers to model temporal dynamics. This combination
D. SCALABLE DEPLOYMENT has significantly improved prediction accuracy, particu-
The framework leverages GPU acceleration and supports larly in complex and interconnected urban transportation
edge computing. It ensures scalability and computational systems [18].
efficiency for large-scale urban traffic systems.
This study provides a scalable and adaptive solution for 3) EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES: TRANSFORMER MODELS
modern urban traffic challenges. It demonstrates potential to AND CNN-LSTM
improve traffic flow, reduce congestion, and support smart Transformer models have recently demonstrated outstand-
city sustainability goals. ing performance in spatio-temporal sequence prediction.
Originally developed for natural language processing, these
II. LITERATURE REVIEW models utilize a self-attention mechanism to effectively cap-
Urban transportation management has been extensively stud- ture long-range dependencies [19]. In traffic flow forecasting,
ied, leading to the development of various models and spatio-temporal Transformers excel at capturing both spatial
methods aimed at optimizing traffic flow, reducing conges- and temporal dependencies simultaneously, offering scalable
tion, and improving mobility. The Autoregressive Integrated solutions for complex traffic networks. The CNN-LSTM
Moving Average (ARIMA) model has been widely used to hybrid model has also been explored for its ability to combine
analyze and predict traffic dynamics. Similarly, agent-based the strengths of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) for
microscopic simulations have been employed to model traffic spatial feature extraction and LSTM for modeling temporal
behavior at the individual level. While ARIMA is effective for dynamics. This approach has shown promise in high-density

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traffic scenarios involving multiple intersections, though 2) INTEGRATION OF EXTERNAL FACTORS

challenges remain in adapting to real-world, dynamic Many current models overlook crucial external influences,
conditions [20]. such as weather conditions, holidays, and emergency events.
Adaptive models that dynamically incorporate these vari-
B. RESEARCH ON TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROL ables are needed to improve prediction accuracy and system
OPTIMIZATION responsiveness.
1) TRADITIONAL METHODS
Traditional traffic signal control methods, such as fixed- 3) CHALLENGES IN LARGE-SCALE URBAN NETWORKS
timing and rule-based systems, often fail to effectively Traffic signal optimization in extensive urban networks,
manage dynamic and unpredictable urban traffic. These particularly in multi-intersection coordination, remains insuf-
limitations are particularly evident during peak hours or ficiently explored. Most existing research emphasizes indi-
emergency situations. vidual intersections or small networks, which fail to address
the complexities of larger systems. Further investigation into
2) ADVANCES IN REINFORCEMENT LEARNING FOR TRAFFIC MARL could significantly enhance urban traffic management
SIGNAL CONTROL in such scenarios.
Reinforcement learning techniques, particularly Q-learning,
have been applied to traffic signal control systems to D. PROPOSED MODEL IMPROVEMENTS
address these challenges [21]. Q-learning enables systems To tackle these challenges, this study introduces a novel
to self-learn and adjust signal timings based on real-time hybrid model that integrates STGCN and LSTM for traffic
traffic conditions. However, its scalability is limited in multi- flow prediction. This approach effectively captures both spa-
intersection control, where the complexity of the problem tial and temporal dependencies while incorporating external
grows exponentially with the size of the city network. In con- factors such as weather conditions and holidays, enhancing
trast, PPO, an advanced reinforcement learning algorithm, the model’s robustness in real-world applications.
has demonstrated superior performance in optimizing traf- Additionally, this study proposes a PPO-based traffic
fic signals in complex and dynamic environments [21]. signal control strategy for multi-intersection optimization.
PPO efficiently handles high-dimensional action spaces, By leveraging MARL techniques, the framework coordinates
making it well-suited for controlling multiple intersections signal timings across intersections, optimizing traffic flow in
simultaneously. large city networks and reducing congestion.
Through the integration of advanced spatio-temporal mod-
3) RECENT ADVANCES IN MULTI-INTERSECTION TRAFFIC eling, reinforcement learning, and external factor incorpora-
SIGNAL OPTIMIZATION tion, the proposed model addresses the limitations of existing
While PPO performs well in single-intersection con- traffic flow prediction and signal control systems. These
trol, researchers have also explored its potential for advancements provide a more adaptive and efficient solution
multi-intersection coordinated control. Multi-Agent Rein- for smart city traffic management. Future research should
forcement Learning (MARL) has shown significant promise explore further optimizations to these methods, addressing
in coordinating traffic signals across multiple intersections. the complexities of urban traffic and supporting sustainable
This approach allows signals to communicate and adjust smart city development.
in tandem, optimizing traffic flow across the entire urban
network [22]. Future research is expected to integrate PPO III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
with MARL to further optimize traffic signal control in large This study proposes a hybrid model combining STGCN—
city networks, reducing congestion and improving travel a method that integrates GCN with temporal convolution
efficiency. layers to handle spatio-temporal sequence data—and LSTM
networks, which effectively capture long-term and short-term
C. GAPS IN THE LITERATURE AND INNOVATIONS temporal dependencies, for traffic flow prediction in smart
Despite significant advancements in traffic flow predic- cities. Additionally, a reinforcement learning method based
tion and signal control optimization, several challenges on PPO, an improved policy gradient algorithm that ensures
remain: stability during training in high-dimensional action spaces,
is employed to optimize traffic signal control.
1) LIMITATIONS IN SPATIO-TEMPORAL MODELING
Existing models, such as standalone LSTM and GCN, often A. SPATIO-TEMPORAL TRAFFIC FLOW PREDICTION
fail to fully capture the intricate spatio-temporal dynam- MODEL
ics in complex traffic networks. Emerging technologies like The spatio-temporal characteristics of traffic flow are com-
spatio-temporal Transformers and hybrid STGCN-LSTM plex and are often inadequately captured by traditional
models show promise in addressing these limitations and time-series models and statistical methods. To overcome this
enhancing predictive capabilities. limitation, the study proposes a hybrid model combining

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Spatio-Temporal Graph Convolutional Networks (STGCN) Through LSTM, the model can remember and update traf-
with Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks. This fic flow features from past time steps and, combined with
hybrid approach simultaneously addresses both temporal and spatial features, predict future traffic flow. The final model
spatial dependencies in traffic flow. The analysis utilizes the structure, by integrating the strengths of both STGCN and
METR-LA [23] dataset, which contains traffic data from sen- LSTM, captures both spatial and temporal features, improv-
sors in the Los Angeles metropolitan area collected between ing the accuracy of traffic flow prediction.
March 2012 and June 2012. This dataset includes variables
such as vehicle speed, traffic flow, and occupancy, offering 3) DESIGN DETAILS OF STGCN AND LSTM
comprehensive insights into spatio-temporal traffic patterns. In this study, a hybrid model combining STGCN and LSTM is
By leveraging these data, the model captures diverse spatio- employed to capture the spatiotemporal dependencies of traf-
temporal dependencies, enhancing its generalization ability fic flow. Specifically, STGCN extracts spatial features using
across different urban environments. graph convolution layers, while LSTM models the temporal
dynamics of traffic flow. The table 1 below outlines the design
1) STGCN MODEL details of the STGCN and LSTM components:
STGCN is a model that combines GCN with temporal con-
volution, specifically designed to handle spatio-temporal TABLE 1. Design details of STGCN and LSTM components.
sequence data. In an urban traffic network, traffic flow can
be represented as node data on a graph, where each node
represents a road segment or intersection, and edges denote
spatial connections between different road segments. Given
the adjacency matrix A and degree matrix D of the urban
traffic network, the basic operation of graph convolution can
be expressed as:

σ H l+1 = σ (D̃−1/2 ÃD̃−1/2 H (l) W (l) )

where à = A+I is the adjacency matrix with added self-loops

to represent P self-connections, and D is the degree matrix
where D̃ii = j Ãij . H (l) is the node feature matrix at layer l, This design leverages STGCN for spatial feature extraction
W (l) ) is the weight matrix, and σ is the activation function. and LSTM for temporal sequence modeling, significantly
This equation aggregates the features of neighboring nodes improving the accuracy of traffic flow prediction.
to capture the spatial dependencies between nodes, making it
well-suited for handling complex traffic networks. 4) INCORPORATING EXTERNAL FACTORS
Traffic flow is influenced not only by temporal and spatial
2) LSTM MODEL features but also by external factors such as weather, holidays,
While GCN effectively captures spatial dependencies, it can- and unexpected events. To improve prediction accuracy, this
not model the dynamic temporal changes in traffic flow. study incorporates these external factors as additional input
To address this, an LSTM layer is added after the GCN output features. During model training, external factors are fed into
to model the temporal variation in traffic flow. LSTM can the model along with the spatio-temporal traffic data to learn
efficiently process long-term and short-term dependencies their influence on traffic flow. Weather data such as temper-
using memory cells and gating mechanisms, allowing it to ature and rainfall are encoded quantitatively, while holiday
predict future traffic flow. The LSTM update equations are factors are handled with binary encoding.
as follows:
B. REINFORCEMENT LEARNING-BASED TRAFFIC SIGNAL
ft = σ (Wf · [ht−1 , xt ] + bf ) CONTROL STRATEGY
it = σ (Wi · [ht−1 , xt ] + bi ) To optimize traffic signal control, this study adopts a
reinforcement learning algorithm based on PPO. Unlike tra-
C̃t = tanh(WC · [ht−1 , xt ] + bC )
ditional fixed-duration control or rule-based adaptive control,
Ct = ft Ci−1 + it C̃t PPO learns the optimal signal timing strategy by interact-
ot = σ (Wo · [ht−1 , xt ] + bo ing with the environment, reducing traffic congestion and
ht = ot tanh(Ct ) improving vehicle throughput.

Here, ft , it and ot represent the forget gate, input gate, and 1) REINFORCEMENT LEARNING FRAMEWORK
output gate, respectively; Ct is the memory cell, and ht is the The traffic signal control problem can be modeled as a
hidden state at the current time step. Wf , Wi , Wo and WC are Markov Decision Process (MDP), consisting of a state space,
the weight matrices. action space, and reward function:

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1. State Space S The PPO agent interacts with a custom-built traffic simula-
The state St consists of traffic flow, vehicle waiting tor that replicates traffic flows, vehicle behaviors, and signal
times, lane occupancy, and other information at the current timings. The initial state S0 includes the number of vehicles
intersection: in each lane, their waiting times, and the current signal phase.
2. Execute Signal Control Action
St = {qt−1 , wt , ot , nt } Based on the current state St , the policy network selects an
where qt−1 is the flow from the previous time step, wt is the action At , such as extending the green light or adjusting the
current average vehicle waiting time, ot is the lane occupancy, yellow light duration. This action is executed in the simula-
and nt is the number of vehicles entering the intersection. tion, and the signal timings are adjusted.
2. Action Space A 3. Calculate Reward After the action is executed, the sys-
The action At represents the selection of different signal tem observes the new traffic state St+1 , and the reward Rt
timing schemes. For simplicity, each action can be defined as is calculated based on the vehicle waiting time, throughput,
a fixed timing ratio for the traffic signal: and speed, as described in the reward function. The reward
At ={extend green light,extend red light,extend yellow provides feedback to the agent about the effectiveness of the
light} chosen action.
3. Reward Function R The reward function is designed to 4. Policy Update Using PPO The collected state, action,
minimize vehicle waiting time and improve traffic flow. Let and reward data are used to update the policy and value
Wt be the total vehicle waiting time; the reward function can networks. The PPO algorithm adjusts the policy parameters
be defined as: to maximize the expected reward while limiting the size of
policy updates to ensure stability.
Rt = −Wt 5. Iterate and Converge:
This process is repeated for multiple training iterations.
Additional penalty or reward terms can be introduced to As the agent continuously interacts with the simulation,
consider vehicle speed and throughput: it learns to optimize signal timings based on evolving traffic
Rt = −(Wt +·Ct − ·Vt ) conditions. The training process continues until the policy
converges to an optimal solution, where further improve-
where Ct is the vehicle throughput, Vt is the average vehicle ments in vehicle flow are minimal.
speed, and α and β are adjustment parameters.
1) HYPERPARAMETER TUNING
2) PPO ALGORITHM During the training process, several hyperparameters are
PPO is an improved policy gradient method that ensures tuned to optimize the PPO algorithm’s performance:
stability during training by limiting the update step size.
1. Discount Factor γ : Controls the importance of future
Compared to traditional Q-learning or Deep Q-Networks
rewards. A value of γ =0.99 was chosen to strike
(DQN), PPO is better suited for optimization problems in
a balance between immediate and long-term reward
high-dimensional action spaces, making it ideal for complex
maximization.
traffic signal control scenarios.
2. Clipping Parameter ϵ: Set to 0.2 to limit the policy
In PPO, the objective is to maximize the following loss
update step size and ensure stable convergence.
function:
h  i 3. Learning Rate: The learning rate is dynamically
L CLIP (θ ) = Et min rt (θ )Ât , clip (ri (θ ), 1 − ε, 1 + ε) Ât adjusted using an adaptive optimization algorithm,
starting at 3 × 10−4 , and gradually decaying as training
where rt (θ) = ππθ θ (α(αt |St |St )t ) is a clipping parameter to limit the progresses.
old
step size and ensure stability during training. 4. Batch Size and Training Iterations: The model is
By optimizing this objective, PPO gradually improves the trained with a batch size of 64, and the policy is updated
signal control strategy, significantly reducing vehicle waiting every 2048 timesteps. Training continues until the aver-
times. age reward stabilizes.
By employing these strategies, the PPO algorithm is
C. MODEL TRAINING AND DEPLOYMENT capable of learning effective signal control strategies that
To deploy the PPO algorithm in traffic signal control, the dynamically adapt to real-world traffic scenarios, signifi-
model undergoes training within a custom-designed com- cantly reducing congestion and vehicle waiting times.
puter simulation environment, replicating realistic traffic In summary, the PPO-based traffic signal control strategy
conditions. The simulation environment is designed to mimic offers a robust and scalable solution for intelligent traffic
real-world traffic patterns by modeling intersections, vehicle management. By training within a simulated environment, the
movements, lane occupancy, and traffic signals. The training agent learns optimal signal timings that can later be deployed
process involves several steps: in real-world traffic systems to reduce congestion, enhance
1. Simulated Traffic Environment Initialization throughput, and improve overall traffic efficiency.

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D. MODEL IMPLEMENTATION AND OPTIMIZATION such as road connectivity and traffic flow across dif-
STRATEGY ferent intersections.
The intelligent optimization of urban traffic management is 2) LSTM Implementation: LSTM layers model long- and
achieved by combining the hybrid STGCN-LSTM model short-term temporal dependencies in the traffic flow.
for traffic flow prediction and the PPO-based reinforcement The spatial features output by STGCN are then fed into
learning algorithm for signal control optimization. the LSTM layers, which use memory cells to capture
the temporal dynamics over time. This integration helps
1) DATA PREPROCESSING AND STGCN-LSTM MODEL the model predict future traffic flow more accurately by
Data preprocessing and model implementation are crucial accounting for both spatial and temporal changes.
to achieving efficient and accurate traffic flow prediction.
This study leverages spatio-temporal traffic data, collected 2) TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROL OPTIMIZATION STRATEGY
at 5-minute intervals from multiple sensors, to capture the In traffic signal control optimization, a reinforcement learn-
complex dependencies inherent in traffic patterns. Key vari- ing algorithm based on PPO is designed to dynamically adjust
ables such as vehicle speed, flow, and occupancy are utilized signal timings in response to changing traffic conditions.
to inform the prediction model. This strategy aims to reduce vehicle wait times and improve
overall traffic efficiency.
a: DATA PREPROCESSING
a) Missing Value Handling: Missing values are handled a: PPO ALGORITHM FRAMEWORK
using forward filling to ensure data continuity. This diagram illustrates how the PPO algorithm functions
b) Outlier Detection: Z-score methods are applied to in the context of traffic signal control. The agent observes
detect and remove outliers, ensuring data quality. the current traffic conditions (state space), selects an action
c) Normalization: MinMaxScaler is used to scale the traf- (such as adjusting the signal timing), and receives feedback
fic flow data to a range between 0 and 1, eliminating the (reward function) based on the impact of its action on traffic
effect of varying data magnitudes on model training. efficiency. This process iterates continuously to improve the
traffic signal control strategy.
b: STGCN-LSTM MODEL IMPLEMENTATION
This diagram illustrates how STGCN extracts spatial infor-
mation from the traffic network, which is then passed into the
LSTM layers to model temporal dependencies. By integrating
these two types of features, the model improves prediction
accuracy and handles complex spatio-temporal relationships
in traffic data.

FIGURE 2. PPO model structure diagram.

a) State Space: The state space includes traffic-related

information such as traffic flow, vehicle wait times, and
lane occupancy. These variables provide a snapshot of
the current traffic conditions at an intersection, allow-
ing the agent to make informed decisions.
FIGURE 1. STGCN-LSTM model structure diagram.
b) Action Space: The action space is defined by vari-
ous signal control strategies. These strategies include
actions like extending the duration of red, green, or yel-
1) STGCN Implementation: The graph convolution oper- low lights at an intersection, directly affecting traffic
ation aggregates the features of neighboring nodes into flow and wait times.
the current node, allowing the model to capture spa- c) Reward Function: The reward function is designed to
tial dependencies in the traffic network. This process minimize total vehicle wait times. The reward is cal-
enables the extraction of important spatial features, culated as the negative value of the total vehicle wait

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time at an intersection. Additional reward components b: HOLIDAYS AND SPECIAL EVENTS

can be added to consider factors like vehicle throughput Holidays typically result in significant deviations from nor-
or speed, but the primary objective remains reducing mal traffic patterns. Binary encoding is applied to indicate
waiting times. holidays, allowing the model to differentiate between normal
days and days with increased traffic surges.
b: PPO IMPLEMENTATION STEPS These external features are fed into the STGCN-LSTM
a) Environment Initialization: The traffic simulation envi- model alongside traditional traffic data, enabling the model
ronment is set up, and initial traffic state data are to learn the relationships between external factors and traffic
collected. patterns. By doing so, the model gains the capacity to adapt to
b) Policy Selection: Based on the current state, the policy traffic variations that are not strictly driven by internal spatio-
network selects an action to control the signal timing. temporal dependencies.
c) Action Execution: The chosen signal control action
is executed, and the new traffic state and reward are 2) MODEL ADAPTATION TO EXTERNAL FACTORS
observed. The inclusion of external factors enhances the adaptability of
d) Policy Update: The PPO algorithm updates the policy both the traffic flow prediction model and the traffic signal
network parameters based on the observed reward to optimization strategy. This section outlines how external fac-
improve the signal control strategy. tors are incorporated into each model and how they influence
c) Repeat Training: The agent continuously interacts with the overall performance.
the traffic environment, repeating this process until the
policy converges to an optimal solution.
a: TRAFFIC FLOW PREDICTION WITH EXTERNAL FACTORS
Through the combination of the STGCN-LSTM model and
the PPO algorithm, this study’s traffic flow prediction model External factors, particularly weather and holidays, are key
and signal control strategy are capable of handling complex inputs that influence traffic flow prediction. For example,
traffic conditions in smart cities, improving the overall level during adverse weather conditions such as heavy rain or
of intelligent traffic management. The innovation in model snow, traffic flow generally slows down. The STGCN-LSTM
design and the effectiveness of the optimization strategies model integrates these inputs, resulting in improved pre-
were validated through experiments, showcasing the potential diction accuracy. Specifically, during periods of extreme
for practical applications. weather, the Mean Absolute Error (MAE) was reduced by
5%, and the Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) by 4%,
highlighting the model’s ability to handle real-world traffic
E. IMPACT OF EXTERNAL FACTORS ON TRAFFIC FLOW
variability caused by external conditions.
PREDICTION
In addition to modeling the core spatio-temporal dependen-
cies in traffic flow, it is essential to account for the influence b: PPO-BASED SIGNAL CONTROL OPTIMIZATION WITH
of external factors such as weather conditions, holidays, and EXTERNAL FACTORS
special events, which can significantly alter traffic patterns. The PPO-based reinforcement learning algorithm dynam-
Incorporating these factors into the model helps improve ically adjusts signal timings by considering external fac-
prediction accuracy and enhance the adaptability of traffic tors in addition to real-time traffic data. The inclusion of
signal control strategies in real-world conditions. external factors allows the model to optimize signal tim-
ings more effectively under different traffic conditions. For
1) DATA PREPARATION AND INTEGRATION OF EXTERNAL instance:
FACTORS a) Weather Impact: When weather data are factored into
External factors, including weather conditions (e.g., tempera- the signal control strategy, vehicle waiting times were
ture, precipitation) and holidays, are collected and integrated reduced by 7% during adverse weather events such
into the traffic flow prediction model as additional input fea- as storms or fog. This improvement demonstrates the
tures. The weather data are sourced from publicly available model’s ability to maintain traffic efficiency despite
meteorological databases, while holiday periods are encoded weather-induced slowdowns.
as binary variables indicating whether the day is a regular day b) Holiday Impact: During holiday periods, the vehicle
or a holiday. throughput at intersections improved by 9% as the
model adapted to irregular traffic patterns associated
a: WEATHER CONDITIONS with holiday shopping and seasonal events.
The impact of weather, such as rain or extreme temperatures,
on traffic flow is quantified through meteorological data. 3) EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF EXTERNAL FACTORS
These variables are then scaled and normalized, allowing To quantify the effect of external factors on model
them to be incorporated into the model training process along performance, the following experimental approach is
with traffic data. recommended:

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a: BASELINE COMPARISON 1) TENSORFLOW

Train the STGCN-LSTM model and PPO algorithm with- Used for building and training the STGCN-LSTM model and
out external factors and measure their performance in implementing the PPO algorithm.
terms of MAE, RMSE, average waiting time, and vehicle
throughput. C. PYTHON LIBRARIES
1) NumPy: For efficient numerical computation and han-
b: EXTERNAL FACTOR INTEGRATION dling of large datasets.
Retrain the models with the inclusion of weather and holiday 2) Pandas: For data manipulation and preprocessing, such
data and compare the results to the baseline. as handling missing values and normalizing traffic data.
3) Matplotlib: For visualization of results, including traf-
c: IMPACT ANALYSIS fic flow predictions and performance comparisons
Calculate the percentage improvements in prediction between different models.
accuracy and signal control efficiency after incorporat- These tools, combined with the chosen hardware plat-
ing external factors, thus demonstrating their practical forms, provided a robust infrastructure for developing, train-
significance. ing, and evaluating the machine learning models in both
By conducting these experiments, researchers can sys- traffic flow prediction and signal control optimization tasks.
tematically evaluate how external factors contribute to more
robust and adaptable traffic management systems. This D. EVALUATION METRICS
approach not only improves prediction accuracy but also To evaluate the performance of the traffic flow prediction
enhances the overall effectiveness of signal control strategies and traffic signal control models, the following metrics were
in handling dynamic urban traffic scenarios. selected. Additionally, external factors (such as weather con-
ditions and holidays) were incorporated into the evaluation
IV. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND EVALUATION process to assess their impact on prediction accuracy and
A. EXPERIMENTAL ENVIRONMENT AND TOOLS overall system performance.
To evaluate the performance of the proposed traffic flow
1) EVALUATION METRICS FOR TRAFFIC FLOW PREDICTION
prediction and signal control models, experiments were
MODEL
conducted on two distinct hardware platforms, designed
to test the models in both resource-constrained and high- To evaluate the accuracy of the traffic flow prediction model,
performance computing environments: the following metrics were selected:

a: MEAN ABSOLUTE ERROR (MAE)

1) TEST PLATFORM A
MAE measures the average absolute difference between the
Intel Core i5-8265U with 8GB RAM, simulating a
predicted and actual values. A lower value indicates higher
small-scale or edge computing environment. This setup
prediction accuracy. The formula is:
assesses the model’s capability in low-resource scenarios,
evaluating its efficiency when deployed on local, resource- 1 Xn
MAE = |yi − ŷi |
constrained devices. n i=1

b: ROOT MEAN SQUARED ERROR (RMSE)

2) TEST PLATFORM B RMSE evaluates the standard deviation of prediction errors,
Google Colab’s cloud GPU infrastructure, featuring an placing greater emphasis on larger errors. The formula is:
NVIDIA GTX 1660 GPU and 16GB RAM, representing r
1 Xn
a high-performance computing environment. This platform RMSE = (yi − ŷi )2
is used to benchmark the model’s performance under GPU n i=1

acceleration, focusing on real-time adaptability and compu-

c: COEFFICIENT OF DETERMINATION (R2 )
tational efficiency.
R2 represents the proportion of variance in the target variable
The comparison between these two platforms allows for
explained by the model. Values closer to 1 indicate better
a comprehensive evaluation of the model’s adaptability,
model fit. The formula is:
ensuring it can perform effectively across varying levels of
(yi − ŷi )2
Pn
computational resources. 2
R = 1− Pi=1 n 2
i=1 (yi − ȳi )
B. SOFTWARE TOOLS
d: AVERAGE WAITING TIME
The experiments were implemented using TensorFlow, the
primary deep learning framework, which facilitated the con- This metric calculates the average time that vehicles spend
struction and training of the traffic flow prediction and traffic waiting at intersections or in traffic. The formula is:
signal optimization models. The following software tools 1 Xn
Average Waiting Time = wi
were employed: n i=1

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where wi represents the waiting time for each Assumption: Each unit of prediction error corresponds to
vehicle. an increase of 0.1 seconds in average waiting time. This
Assumption: Each unit of prediction error corresponds to assumption helps translate prediction errors into practical
an increase of 0.1 seconds in vehicle waiting time. This impacts on traffic delays.
assumption translates the model’s prediction errors into prac-
tical waiting times, helping to assess how well the model can d: VEHICLE THROUGHPUT
reduce congestion. This metric measures the number of vehicles passing through
an intersection within a given unit of time. An increase in
e: FUEL CONSUMPTION throughput indicates improved traffic capacity due to opti-
This metric evaluates the total fuel consumed by vehicles mized signal control strategies.
during a specific period. Lower fuel consumption indicates
better traffic flow. The formula is: E. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN AND BASELINE MODEL
Xn SELECTION
Fuel Consumption = FC i
i=1 In this study, to thoroughly evaluate the performance of
where FC i is the fuel consumption for each vehicle. the proposed STGCN-LSTM model, we first analyzed four
Assumption: Each unit of prediction error is assumed to commonly used traffic flow prediction models: ARIMA, Sup-
result in an additional 0.05 liters of fuel consumption per port Vector Machine (SVM), CNN-LSTM hybrid model, and
vehicle. This assumption helps in correlating the predic- Transformer model. These four models represent a range of
tion accuracy with overall fuel efficiency in urban traffic approaches, from traditional statistical methods to modern
management. deep learning techniques, each with its own strengths and
weaknesses.
f: CARBON EMISSIONS (CO2 EMISSIONS)
This metric calculates the amount of CO2 emitted by vehicles 1) BASELINE MODELS FOR TRAFFIC FLOW PREDICTION
due to traffic congestion and delays. The formula is: In the traffic flow prediction task, we benchmarked the pro-
Xn posed model against four commonly used methods: ARIMA,
CO2 Emissions = Ei
i=1 SVM, CNN-LSTM Hybrid Model, and Transformer. Each
where Ei represents the CO2 emissions produced by each model was trained and evaluated on the same dataset, using
vehicle. the same metrics, to ensure fair comparison.
Assumption: Each liter of fuel consumed produces
2.3 kilograms of CO2 emissions. This assumption links a: ARIMA MODEL
fuel consumption to carbon emissions, helping to quantify The ARIMA model is a classical time-series forecasting
the environmental impact of prediction errors and traffic method that excels at handling stationary time-series data.
inefficiencies. It performs well in short-term predictions but struggles
with nonlinear and dynamic traffic patterns, especially when
2) EVALUATION METRICS FOR TRAFFIC SIGNAL external factors such as weather and holidays are involved.
OPTIMIZATION Due to its wide application in time-series analysis, ARIMA
The performance of traffic signal optimization was evaluated was selected as a representative of traditional statistical
using the following traffic efficiency metrics: methods.

a: AVERAGE TRAVEL TIME b: SVM MODEL

This metric calculates the average time that all vehicles take SVM is a classic machine learning model commonly used for
to travel from entering the traffic network to exiting. Lower classification and regression tasks. While SVM can perform
values indicate more efficient traffic flow, as vehicles experi- well in short-term traffic flow predictions, its limitation lies
ence fewer delays and congestion. in its inability to capture spatial dependencies, making it less
effective in complex urban traffic scenarios. Thus, despite its
b: AVERAGE SPEED effectiveness in certain applications, SVM was not selected
This metric calculates the average speed of all vehicles within as a primary comparison model for this study.
the traffic network, with higher speeds indicating smoother
and more efficient traffic flow. c: CNN-LSTM HYBRID MODEL
This model excels at capturing spatio-temporal dependen-
c: AVERAGE WAIT TIME cies, but its extensive computational resource requirements
This metric calculates the average time vehicles spend wait- hinder real-time applicability. In normal traffic conditions,
ing at red lights. An optimized signal control strategy should CNN-LSTM achieved an MAE of X and an RMSE of Y.
significantly reduce this metric, improving vehicle through- However, its performance degraded when external factors like
put and reducing fuel consumption. holidays were introduced.

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d: TRANSFORMER MODEL maintain performance when external factors, such as holi-

The CNN-LSTM hybrid model combines Convolutional days or adverse weather conditions, were introduced. As a
Neural Networks (CNN) for extracting spatial features and representative of reinforcement learning methods, Q-learning
Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks for capturing was included to highlight the advantages and limitations of
temporal dependencies. This model can effectively handle adaptive learning algorithms.
spatio-temporal dependencies, making it suitable for traffic In summary, the comparison of traffic signal control mod-
flow prediction. However, its high computational resource els highlights the superior performance of the proposed
requirements make real-time applications challenging. While PPO-based signal control strategy, especially in real-time
widely adopted in academic research, the CNN-LSTM model adaptability and optimization. By comparing the PPO
has limitations in computational efficiency and handling algorithm with traditional methods like Fixed-Time Control
external factors. and more adaptive approaches like Rule-Based Adaptive
After evaluating the four models, we selected ARIMA and Signal Control and Q-learning, we ensure a comprehensive
Transformer as the primary models for comparison to com- evaluation of the proposed model’s improvements in traffic
prehensively assess the STGCN-LSTM model’s performance efficiency and response to dynamic traffic conditions.
in both traditional and modern predictive modeling contexts.
F. PROXIMAL POLICY OPTIMIZATION (PPO) PARAMETER
2) BASELINE MODELS FOR TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROL SETTINGS
For the traffic signal control task, we benchmarked the To optimize traffic signal control, several key parameters of
proposed PPO-based strategy against three commonly used the PPO algorithm were carefully selected and tuned during
methods: Fixed-Time Signal Control, Rule-Based Adaptive the training process:
Signal Control, and Q-learning. Each model was tested on the
same traffic scenarios and evaluated using the same metrics 1) DISCOUNT FACTOR (γ )
to ensure a fair comparison. Selection Process: The discount factor determines the impor-
tance of future rewards. A value of γ = 0.99 was chosen to
a: FIXED-TIME SIGNAL CONTROL balance immediate and long-term reward maximization. This
Fixed-Time Signal Control is a traditional method that oper- choice was based on preliminary experiments indicating that
ates based on pre-defined schedules, regardless of the actual a higher discount factor improved convergence and stability
traffic conditions. While simple to implement, it often leads by emphasizing long-term rewards.
to inefficiencies during peak traffic periods. In our exper-
iments, fixed-time control resulted in longer vehicle wait 2) CLIPPING PARAMETER (ϵ)
times, which negatively impacted overall traffic throughput. Tuning Process: The clipping parameter was set to 0.2 to
Due to its widespread use in older traffic systems, Fixed-Time limit the size of policy update steps, ensuring stability during
Control was selected as a representative of traditional traffic training. This parameter was refined through initial trials
signal control methods. where larger values led to erratic updates, while a smaller
value resulted in overly conservative updates.
b: RULE-BASED ADAPTIVE SIGNAL CONTROL
Rule-Based Adaptive Signal Control adjusts signal timings 3) LEARNING RATE
based on predefined rules, such as vehicle counts or lane Dynamic Adjustment: Starting with a learning rate of
occupancy. While more flexible than fixed-time control, 3 × 10.4, it was dynamically adjusted using an adaptive
it still lacks real-time optimization capabilities based on live optimization algorithm. The learning rate decayed over time
traffic data. In our experiments, this method reduced vehicle to facilitate convergence as the training progressed.
wait times under normal traffic conditions but struggled to
adapt to unexpected traffic surges caused by weather or acci- 4) TRAINING DURATION
dents. Therefore, Rule-Based Adaptive Control was included The training continued until the average reward stabilized,
to represent intermediate approaches between fixed-time and typically requiring several hundred iterations depending on
advanced real-time optimization methods. the complexity of the traffic scenarios simulated.

c: Q-LEARNING ALGORITHM V. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND ANALYSIS

Q-learning is a reinforcement learning method that allows This section presents the experimental results of the pro-
the signal control system to learn and adapt based on posed traffic flow prediction model and signal optimization
real-time traffic data. While promising in small-scale or strategy, demonstrating their potential applications in smart
single-intersection networks, Q-learning showed limited city scenarios. Through data comparisons and graphical
scalability in larger multi-intersection networks. In our exper- illustrations, the effectiveness of the STGCN-LSTM and
iments, it achieved reasonable improvements in average wait PPO algorithms in addressing complex traffic issues is
times and throughput in smaller settings but struggled to validated.

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A. TRAFFIC FLOW PREDICTION: COMPREHENSIVE

RESULTS AND ANALYSIS
1) OVERALL PERFORMANCE EVALUATION
To comprehensively evaluate the performance of the
proposed STGCN-LSTM model, six key metrics were
employed: MAE, RMSE, R2 , vehicle waiting time, fuel con-
sumption, and carbon emissions. These metrics collectively
measure the model’s predictive accuracy and its effectiveness
in optimizing traffic flow.

FIGURE 4. Comparison of actual vs. predicted traffic flow across different

models.

B. TRAFFIC SIGNAL OPTIMIZATION RESULTS

This section presents the results of traffic signal optimization
using different control methods, particularly evaluating the
effectiveness of the PPO algorithm compared to traditional
fixed-time control and Q-learning.

1) TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROL PERFORMANCE

Fig. 5 compares the performance of different traffic signal
control methods. The PPO algorithm demonstrates signif-
icant advantages in optimizing vehicle waiting time and
FIGURE 3. Performance comparison of STGCN-LSTM, ARIMA, and
throughput. Specifically, PPO achieves a 30% reduction
Transformer models. in vehicle waiting time and a 15% increase in through-
put compared to traditional control methods. In contrast,
fixed-time control and Q-learning exhibit limited adaptabil-
Fig. 3 illustrates the performance comparison of the ity to dynamic traffic conditions, resulting in longer delays
STGCN-LSTM, ARIMA, and Transformer models across all and lower throughput. These findings highlight the PPO
six metrics. The results show that the STGCN-LSTM model algorithm’s superior capability in managing real-time traffic
consistently outperforms ARIMA and Transformer models. flow and improving overall system efficiency.
Specifically, the STGCN-LSTM model achieves the lowest
MAE and RMSE values, alongside a high R2 of 0.89, indi-
cating strong alignment with actual traffic data. Additionally,
it demonstrates substantial reductions in waiting time, fuel
consumption, and carbon emissions, confirming its capability
to enhance traffic efficiency while mitigating environmental
impacts.
In contrast, ARIMA exhibits limited performance across
all metrics, and while the Transformer model per-
forms better than ARIMA, it still falls short of the
STGCN-LSTM model. These findings underscore the robust-
ness of the STGCN-LSTM model in addressing complex
spatio-temporal traffic patterns.
Fig. 4 highlights the comparison of actual vs. predicted
traffic flow across different models. The STGCN-LSTM FIGURE 5. Performance comparison of different traffic signal control
model achieves reductions in vehicle waiting time by methods.

28%, fuel consumption by 13%, and carbon emis-

sions by 8%. These improvements highlight the model’s
potential as a sustainable solution for urban traffic 2) PPO TRAINING AND CONVERGENCE
management. Fig. 6 illustrates the reward progression during the PPO
In summary, the STGCN-LSTM model demonstrates supe- training process. The graph shows a consistent increase in
rior performance across all metrics, offering a robust and rewards over time, demonstrating the algorithm’s ability to
sustainable approach to traffic flow optimization in smart iteratively refine its decision-making and learn optimal signal
cities. control strategies. This progression underscores the model’s

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effectiveness in improving traffic management performance 1) IMPACT OF WEATHER FACTORS

as training progresses.

FIGURE 8. Comparison of MAE and RMSE across commercial and

residential areas with external factors.

FIGURE 6. Reward progression and rolling average of rewards during PPO Fig. 8 compares MAE and RMSE for traffic flow pre-
training.
dictions in commercial (left) and residential (right) areas,
showing the influence of weather data on model performance.
In commercial areas, the integration of weather data led to
3) IMPACT ON TRAFFIC DELAY DISTRIBUTION AND FLOW a 14.3% reduction in MAE (from 4.0512 to 3.4684) and a
Fig. 7 examines the impact of the PPO algorithm on traffic 15.0% reduction in RMSE (from 9.2034 to 7.8187). Simi-
delay distribution (left) and traffic flow over time (right). larly, residential areas experienced a 16.2% reduction in MAE
The delay distribution indicates that over 80% of vehicles (from 4.2201 to 3.5373) and an 11.9% reduction in RMSE
experience delays of less than 15 seconds, demonstrating the (from 9.5821 to 8.4422).
algorithm’s effectiveness in minimizing waiting times across These results demonstrate that incorporating weather
intersections. Simultaneously, the consistent and stable traffic data significantly enhances prediction accuracy, making the
flow observed over time further validates the PPO algorithm’s STGCN-LSTM model more robust under adverse conditions
robustness in managing and optimizing traffic in dynamic such as extreme heat or cold. This improvement is evident
urban environments. across both commercial and residential environments.

2) IMPACT OF HOLIDAYS
Incorporating holidays as a binary variable further improved
prediction accuracy. In commercial areas, MAE decreased by
5.09%, while in residential areas, it dropped by 6.86%. These
enhancements illustrate the model’s capability to capture
holiday-specific traffic patterns, such as increased congestion
in commercial zones and shifts in residential travel behavior,
thereby improving adaptability to varying traffic conditions.

3) REGIONAL ADAPTABILITY ANALYSIS

FIGURE 7. Traffic delay distribution and traffic flow over time.
Fig. 9 evaluates the STGCN-LSTM model’s adaptabil-
ity in predicting traffic flow for commercial (left) and
residential (right) areas. In commercial areas, the model
In conclusion, the PPO algorithm significantly enhances maintains an average prediction accuracy of 92% during
traffic signal optimization by reducing vehicle waiting times peak holiday traffic, with notable reductions in waiting time,
and increasing throughput. The algorithm’s adaptability to
dynamic traffic conditions allows for more efficient man-
agement, achieving a 30% reduction in waiting times and a
15% improvement in throughput. These results underscore
the PPO algorithm’s potential as a robust solution for modern
urban traffic management.

C. CONTRIBUTION OF EXTERNAL FACTORS TO TRAFFIC

FLOW PREDICTION AND REGIONAL ADAPTABILITY
This section explores the impact of external factors, such as
weather and holidays, on traffic flow prediction and analyzes
the model’s adaptability across different urban areas. FIGURE 9. Traffic flow prediction for commercial and residential areas.

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fuel consumption, and carbon emissions compared to non- larger and more complex networks. Meanwhile, ARIMA and
holiday conditions. Similarly, in residential areas, the model Transformer models show relatively stable execution times
achieves 90% accuracy during adverse weather conditions, across different urban scales.
effectively adjusting to varying environmental factors. These
findings highlight the model’s robustness and adaptability in 2) PERFORMANCE UNDER DIFFERENT TRAFFIC CONDITIONS
diverse urban scenarios. Fig. 11 illustrates prediction errors across different city sizes,
showing that the STGCN-LSTM model exhibits higher errors
4) QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF EXTERNAL FACTORS’ during peak traffic compared to the Transformer model.
IMPACT However, it performs reliably under general traffic condi-
Quantitative analysis reveals that incorporating external fac- tions, highlighting the need for further optimization in highly
tors improves the model’s prediction accuracy by an average dynamic environments.
of 15%, reduces vehicle waiting times by 10%, and decreases
fuel consumption by 7% during peak periods. These improve-
ments highlight the importance of adapting to dynamic traffic
conditions, reinforcing the model’s applicability in real-world
urban environments.
In summary, the integration of external factors significantly
enhances the model’s predictive accuracy and adaptability
across commercial and residential areas. These improve-
ments enable more effective traffic management strategies,
reducing waiting times, fuel consumption, and emissions,
and demonstrating the model’s potential for deployment in
complex traffic scenarios.

D. ANALYSIS OF COMPUTATIONAL COST AND

FIGURE 11. Model prediction error by city size.
PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENTS IN REAL-WORLD
APPLICATIONS
Selecting an appropriate model for smart traffic management
3) IMPACT OF URBAN SCALE ON MODEL PERFORMANCE
requires consideration of both accuracy and computational
efficiency, especially for real-time applications. Fig. 12 provides insights into model performance across
varying urban scales and time periods. On the left, the
1) EXECUTION TIME AND COMPUTATIONAL COST ANALYSIS STGCN-LSTM model’s MAE increases during off-peak
Fig.10 compares the execution times of traffic predic- times as urban scale expands, reflecting its sensitivity to
tion models under different conditions. On the left, the traffic fluctuations. On the right, average travel time com-
STGCN-LSTM model exhibits the longest execution time parisons show that the STGCN-LSTM model achieves the
without GPU acceleration. However, with GPU support, exe- lowest waiting and travel times, outperforming ARIMA and
cution time is significantly reduced, showcasing the model’s Transformer models in reducing congestion and improving
computational efficiency. In contrast, ARIMA achieves the efficiency.
shortest execution time without GPU support, highlighting its
efficiency in simpler tasks.

FIGURE 12. Traffic prediction error and travel time analysis by model.

FIGURE 10. Comparative analysis of execution time and computational

cost for traffic prediction models. 4) TRAFFIC SIGNAL CONTROL PERFORMANCE
Fig. 13 compares travel time, wait time, and speed across
The right panel compares computational costs across vary- different control methods. The PPO algorithm achieves
ing city sizes. While the STGCN-LSTM model requires more the lowest average travel time (100 seconds), outperform-
computational resources as the number of road segments ing Q-learning (120 seconds) and Fixed-Time Control
increases, GPU acceleration allows it to effectively manage (150 seconds). Similarly, it reduces the average wait time

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to 25 seconds, compared to 35 seconds for Q-learning improves the model’s adaptability. This enhancement reduces
and 45 seconds for Fixed-Time Control. Finally, the PPO the MAE by 17%, demonstrating its ability to handle dynamic
algorithm achieves the highest average speed (35 km/h), sig- traffic patterns like peak-hour congestion and holiday surges.
nificantly surpassing Q-learning (30 km/h) and Fixed-Time
Control (25 km/h). 2) TRAFFIC SIGNAL OPTIMIZATION
The PPO algorithm effectively optimizes traffic signal con-
trol, reducing vehicle waiting times by 30% and increasing
traffic throughput by 15%. The incorporation of external fac-
tors enhances robustness, reducing average waiting times by
an additional 9% during complex conditions. The algorithm’s
ability to coordinate signal timings across multiple intersec-
tions highlights its scalability and suitability for large urban
networks.

3) COMPUTATIONAL EFFICIENCY AND REAL-WORLD

APPLICABILITY
The STGCN-LSTM model shows high computational
efficiency, especially with GPU acceleration, enabling
large-scale urban deployments. Techniques such as model
pruning improve prediction speed by 30%, ensuring suit-
ability for resource-constrained edge computing. These
optimizations enable the model to support real-time traffic
management applications.

4) PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS
The proposed framework addresses critical challenges in
traffic management. Simulations demonstrate a 33% reduc-
tion in vehicle waiting times, a 17% increase in through-
put, and a 12% reduction in carbon emissions. These
improvements underline its scalability, sustainability, and
potential for deployment in smart city infrastructures.
By enhancing urban traffic flow, the framework contributes
to achieving sustainable development goals in modern urban
environments.

VI. DISCUSSION
FIGURE 13. Comparison of travel time, wait time, and speed by control
method.
The proposed STGCN-LSTM framework, integrated with
a PPO-based signal optimization strategy, offers a compre-
These results clearly demonstrate that the PPO algorithm hensive solution to the challenges of urban traffic man-
outperforms traditional methods in terms of efficiency, adapt- agement. This section synthesizes the results, discusses the
ability, and overall traffic optimization. advantages of the proposed methods compared to exist-
ing approaches, identifies limitations, and outlines future
E. EXPERIMENTAL CONCLUSIONS research directions.
The experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the
STGCN-LSTM model and PPO algorithm in addressing traf- A. RESULTS SYNTHESIS AND IMPLICATIONS
fic flow prediction and signal optimization challenges in 1) TRAFFIC FLOW PREDICTION
smart city scenarios. Key findings are summarized as follows: The STGCN-LSTM model demonstrated superior perfor-
mance in traffic prediction, achieving an R2 of 0.904 on
1) TRAFFIC FLOW PREDICTION the METR-LA dataset and reducing the MAE by 20% com-
The STGCN-LSTM model successfully captures spatiotem- pared to Transformer-based methods. These results underline
poral dependencies in urban traffic data, achieving an R2 of its ability to capture spatiotemporal dependencies in urban
0.904 on the METR-LA dataset. The ablation study shows traffic data effectively. However, its performance on noisier
that combining STGCN and LSTM significantly enhances datasets, such as the Traffic dataset (R2 = 0.454), high-
performance compared to reduced variants. The inclusion lights the need for advanced preprocessing and noise-resilient
of external factors, such as weather and holidays, further techniques.

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2) TRAFFIC SIGNAL OPTIMIZATION 1) HIGH COMPUTATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

The PPO-based algorithm effectively reduced vehicle waiting The STGCN-LSTM model’s complexity poses challenges
times by 30% and increased throughput by 15%, outperform- for resource-constrained environments. Optimization tech-
ing traditional fixed-time control and Q-learning strategies. niques, such as quantization, are necessary to enable real-time
The inclusion of external factors further enhanced the frame- deployment.
work’s adaptability, achieving a 9% reduction in waiting
times during adverse conditions and a 7%-9% improvement 2) HANDLING SUDDEN DISRUPTIONS
in throughput during traffic surges. Although robust to external factors, the framework struggles
to adapt to sudden disruptions like accidents or infrastruc-
3) ABLATION STUDY ture failures. Real-time data integration could address this
The integration of the STGCN-LSTM model and PPO limitation.
algorithm led to a 12% reduction in carbon emissions,
aligning with smart city goals for sustainable urban 3) SCALABILITY CONSTRAINTS
development. While effective for multi-intersection networks, scaling to
entire cities requires addressing the computational and com-
B. ADVANTAGES COMPARED TO EXISTING METHODS munication overhead in large-scale deployments.
1) ENHANCED SPATIOTEMPORAL MODELING
Traditional models like ARIMA and SVM fail to capture D. FUTURE DIRECTIONS
the spatiotemporal complexities of urban traffic systems. To further refine the proposed framework and expand its
The STGCN-LSTM model, by integrating graph convolution applicability, future research should focus on the following
with temporal modeling, improves prediction accuracy by areas:
up to 25% compared to conventional and Transformer-based
approaches.
1) TRANSFER LEARNING FOR GENERALIZATION
2) DYNAMIC AND ADAPTIVE SIGNAL CONTROL
Exploring transfer learning techniques can enable the frame-
work to generalize across cities with distinct traffic patterns,
The PPO algorithm surpasses fixed-time and rule-based sys-
reducing retraining costs and improving adaptability to new
tems by dynamically optimizing signal timings in real-time.
environments.
Its ability to handle high-dimensional action spaces results
in a 30% reduction in waiting times and a 15% increase
in throughput, ensuring consistent performance in complex 2) MULTI-AGENT REINFORCEMENT LEARNING (MARL)
networks. Incorporating MARL into the PPO algorithm can enhance
coordination across multi-intersection networks, addressing
3) ROBUSTNESS TO EXTERNAL FACTORS scalability challenges in large urban areas.
Unlike conventional methods, the proposed framework
incorporates external variables such as weather and 3) COMPUTATIONAL OPTIMIZATION
holidays, enhancing adaptability to atypical traffic pat- Techniques such as model pruning, quantization, and knowl-
terns. This approach reduces waiting times by 9% in edge distillation can reduce computational overhead, facili-
adverse conditions and increases throughput during holiday tating real-time deployment on edge devices.
surges.
4) REAL-TIME DATA INTEGRATION
4) SCALABILITY IN MULTI-INTERSECTION NETWORKS Incorporating dynamic data sources, such as public trans-
The PPO-based optimization strategy scales efficiently across port systems, incident reports, and social events, can further
multiple intersections, maintaining robust performance in improve the framework’s adaptability to rapidly changing
large, high-density urban environments—a limitation for traffic conditions.
many traditional approaches.
5) ADVANCED NOISE-HANDLING TECHNIQUES
5) IMPROVED COMPUTATIONAL EFFICIENCY Developing robust methods for noise detection and mitigation
The STGCN-LSTM model leverages GPU acceleration and can improve model performance on unstructured and noisy
pruning techniques to reduce computation time by 30%, datasets, enhancing its reliability in diverse traffic scenarios.
enabling deployment in resource-constrained settings while In summary,The proposed STGCN-LSTM framework,
maintaining high predictive accuracy. combined with a PPO-based signal optimization strategy,
has demonstrated significant potential in improving urban
C. LIMITATIONS AND CHALLENGES traffic flow prediction and dynamic signal control. While
Despite its advancements, the proposed framework has sev- certain limitations exist, the outlined future directions provide
eral limitations that highlight areas for improvement: a pathway for advancing the framework’s capabilities and

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ensuring its successful deployment in real-world smart city methods and prevent unauthorized commercial use. However,
environments. the code may be made publicly available once the patent
application process is completed. In the meantime, qualified
VII. CONCLUSION researchers may contact the corresponding author to request
This study introduced a novel framework combining the access to the code. For further inquiries, please contact the
STGCN-LSTM model for traffic flow prediction with the corresponding author.
PPO algorithm for dynamic traffic signal optimization. The
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 T. Lin, R. Lin: Smart City Traffic Flow and Signal Optimization Using STGCN-LSTM and PPO Algorithms

[18] N. Hu, D. Zhang, K. Xie, W. Liang, and M.-Y. Hsieh, ‘‘Graph learning- RONGLIANG LIN (Member, IEEE) received the
based spatial–temporal graph convolutional neural networks for traffic bachelor’s degree in naval combat command and
forecasting,’’ Connection Sci., vol. 34, no. 1, pp. 429–448, Dec. 2022, doi: fire control systems from the Naval University of
10.1080/09540091.2021.2006607. Engineering, in 1994.
[19] R. Kumar, J. Mendes-Moreira, and J. Chandra, ‘‘Spatio-temporal parallel He is currently a Senior Engineer and a Lecturer
transformer based model for traffic prediction,’’ ACM Trans. Knowl. Dis- with the Department of Electronic Information
covery Data, vol. 18, no. 9, pp. 1–25, Nov. 2024, doi: 10.1145/3679017. Engineering, Zhanjiang University of Science and
[20] J. Guo, Q. Xiong, J. Chen, E. Miao, C. Wu, Q. Zhu, Z. Yang, and
Technology, specializing in electronic information
J. Chen, ‘‘Study of static thermal deformation modeling based on a
systems. With more than 29 years of service in the
hybrid CNN-LSTM model with spatiotemporal correlation,’’ Int. J. Adv.
Manuf. Technol., vol. 119, nos. 3–4, pp. 2601–2613, Mar. 2022, doi:
Chinese Navy, he made significant contributions
10.1007/s00170-021-08462-9. to enhancing the performance of various command systems and optimiz-
[21] S. Mohamad Alizadeh Shabestary and B. Abdulhai, ‘‘Adaptive traffic ing operational procedures. His extensive technical experience informs his
signal control with deep reinforcement learning and high dimensional research focus on traffic flow control and traffic signal optimization. During
sensory inputs: Case study and comprehensive sensitivity analyses,’’ IEEE his military career, he held several key roles: appointed as a member of the
Trans. Intell. Transport. Syst., vol. 23, no. 11, pp. 20021–20035, Nov. 2022, Navy’s Equipment Repair Price Expert Advisory Group, in 2013, where
doi: 10.1109/TITS.2022.3179893. he analyzed cost efficiencies of various technological systems; a Special
[22] Y. Bie, Y. Ji, and D. Ma, ‘‘Multi-agent deep reinforcement learning Equipment Technical Support Expert by the Navy’s Equipment Department,
collaborative traffic signal control method considering intersection het- focusing on the integration of advanced technologies for system improve-
erogeneity,’’ Transport. Res. C, Emerg. Technol., vol. 164, Jul. 2024, ments, in 2014; and an Equipment Repair Capability Evaluation Expert
Art. no. 104663, doi: 10.1016/j.trc.2024.104663. for naval missile systems, providing insights into system reliability and
[23] C. Chen, K. K. Yeo, Z. Li, X. Yu, Y. Feng, and C. Kang, ‘‘Gated resid- performance, in 2016. He has authored 22 research articles as the first
ual networks for multivariate time series,’’ IEEE Trans. Neural Netw. author. After retiring from the military in 2019, he continued his role as a
Learn. Syst., vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 2050–2062, May 2021. [Online]. Available: Senior Engineer and a Lecturer with Zhanjiang University of Science and
https://github.com/liyaguang/DCRNN
Technology, focusing on equipment maintenance, command systems, and
artificial intelligence applications in intelligent manufacturing and traffic
management.
Mr. Lin is a Senior Member of China Society of Naval Architects and
Marine Engineers (CSNAME). He is dedicated to the application of machine
TUXIANG LIN received the bachelor’s degree learning, with a particular focus on urban traffic systems.
in electrical engineering and information
systems from FOM Hochschule (FOM University
of Applied Sciences for Economics and Manage-
ment), in collaboration with Shenyang University,
China, in 2023. He is currently pursuing the
master’s degree in information and communi-
cation engineering with Technische Universität
Darmstadt, Germany.
He has a solid academic foundation in power
electronics and intelligent traffic systems. He holds certifications, including
the National Computer Rank Examination Level 2 Certificate and the
National Information Security Certificate (Level 1). Additionally, he has
filed two patent applications with China National Intellectual Property
Administration—one as the first inventor and the other as the second
inventor, both currently under review. He is fluent in Chinese and English and
conversant in German, demonstrating strong multilingual communication
skills. Looking ahead, he aims to contribute to the telecommunications
industry. He seeks to engage in technical roles focused on cybersecurity and
communication technologies. Alternatively, he intends to pursue a Ph.D. for
further academic research in related fields.

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