Traffic light system was one of the fascinating applications of Embedded systems and

have been using the same till this day. I have previously posted a simple Traffic light
system for one way roads with small timings check it out if you are interested in it. This
is the four way traffic light system using embedded systems which was bit complex in
nature as we need to consider the traffic flow in four different directions providing
appropriate timings to each of the lights.

This system uses 8051 microcontroller ( AT89C52) , 7-segments and LED's for
indication. The LED's which was used as lights was connected to the Microcontroller by
means of common Anode configuration. In this configuration the Microcontroller was
used to sink the current from the LED to its ports. That means logic 0 signal in the
Microcontroller switches the LED ON and logic 1 signal switches the LED off. Here we
are using 6 MHz crystal for the 8051 Microcontroller operation and you can use upto
12MHz crystal with this controller.

COMMON CATHODE 7-SEGMENT:

In this design, we are about to use a Common Cathode 7-segment in which the LED's
are connected in a manner sourcing from the Microcontroller. As you can see in the
above pin configuration there is two common ground pins, we can use any one of it. The
7-segment should be connected to the port in the following order P2.0 to pin "a" of the 7
segment, P2.1 to b , P2.2 to c and ends up with P2.7 to h. These are the connection
configurations and components we are going to use in this 4-way Traffic light system
using 8051 Microcontroller.

DESIGN:

The above diagram illustrates the traffic flow layout of the four way road. And this is just
a model of the four way road ,schemes and layout may subjected to change. I have
chose this one for easier explanation of the traffic flow.

The traffic flow can be classified in to four phases in the above diagram and i have
considered the North as starting point of this traffic flow. And in the above scheme
vehicles are allowed to make a free right turn so we need to consider only two directions
straight and left. So the green signal was classified into two types one for G for
permitting vehicle to proceed forward and GL for permitting vehicles to left.

PHASE I-
Initially Vehicle from A needs to travel to F and from E to B roads.
So in the first Phase forward green signal in A and E permits vehicles to pass
through while East and west roads are stopped by red signal.
PHASE II-
Phase II permits the vehicle to pass from G to D and from C to H roads.
Traffic flow from rest of the two roads North and south was stopped by means of
Red signal.
PHASE III-
Phase three permits traffic flow in the left directions from A to D and from E to H.
Traffic flow in East and west are stopped by means of red signal.
PHASE IV-
Phase four permits traffic flow from C to F and from G to B.
Traffic flow in the North and south are stopped by means of red signal.
The cycle repeats again from Phase I to Phase IV and thus the traffic is
regulated.

NOTE:
The above scheme is just an example and are subjected to change in real time roads,
as different four way traffic flow schemes are followed widely around the world. This
illustration was aimed to make you understand the flow and guide in designing the
system according to the flow of traffic.

TIMING OF THE SIGNALS:
The timing is one of the important factor to consider in a traffic light system. Here in this
design i have programmed in such a way a red light will be on for 50 seconds and 10
seconds for Yellow light. So adding up a traffic flow or a Green signal will be On for 60
seconds totally before switching the flow to the next phase.

The 7 segment was used in this design to to display the timing to the vehicle users in
the road. This ease up the vehicle users and provides knowledge of the timing left
before the switching of the next signal.

PROGRAM OF TRAFFIC LIGHT SYSTEM:
The coding was done using Embedded C language using IDE 8051 software. The code
was given below.
1. #include<stdio.h>
2. #include<reg51.h>
3. void delay(void);
4. void count1(void);
5. void count2(void);
6. sbit NR=P0^0; sbit NY=P0^1; sbit NG=P0^2; sbit NGL=P0^3; //Setting bit for
LED's north
7. sbit SR=P0^4; sbit SY=P0^5; sbit SG=P0^6; sbit SGL=P0^7; //Setting Bit for
LED's South
8. sbit ER=P1^0; sbit EY=P1^1; sbit EG=P1^2; sbit EGL=P1^3; //Setting Bit for
LED's East
9. sbit WER=P1^4; sbit WEY=P1^5; sbit WEG=P1^6; sbit WEGL=P1^7; //Setting Bit
for LED's West
10. unsigned char a[10]={0x06,0x5b,0x4f,0x66,0x6d,0x7d,0x07,0x7f,0x6f,0x3f};
//Array for displaying digits on segment 1,2.......9,0
11. unsigned char b[7]={0x3f,0x06,0x5b,0x4f,0x66,0x6d,0x7d}; //Array for displaying
0 to 6
12. unsigned int i,j,s,k; //Assigning Integers
13. void main() //Main program
14. {
15. NR=1; NY=1; NG=0; NGL=1; // I phase forward green for north lights
16. SR=1; SY=1; SG=0; SGL=1; // forward green for south lights
17. ER=0; EY=1; EG=1; EGL=1; //Red signal for east
18. WER=0; WEY=1; WEG=1; WEGL=1; //Red signal for west lights
19. {
20. count1(); //Calling out subroutine to display digits in 7
segment
21. }
22. NR=1; NY=1; NG=0; NGL=1; //I phase yellow signal
23. SR=1; SY=1; SG=0; SGL=1;
24. ER=1; EY=0; EG=1; EGL=1;
25. WER=1; WEY=0; WEG=1; WEGL=1;
26. {
27. count2(); //Calling out sub routine for displaying counts for
yellow
28. }
29. NR=0; NY=1; NG=1; NGL=1; //II phase red signal for north lights
30. SR=0; SY=1; SG=1; SGL=1;
31. ER=1; EY=1; EG=0; EGL=1;
32. WER=1; WEY=1; WEG=0; WEGL=1;
33. {
34. count1();
35. }
36. NR=1; NY=0; NG=1; NGL=1; //II phase yellow lights for North and south
37. SR=1; SY=0; SG=1; SGL=1;
38. ER=1; EY=1; EG=0; EGL=1;
39. WER=1; WEY=1; WEG=0; WEGL=1;
40. {
41. count2();
42. }
43. NR=1; NY=1; NG=1; NGL=0; //III phase Green left for north and south
44. SR=1; SY=1; SG=1; SGL=0;
45. ER=0; EY=1; EG=1; EGL=1;
46. WER=0; WEY=1; WEG=1; WEGL=1;
47. {
48. count1();
49. }
50. NR=1; NY=1; NG=1; NGL=0; //III phase yellow lights
51. SR=1; SY=1; SG=1; SGL=0;
52. ER=1; EY=0; EG=1; EGL=1;
53. WER=1; WEY=0; WEG=1; WEGL=1;
54. {
55. count2();
56. }
57. NR=0; NY=1; NG=1; NGL=1; //IV phase Red signal for North and south
58. SR=0; SY=1; SG=1; SGL=1;
59. ER=1; EY=1; EG=1; EGL=0;
60. WER=1; WEY=1; WEG=1; WEGL=0;
61. {
62. count1();
63. }
64. NR=1; NY=0; NG=1; NGL=1; //IV phase Yellow signal for north and south
65. SR=1; SY=0; SG=1; SGL=1;
66. ER=1; EY=1; EG=1; EGL=0;
67. WER=1; WEY=1; WEG=1; WEGL=0;
68. {
69. count2();
70. }
71. }
72. void count1(void) //Sub routine for displaying numbers in segments for red
signal
73. {
74. P2=0x3f;
75. for(j=0;j<=4;)
76. {
77. for(i=0;i<=8;)
78. {
79. P3=a[i];
80. i++;
81. delay();
82. }
83. j++;
84. P2=b[j];
85. P3=0x3f;
86. delay();
87. }
88. }
89. void count2(void) //Sub routine for displaying numbers in segments for yellow
signal
90. {
91. P2=0x3f;
92. for(i=0;i<=8;)
93. {
94. P3=a[i];
95. i++;
96. delay();
97. }
98. P2=0x06;
99. P3=0x3f;
100. delay();
101. }
102. void delay(void) //Sub routine for creating delay
103. {
104. for(s=0;s<=230;s++) //Creating delay using number count
105. {
106. for(k=0;k<238;k++);
107. }
108. }