Intelligent Traffic Signal Control: How Can Industrial 4G LTE Routers Reduce Congestion Rates by 30%?
In the main urban area of Yongkang, Zhejiang Province, a revolution in traffic management is quietly unfolding. In 2024, relying on the "Smooth Travel in Lizhou" project, the local traffic police department deployed radar-video integrated machines and intelligent traffic signal systems at more than 500 intersections. Data shows that the average waiting time at intersections after the transformation has been shortened by 40%, and the traffic efficiency during morning peak hours has increased by 28%. Behind this achievement lies the "cloud-edge-end" collaborative network constructed by industrial 4G LTE routers—when the radar-video integrated machine captures traffic flow changes, edge computing nodes need to complete data analysis within 200 milliseconds and transmit instructions to the traffic signal controller in real time via industrial 4G LTE routers. This millisecond-level response capability is the core secret to reducing congestion rates.

1. Three Major Dilemmas of Traditional Traffic Signals
1.1 Data Silos: The Disconnect Between Perception and Decision-Making
Traditional traffic signals rely on ground induction loops or single-point cameras for data collection, which have two major flaws: First, the perception range is limited, making it impossible to capture the vehicle queue lengths at upstream and downstream intersections; second, the data formats are not uniform, making it difficult for devices from different manufacturers to interoperate. A second-tier city once experienced a chain congestion caused by data silos—when intersection A detected a surge in traffic flow, intersection B still released traffic according to fixed timing, ultimately leading to regional paralysis.

1.2 Static Timing: Inability to Adapt to Dynamic Demands
Most cities still adopt a "fixed-time control" mode, with timing plans formulated based on historical traffic flow data. However, in real-world scenarios, factors such as sudden accidents, severe weather, and large-scale events can instantly change the road network load. During morning peak hours in a provincial capital city, due to construction that closed a main road, the surrounding intersections failed to adjust their timing, resulting in a 12-kilometer-long congestion queue.

1.3 Centralized Architecture: Coexistence of Latency and Vulnerability
Traditional systems adopt a "central control + remote transmission" architecture, with all decision-making relying on cloud servers. This model poses two major risks: First, data transmission latency can reach several seconds, failing to meet real-time control requirements; second, the central node is vulnerable to cyberattacks. In 2023, a megacity suffered a 3-hour citywide traffic paralysis due to a DDoS attack on its traffic signal control system.

2. Industrial 4G LTE Routers: Reconstructing the Nerve Center of Traffic Signal Control
2.1 Edge Computing: Bringing Decision-Making Closer to Data Sources
The USR-G809s industrial 4G LTE router is equipped with a quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processor and supports the deployment of lightweight AI models. In a practice in the Futian Central District of Shenzhen, its edge nodes can simultaneously process 16 channels of 1080P video streams, using the MobileNet model to identify vehicle types, license plate numbers, and driving trajectories in real time. When an ambulance enters the "green wave corridor," the router can complete the following operations within 800 milliseconds:

• Lock the vehicle's position and driving direction
• Calculate the phase adjustment plans for 12 traffic signals along the route
• Send instructions to the traffic signal controllers via the V2X protocol
  This edge decision-making capability has shortened the ambulance's travel time from 15 minutes to 4 minutes, buying precious rescue time for patients.

2.2 Multi-Modal Communication: Building a Redundant Transmission Network
The USR-G809s supports four-mode communication (5G/4G/LoRa/Wi-Fi 6), allowing it to select the optimal transmission method for different scenarios:

• Main roads: Use 5G private networks for 10ms-level low-latency control
• Suburban roads: Use LoRa for transmission, with a single gateway covering a 5-kilometer range
• Underground parking lots: Use Wi-Fi 6 to form a Mesh network, ensuring no signal dead zones
  In a test in the Suzhou Industrial Park, the router successfully handled extreme scenarios: when the 5G base station failed, the system automatically switched to the 4G network, generating only a 300ms instruction delay; when all wireless communications were interrupted, the pre-installed LoRa backup link still maintained basic control functions.

2.3 Security Protection: Comprehensive Reinforcement from Hardware to Software
In response to the stringent requirements of industrial scenarios, the USR-G809s adopts a three-tier security mechanism:

• Hardware protection: An IP67-rated enclosure that can withstand extreme temperatures ranging from -40°C to 85°C
• Communication encryption: Supports five VPN protocols, including IPSec/OpenVPN/GRE, ensuring financial-grade security for data transmission
• Intrusion detection: Built-in hardware watchdog that can identify DDoS attacks and automatically isolate abnormal nodes
  In an application in a chemical industrial park, the router successfully intercepted an APT attack targeting the traffic signal control system, analyzing network traffic characteristics in real time to provide a 30-minute early warning and block the spread of malicious code.

3. Practical Cases: From Single-Point Optimization to Regional Collaboration
3.1 Yongkang Model: Global Perception and Dynamic Timing
The Yongkang City Traffic Signal Timing Center has achieved three major innovations through the "cloud-edge-end" network constructed by USR-G809s:

• Data fusion: Integrates multi-source data from radar-video integrated machines, electronic police checkpoints, and internet navigation
• Intelligent decision-making: Dynamically adjusts timing plans every 15 seconds based on reinforcement learning algorithms
• Simulation rehearsal: Builds a digital twin system in the cloud to verify control strategy effects in advance
  After the transformation, the traffic efficiency at the intersection of Xixin Road and Lizhou South Road has increased by 32%, and the morning peak queue length has been shortened from 800 meters to 200 meters. More crucially, the system can automatically identify abnormal events such as construction and accidents and generate detour plans that are pushed to navigation platforms.

3.2 Xiong'an New Area: Air-Space-Ground Integrated Monitoring
In the Xiong'an Digital Road Project, the USR-G809s forms a three-dimensional perception network with drones and satellites:

• Drone patrols: Equipped with millimeter-wave radar to monitor traffic flow at 300 meters altitude in real time
• Satellite remote sensing: Analyzes regional road network loads through high-resolution images
• Edge routers: Fuse multi-source data and transmit it to the control center via 5G private networks
  This system successfully handled the ultra-high traffic challenge during the 2025 National Day holiday: when the daily traffic volume exceeded 2 million vehicles, it kept the average congestion index below 1.8 (the threshold for mild congestion is 2.0) by dynamically adjusting traffic signal timing and reversible lane directions.

3.3 Shanghai Bund: Coordinated Control of Pedestrian and Vehicle Flows
During the New Year's Eve crowd control on the Bund, the USR-G809s demonstrated its multi-device collaboration capabilities:

• Pedestrian monitoring: Real-time counting of entry densities at each entrance through buried pressure sensors and AI cameras
• Vehicle control: Automatically extends pedestrian green light time and shortens vehicle release time when pedestrian density exceeds the threshold
• Emergency response: Immediately triggers rotating turnstiles to limit flow and guides diversion via LED screens when abnormal gatherings are detected
  This plan reduced the risk index of crowding and stampedes by 76% during the 2025 New Year's Eve celebration, shortening the emergency response time from 15 minutes to 90 seconds.

4. Future Outlook: From Intelligent Control to Autonomous Evolution
4.1 Neuromorphic Computing: Breaking Through the Computational Bottleneck
The commercialization of Intel's Loihi neuromorphic chip brings revolutionary breakthroughs to edge devices. Its milliwatt-level power consumption can support trillion-level calculations, enabling future versions of the USR-G809s to run more complex deep learning models, achieving:

• Vehicle behavior prediction: Predict sudden braking, lane changes, and other actions 3 seconds in advance
• Abnormal event identification: Automatically detect scenarios such as road debris and traffic accidents
• Autonomous decision optimization: Continuously improve control strategies based on reinforcement learning

4.2 6G + Digital Twin: Building a Mirror City
The combination of 6G networks with sub-millisecond latency and digital twin technology will build a real-time updated urban mirror in the cloud. As a data acquisition terminal, the USR-G809s can achieve:

• All-element mapping: 1:1 reproduction of physical world elements such as vehicles, pedestrians, and traffic signals in the digital world
• Virtual rehearsal: Test the effects of different control strategies in the digital world
• Closed-loop optimization: Synchronize the optimal plans from the virtual world to the physical system

4.3 Vehicle-Road Collaboration 2.0: From Information Exchange to Task Collaboration
Future traffic systems will achieve deep collaboration between vehicles and infrastructure:

• Task-level collaboration: Traffic signals can dynamically plan optimal routes based on vehicle destinations
• Energy collaboration: Electric vehicles and traffic signals share battery status to optimize charging station distribution
• Safety collaboration: When vehicle loss of control is detected, automatically adjust surrounding traffic signals to form a protection zone

5. Contact Us: Get Your Customized Solution
To help urban managers quickly build intelligent traffic signal systems, we offer the following services:

• Free consultation: Submit basic data such as the number of intersections and traffic flow characteristics, and receive a preliminary report within 72 hours that includes equipment selection, networking plans, and cost estimates
• Customized deployment: For complex scenarios (such as bridges, tunnels, and mountainous areas), provide a complete solution that includes edge computing nodes, industrial 4G LTE routers, and control platforms
• Performance commitment: Sign a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to ensure that key indicators such as congestion rate reduction and system availability meet standards

Supported by the USR-G809s industrial 4G LTE router, intelligent traffic signals are moving from "passive response" to "active evolution." When every traffic signal becomes an intelligent terminal with perception, computation, and communication capabilities, urban traffic will truly achieve the ultimate goal of "vehicle-road collaboration and harmony between people and vehicles." Let us work together to reshape travel experiences with technology and make congestion a thing of the past.