Granted Patent B2

US 12,658,035 · App. 17/537,642 · Granted Jun 16, 2026

Inventors: Santos Jha (Leesburg, VA); Duminda Wijesekera (McLean, VA); Satish Kolli (Herndon, VA); Mahbubul Alam Palash (Fairfax, VA)

Assignee: George Mason University

G08G1/0145G08G1/0125G08G1/017G08G1/127H04W4/40

Abstract

Claims (60)

1 . A traffic management system, comprising:

a first roadside unit (RSU), the first RSU configured to couple to a first mobile user element (UE) via a first wireless link, where the first wireless link includes a plurality of first safety messages from the first mobile UE to the first RSU, the plurality of first safety messages having traffic lane information of a plurality of first traffic lanes in a first cellular zone provided to the first RSU by one or more road sensors coupled to the first RSU;

a second RSU, the second RSU configured to couple to a second mobile UE via a second wireless link, where the second wireless link includes a plurality of second safety messages from the second mobile UE to the second RSU, the plurality of second safety messages having traffic lane information of a plurality of second traffic lanes in a second cellular zone provided to the second RSU by the one or more sensors coupled to the second RSU;

a first multi-access edge computing (MEC) host of the first RSU at an edge of a network and having a virtualization infrastructure and a MEC platform, virtualization infrastructure of the first MEC host configured to provide one or more of compute resources, storage resources, and network resources to at least a first application configured to run on the virtualization infrastructure provided by the first MEC host and the MEC platform of the first MEC host configured to manage operation of the at least first application to manage vehicle traffic flow in the first cellular zone, the first RSU operable to perform in accordance with the traffic lane information of the plurality of first traffic lanes in the first cellular zone one or more of estimation of a number of vehicles queued in the plurality of first traffic lanes and estimation of signal phase timing of traffic light signals by an intersection management system (IMS) of the first cellular zone; and

a second MEC host of the second RSU at an edge of the network and having a virtualization infrastructure and a MEC platform, the virtualization infrastructure of the second MEC host configured to provide one or more of compute resources, storage resources, and network resources to at least a second application configured to run on the virtualization infrastructure provided by the second MEC host and the MEC platform of the second MEC host configured to manage operation of the at least second application to manage vehicle traffic flow in the second cellular zone, the second RSU operable to perform in accordance with the traffic lane information of the plurality of second traffic lanes in the second cellular zone one or more of estimation of a number of vehicles queued in the plurality of second traffic lanes and estimation of signal phase timing of traffic light signals by an intersection management system (IMS) of the second cellular zone.

2 . The traffic management system of claim 1 , wherein at least one API call between the first application and the second application is authenticated by one or more of a MEC platform of the first MEC host and a MEC platform of the second MEC host based, at least in part, on a Security Credential Management System (SCMS) enrollment certificate.

3 . The traffic management system of claim 1 , wherein one or more of the first wireless link and the second wireless link includes a cellular-vehicle-to-everything (CV2X) link.

4 . The traffic management system of claim 1 , wherein:

one or more of the first mobile UE and the second mobile UE is configured to report traffic events to the first MEC host and the second MEC host, respectively,

the first MEC host is configured to respond to the report from the first mobile UE in accordance with a received policy, and

the second MEC host is configured to respond to the report from the second mobile UE in accordance with a received policy.

5 . The traffic management system of claim 1 , further comprising:

the one or more road sensors including one or more sensor UEs operably coupled to the first RSU and the second RSU via at least a third wireless link; and

a changeable message display UE operably coupled to the RSU via at least the third wireless link.

6 . The traffic management system of claim 5 , wherein the at least a third wireless link includes a cellular-vehicle-to-everything (CV2X) link.

7 . The traffic management system of claim 1 , wherein:

managing vehicle traffic flow in the first cellular zone includes managing one or more traffic intersections in the first cellular zone and one or more traffic lanes of the plurality of first traffic lanes using the traffic lane information of the plurality of first traffic lanes, and

managing vehicle traffic flow in the second cellular zone includes managing one or more traffic intersections in the second cellular zone and one or more traffic lanes of the plurality of second traffic lanes using the traffic lane information of the plurality of second traffic lanes.

8 . The traffic management system of claim 1 , wherein:

managing vehicle traffic flow in the first cellular zone includes managing vehicle traffic flow at one or more traffic intersections in the first cellular zone independently of a corresponding one or more traffic signals at the one or more traffic intersections in the first cellular zone, and

managing vehicle traffic flow in the second cellular zone includes managing vehicle traffic flow at one or more traffic intersections in the second cellular zone independently of a corresponding one or more traffic signals at the one or more traffic intersections in the second cellular zone.

9 . The traffic management system of claim 1 , wherein:

one or more of the first mobile UE and the second mobile UE is operably coupled to an emergency vehicle and configured to transmit a destination to at least one of the first MEC host and the second MEC host, and

in response to receipt of the destination, at least one of the first MEC host and the second MEC host is configured to reply with a path to the destination, and then reserve a traffic lane on at least a portion of the path for use by the emergency vehicle.

10 . The traffic management system of claim 1 , the second application being coupled to the first application via an application programming interface (API) in a manner that facilitates management of vehicle traffic flow in a combined cellular zone by the first application and the second application.

11 . The traffic management system of claim 1 , where the first and second RSUs are fifth generation cellular (5G) RSUs.

12 . The traffic management system of claim 1 , further comprising the MEC platform of the first MEC host configured to receive traffic rules, configure a first data plane of the virtualization infrastructure of the first MEC host in accordance with the received traffic rules, and to manage the at least first application to execute the received traffic rules to route traffic in the first cellular zone and further comprising the MEC platform of the second MEC host configured to receive traffic rules, configure a second data plane of the virtualization infrastructure of the second MEC host in accordance with the received traffic rules, and to manage the at least second application to execute the received traffic rules to route traffic in the second cellular zone.

13 . The traffic management system of claim 1 , where the plurality of first safety messages and the plurality of second safety messages include messages in a Basic Safety Message (BSM) format with the traffic lane information of the plurality of first traffic lanes and the plurality of second traffic lanes, respectively.

14 . A computer-implemented method for traffic management, comprising:

coupling, via a first wireless link, a first UE and a first RSU, and coupling, via a second wireless link, a second UE and a second RSU, where the first wireless link including a plurality of first safety messages from the first UE to the first RSU, the plurality of first safety messages having traffic lane information of a plurality of first traffic lanes in a first cellular zone or region provided to the first RSU by one or more road sensors coupled to the first RSU and the second wireless link including a plurality of second safety messages from the second UE to the second RSU, the plurality of second safety messages having traffic lane information of a plurality of second traffic lanes in a second cellular zone or region provided to the first RSU by the one or more road sensors coupled to the first RSU;

via a first MEC host of the first RSU at an edge of a network, the first MEC host having a virtualization infrastructure and a MEC platform, the virtualization infrastructure of the first MEC host providing one or more of compute resources, storage resources, and network resources to a first application configured to run on the virtualization infrastructure provided by the first MEC host, and concurrently, via a second MEC host of the second RSU at an edge of a network, the second MEC host having a virtualization infrastructure and a MEC platform, the virtualization infrastructure of the second MEC host providing one or more of compute resources, storage resources, and network resources to a second application configured to run on the virtualization infrastructure provided by the second MEC host; and

managing, via the MEC platform of the first MEC host, vehicle traffic flow in the first cellular zone or region in accordance with the traffic lane information of the plurality of first traffic lanes in the first cellular zone or region, said managing including one or more of estimating a number of vehicles queued in the plurality of first traffic lanes and estimating signal phase timing of traffic light signals by an intersection management system (IMS) of the first cellular zone or region, and concurrently managing, via the MEC platform of the second MEC host, vehicle traffic flow in the second cellular zone or region in accordance with the traffic lane information of the plurality of second traffic lanes in the second cellular zone or region, said managing including one or more of estimating a number of vehicles queued in the plurality of second traffic lanes and estimating signal phase timing of traffic light signals by an intersection management system (IMS) of the second cellular zone or region.

15 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , where the plurality of first safety messages and the plurality of second safety messages include messages in a Basic Safety Message (BSM) format with the traffic lane information of the plurality of first traffic lanes and the plurality of second traffic lanes, respectively.

16 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising authenticating at least one API call between the first MEC host and the second MEC host based, at least in part, on a SCMS enrollment certificate.

17 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein at least one of the first wireless link and the second wireless link includes a CV2X link.

18 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising:

reporting traffic events to the MEC host by at least one of the first mobile UE and the second mobile UE; and

responding, by the first MEC host, to the report from the first mobile UE in accordance with a received policy, and

responding, by the second MEC host, to the report from the second mobile UE in accordance with a received policy.

19 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein:

managing vehicle traffic flow in the first cellular zone includes managing one or more traffic intersections in the first cellular zone and one or more traffic lanes of the plurality of first traffic lanes using the traffic lane information of the plurality of first traffic lanes, and

managing vehicle traffic flow in the second cellular zone includes managing one or more traffic intersections in the second cellular zone and one or more traffic lanes of the plurality of second traffic lanes using the traffic lane information of the plurality of second traffic lanes.

20 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , wherein:

managing vehicle traffic flow in the first cellular zone includes managing vehicle traffic flow at one or more traffic intersections in the first cellular zone independently of a corresponding one or more traffic signals at the one or more traffic intersections in the first cellular zone, and

managing vehicle traffic flow in the second cellular zone includes managing vehicle traffic flow at one or more traffic intersections in the second cellular zone independently of a corresponding one or more traffic signals at the one or more traffic intersections in the second cellular zone.

21 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising:

managing, by execution of the first application by the first MEC host and the second application by the second MEC host, vehicle traffic flow in a combined and/or overlapping cellular zone, wherein, via an API, the first MEC host and the second MEC host are coupled via the API.

22 . The computer-implemented method of claim 14 , further comprising the MEC platform of the first MEC host:

configuring a first data plane of the virtualization infrastructure of the first MEC host in accordance with received traffic rules;

configuring a second data plane of the virtualization infrastructure of the second MEC host in accordance with received traffic rules; and

managing the at least first application to execute the received traffic rules to route traffic in the first cellular zone and the at least second application to execute the received traffic rules to route traffic in the second cellular zone.

23 . A traffic management system, comprising:

a RSU, configured to couple to a mobile UE via a gNode B (gNB) logical radio node and at least a first wireless link

where the at least first wireless link includes a plurality of first safety messages from the mobile UE to the RSU, the plurality of first safety messages having traffic lane information of a plurality of traffic lanes provided to the RSU by one or more road sensors coupled to the RSU; and

an MEC host of the RSU, at an edge of a network and having a virtualization infrastructure and a MEC platform, the virtualization infrastructure of the first MEC host configured to provide at least one of compute, storage, and network resources for an application configured to run on the virtualization infrastructure provided by the MEC host and the MEC platform of the MEC host configured to manage operation of the application to manage vehicle traffic flow in an intersection independent of a traffic signal,

the RSU operable to perform in accordance with the traffic lane information of the plurality of traffic lanes one or more of estimation of a number of vehicles queued in the plurality of traffic lanes and estimation of signal phase timing of traffic light signals of the traffic signal.

24 . The traffic management system of claim 23 , further comprising one or more of a mobile UE, a sensor UE, and a changeable message display UE operably coupled to the RSU via at least a second wireless link, the sensor UE is the one or more road sensors coupled to the RSU and operable to provide the traffic lane information of the plurality of traffic lanes to the RSU.

25 . The traffic management system of claim 23 , wherein:

the mobile UE is operably coupled to an emergency vehicle and configured to transmit a destination to the MEC host; and

the MEC host, upon receipt of the destination, is configured to transmit a reply to the mobile UE with a path to the destination, and reserve a traffic lane on at least a portion of the path for use by the emergency vehicle.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (3)

References Cited (40)