Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System

The Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System, abbreviated SCATS, is an intelligent transportation system that manages the dynamic (on-line, real-time) timing of signal phases at traffic signals, meaning that it tries to find the best phasing (i.e. cycle times, phase splits and offsets) for a traffic situation (for individual intersections as well as for the whole network). SCATS is based on the automatic plan selection from a library in response to the data derived from loop detectors or other road traffic sensors.

SCATS uses sensors at each traffic signal to detect vehicle presence in each lane and pedestrians waiting to cross at the local site. The vehicle sensors are generally inductive loops installed within the road pavement. The pedestrian sensors are usually push buttons. Various other types of sensors can be used for vehicle presence detection, provided that a similar and consistent output is achieved. Information collected from the vehicle sensors allows SCATS to calculate and adapt the timing of traffic signals in the network.

SCATS is installed at about 42,000 intersections in over 154 cities in 25 countries. In Australia, where the system was first developed, the majority of signalised intersections are SCATS operated (around 11,000).

The architecture of SCATS is at two basic levels, LOCAL and MASTER. The LOCAL is the control cabinet at the roadside, which provides the normal signal control as well as processing of traffic information deduced from the vehicle detectors. The MASTER is a remote computer which provides area based traffic control, i.e. area traffic control (ATC) or urban traffic control (UTC). Detailed traffic signal and hardware diagnostics are passed from the LOCAL to the MASTER, with the ability to notify staff when a traffic signal has a fault.

SCATS is able to operate over PAPL, ADSL, PSTN and 3G IP network connections to each intersection. SCATS can also operate on a network of private cables not requiring third party telecommunications support and large parts of inner Sydney have always operated this way.

Public vehicle priority in SCATS (using data provided from PTIPS) caters for both buses and trams. SCATS has a facility to provide three levels of priority:

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