Real time urban traffic prediction using RFID and a hybrid LSTM random forest model

Omar Salem Khattab, B. Saravana Balaji, Fatmah Alghadhoori, Fajer AlMazyad, Maha AlDousari, Abeer Al-Ameeri, Mhd Omar Al-Kadri

2025

Full text Open access: Gold Metadata (CSL-JSON)
DOI 10.1038/s41598-025-27485-w
Data confidence 70 medium
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Abstract

Traffic congestion poses a significant challenge to urban environments, impacting economic efficiency, safety, and quality of life. Traditional measures often fail to address the root causes of congestion, instead only delaying the inevitable symptoms of urban growth and increased vehicle use. This research proposes the Traffic Pattern Classification using LSTM-Random Forest (TPC-LSTM-RF), a novel prototype for real-time urban traffic management. The system uses Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for nonvisual vehicle tracking, ensuring privacy-by-design through on-the-fly anonymization, secure encrypted communication, and compliance with global data protection regulations. The system incorporates a novel hybrid machine learning algorithm, TPC-LSTM-RF, which combines temporal and spatial traffic data to predict congestion patterns and provide proactive traffic management recommendations. By integrating Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology for nonvisual vehicle tracking with a hybrid machine learning model combining Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks and Random Forest (RF), TPC-LSTM-RF predicts congestion patterns and enforces traffic regulations like speed limits and lane adherence. Simulation results demonstrate superior performance, achieving a prediction accuracy of 93.5%, Mean Absolute Error (MAE) of 2.43, and a processing time of 198 ms, outperforming state-of-the-art models. This system promises to enhance traffic flow, reduce violations, and improve urban mobility, with future work focusing on real-world validation and integration with existing traffic infrastructure.