I have had the pleasure of working in the traffic industry for nearly 30 years. I have successfully timed nearly 3000 traffic signals across Canada, the United States, and Caribbean, and have programmed, or worked with nearly every traffic controller, traffic system and traffic software available. In my early years, I worked with a Time-Space Diagram software that we developed here in Ontario, Canada that provided some of the basic functionality of WaySync, but now, years later Dr. Tian and the University of Reno (CATER) have taken the Time-Space Diagram from what I envisioned it could be, to what it should be. Many applications that used to take hours are now done in minutes. Import/Export functionality from Synchro to WaySync dramatically reduces data transfer time and errors. WaySync is the traffic signal application every engineer should have at their fingertips. It’s easy to use data screens, offset manipulation, and scenario options, allow the user to make efficient, calculated adjustments to timing plans – and the graphic screens are easy to understand with changeable window and graph colors for us Colorblind people. The WaySync-M mobile application allows the user to conduct travel time studies or project real time trajectories for instantaneous signal timing adjustments. WaySync-M can also be used as a hands-free application to record both GPS data tracking and real-time video. My favorite features of the WaySync program include the Early Return feature within the Time-Space Diagram, which allows for estimations of returning unused side-street split time back to main-street. The single greatest feature of WaySync though, is that it’s always evolving. For traffic engineers – no more ‘I wish’ and a lot more ‘I can’.

I have always sought a reliable tool that allowed me to observe coordinated signal operation in the field and compare the operation to the intended timing. I have often seen sync phases improperly defined, phases rotated, or directions reversed upon implementation. In places like Orange County, CA, a corridor may go through several jurisdictions, each can have a different central system and controllers manufactured by various vendors. It has always been a challenge to maintain a consistent clock and ensure the correct offset reference point. It can be very difficult to diagnose the problem if the coordinated phases are actuated and gapping out at the wrong time. In the earlier days prior to the smartphone, I had an intern write an app to create a cycle timer sync’d to midnight or a sync input hour. I used it with a time-space diagram to verify offsets in the field. WaySync employed the exact same concept and is a nicely designed app to achieve much more than a simple timer. WaySync is the best tool I have seen for this purpose. It also can show a test car trajectory and sync’d video on the time-space diagram, so I can playback the recordings and tell from the office whether the signals are operating as intended. This tool earns its value in ensuring that the signal system is operating as intended in a much easier way, for both experienced users or new engineers to this field.

I have been performing traffic signal timing work for 25 years now using Synchro (and SimTraffic) and have recently acquired a tool that is going to make my life much easier. That is especially true for evaluation and fine tuning of new signal timing plans in the field. Where Synchro breaks down for me is in the field testing. You can use printed time space diagrams from Synchro to try and field test and fine-tune operation, but the real-time clock and display of anticipated signal phases offered in the mobile version of WaySync is a real game changer. The WaySync software allows you to see where you are at on the corridor and within the time space diagram using the GPS tracking feature. The software also provides the green/yellow/red interval times remaining for all active signal phases giving the engineer a good understanding of how well the plan is running. This also allows the engineer to easily pinpoint problems in the programming of the plan or to identify opportunities for improvement, even if your network is partitioned and using multiple cycle lengths. Use of the iPhone/iPad camera to add a video, synced with the time space diagram and vehicle trajectories makes WaySync a perfect tool for field evaluation and fine tuning. You can even use the microphone to record observations of your travel time run. The office (desktop) version of the software has lot of interesting features as well that allow me to test certain elements of timing plans in a way that is a tricky to do in Synchro. The built-in performance statistics generated by the actual travel runs will allow me to perform before and after studies, and also document key performance measures for year over year comparisons. After using the WaySync software for just a short time, I know that I will be using it for all my timing projects in the future to save time and ensure proper operation.

I learned to design, implement, and fine-tune signal timing plans as a student of Dr. Tian’s using WaySync. Several features of WaySync accelerated my learning of signal timing. The time-space diagram is very useful by being easy to read, including all the necessary coordination information, and easy editable to see what impacts timing changes might have, which are all important for understanding signal coordination. While driving along a corridor, the time-space diagram moves in real time, showing your position in relation to the bandwidth and the state of each signal. Since WaySync places a higher emphasis on real-world implementation, as students, we spent a lot of time in the field observing traffic, doing travel runs, and fine-tuning. All this practical experience using WaySync as a student has given me the skillset and judgement needed to jump right in as a young professional to help cities around the San Francisco Bay Area with their signal timing. WaySync allows our company to verify signal operations in the field and make better informed decisions to improve what the end road users experience. With the mobile app, we can quickly check if each signal is running accurately by comparing what WaySync shows is the correct operation (based on the programed coordination parameters) with the current state of the signal. If the signal timing does not match WaySync, we know there needs to be some troubleshooting. WaySync also allows us to save time with before and after studies by automatically calculating and comparing important measures of effectiveness based on travel runs collected in the mobile app. WaySync gives us confidence in our timing, which builds trust with our clients.