Welcome to the new ERTICO - ITS Europe

In this issue:

April 2012

From Development toDeployment:How EU co-funded research leads to profitable products

ITS interoperability testing events:a new way to make business

Interview with:

Ramiro Quintero, FICOSA

contents

Welcome to our new eMagazine!

ERTICO - ITS Europe is thrilled

to introduce the first issue of its

new eMagazine. This publication

represents a significant departure

from the i-Mobility Newsletter of old.

We have designed it to appeal to our

readership with exclusive content on

specific ITS topics. The eMagazine

contains original feature articles,

exclusive interviews and the latest

event reports. As always, ERTICO

aims to bring you the highest quality

news and information from a fresh

perspective.

This first issue features an in depth

look at interoperability testing,

an essential part in the process

of equipment development and

production; we will investigate

interoperability testing events and

discover what happens during these

unique events. In addition, we

examine the role of EU co-funding in

product research and development,

tracing the origins of ERTICO Partner

PEEK Traffic’s new cooperative ITS

platform through FREILOT back to

CVIS. Last but not least, you will

find the interview with new ERTICO

Partner FICOSA a Spanish industrial

group and a global leader in

research, development, production

and marketing of systems and parts

for the automotive industry.

We are grateful to everyone who was

involved in the editorial process,

our articles and interviews wouldn’t

have been possible without their

precious collaboration. We hope that

our readers will find the magazine

stimulating as we do and as always,

we wish you happy reading!

The Editorial Team

Welcome!

From development to deployment: How EU co-funded research leads to profitable products

ITS interoperability testing events: a new way to make business

Next interoperability events

Interview with: Ramiro Quintero, FICOSA

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Indeed, according to Willem

Hartman, Managing Director of

Peek Netherlands they will allow

‘intelligent communication between

vehicles as well as between vehicles

and roadside systems’. The origins

of PEEK’s cooperative platform are

to be found deep within EU funded

research projects. The concept and

the core of the technologies being

used having been developed through

the CVIS (Cooperative Vehicle-

Infrastructure Systems) project,

started in 2006 and concluded in

2010.

However, while the very core of

the idea might be found in CVIS,

the involvement of EU co-funded

research was not limited to that one

project. The story of the development

of the first commercially available

cooperative ITS platform is firmly one

of the successes of EU involvement in

research and development.

Considered to be the ‘mother’ of

all cooperative ITS projects, CVIS

set out to explore the possibilities

that new technologies in Vehicle-To-

Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle-To-

Vehicle (V2V) offered with regard

to tackling Europe’s urban transport

challenges. In so doing, it hoped to

‘completely re-engineer how drivers,

vehicles, goods and transport

interact’. The project defined and

developed a variety of technologies

that work together to achieve this goal.

The true strength of the CVIS project

lay, not in what it specifically

developed, but in what it provided

for future developments. The

foundation of the CVIS project was

the development of a cooperative

system architecture, something that

brought roadside infrastructure,

vehicles and applications together in

a unified and open system. Key to this

was the development of hardware

for both vehicles and roadside

infrastructure. CVIS developed a

standard that would allow all parts

of the system to communicate with

each other seamlessly, whether over

an infrared connection, a 3g mobile

data connection or 802.11p wireless

(akin to the wifi found in most homes

and offices).

The hardware, however, is simply the

foundation of what makes cooperative

From development to deployment:

How EU co-funded research leads to profitable products

by Nicolas White

Photograph © European Union, 2012

“There is a first sanity check if the EU is involved. They won’t get involved if they don’t see it as being feasible” says

Remi Tops, the new business manager at PEEK. We were talking about PEEK’s recently launched cooperative Intelligent

Transport System (ITS) platform, the first commercially available product of its kind. Unveiled in December 2011, PEEK

says that it will increase road safety, reduce CO2 emissions and crucially for commercial fleet operators, could cut fuel

consumption by 20%.

Cooperative systems, it is hoped, will revolutionise traffic management and the way we navigate city streets

systems so valuable in dealing with

the problems of overstretched road

networks and gridlocked traffic.

The open architecture developed

and tested by the CVIS project

allows for third party developers

to build software applications and

platforms on top of it, enhancing its

functionality and adapting it to new

and specific situations.

Applications that formed part of the

CVIS project include such things as

intersection priority management,

giving, for example, emergency

vehicles or public transport priority

at intersections; a safety application

that can update road users on crucial

pieces of information related to their

journey such as traffic conditions,

speed limits and the weather ahead

as well as applications that offer

strategic routing for vehicles, which

draw information from central traffic

management centres and draws it to

create optimised routes for drivers

so that they are able to reach their

destination in the most efficient way

possible, reducing travel times and

easing urban congestion.

CVIS’ legacy can clearly be seen in

PEEK’s new cooperative

ITS platform. Indeed,

a number of

research projects

have led to the

development of

the platform,

which consists

of: a roadside

router, a roadside

host, a vehicle router,

a vehicle host, android

software and a management and

control web application that can

be configured and managed from a

remote location. Each element of

the platform is required for the new

cooperative system and each element

must be able to communicate with

the other parts. Therefore, PEEK’s

new platform is compatible with the

new 802.11p draft standard.

The value of the development and

testing carried out through the CVIS

project, which was co-funded under

the European Commission’s 6th

Framework Programme was clear,

at least from a technical point of

view. Open standards for application

development proved so successful

that developers from outside the

project consortium got involved

in the CVIS Application Contest,

developing, submitting and even

deploying their applications on the

CVIS platform.

What CVIS did that is so hard to

do outside the realm of publicly

financed research projects was

incentivise the development of open

and accessible platforms. All too

often, companies develop innovative

solutions that, while they look good

on paper, and often deliver great

results, are less than perfectly

interoperable with other services.

Termed ‘walled gardens’ they often

represent a significant barrier to

future developments as

customers do not

want to pay to

replace them in

order to add

functionality or

integrate a new

service. CVIS’

openness gave

public authorities,

freight operators,

public transport companies

and consumers a flexible and largely

future proofed service.

Cooperative systems were developed

as a response to the needs of public

and city authorities.

Policy goals for cities tend to run

in the vein of both managing the

problem of increased congestion

while also promoting green economic

growth, healthy and safe urban living

and happy citizens. Indeed, the city

of Copenhagen, for example, has a

stated goal of being the first carbon

neutral capital city in the world. At

a recent ERTICO forum on ITS for

Urban Mobility, Steffen Rasmussen,

Head of Traffic Design Department

for the City of Copenhagen explained

how this goal, alongside others

such as promoting walking, making

the city a centre for world climate

policy, making Copenhagen the best

city for cycling and promoting more

and better use of the city’s public

spaces could be tackled thanks to the

deployment of ITS solutions such as

cooperative systems.

CVIS led to the development of

technologies that could help cities

achieve their urban mobility goals.

However, there is a large disconnect

between the development of

technologies and their eventual

deployment as successful products.

Enter FREILOT, an EU co-funded

project that was focussed on

real world testing of some of the

technologies developed in the CVIS

project. Crucially, this testing put

the technologies in the hands of

those that would eventually use such

services on a commercial basis: freight

operators and public authorities. In

addition to this testing, the FREILOT

project was designed in order to find

City authorities are faced with political and economic challenges related to the increase in road use and congestion

5how exactly the business models for

the commercial deployment of such

technologies would work.

As Remi Tops of PEEK explained,

FREILOT was needed ‘to find out what

the value perception of a product was

for customers’. In essence, FREILOT

served as a trial run for technologies

such as road intersection priority,

freight delivery space booking and

driver assistance systems to promote

better fuel economy. Throughout the

project stakeholders did not have to

pay to use the FREILOT services, as

they were financed by the suppliers

alongside co-funding from the

European Union. This allowed further

real world testing at no financial cost

to those benefiting from the services

demonstrating both how successful

the technologies could be in their

stated purpose and illustrating the

value they can add to both cities and

freight operators. In addition it gave

suppliers, as Remi Tops explained, a

much better idea of the needs of the

hardware platform. These insights

combined, led to the building of

‘a better idea of the costs and

requirements’ of the services.

For example, in the city of Helmond,

a FREILOT pilot site, emergency

vehicles were equipped with

intersection priority systems. The

outcome of this real world testing

was, as the project demonstrated,

safer intersection crossings as well

as a demonstration of just how

efficient such priority systems could

be. In a recent interview, Gert Blom,

Strategic Advisor on Mobility to the

City of Helmond, stated that ‘besides

the original predicted benefits of

the project, we now see many more

benefits of the FREILOT services

such as noise reduction, improved

traffic flows and increased road

safety’. Further, the success of the

intersection priority system has led

to the city of Helmond considering

closing its second fire station as fire

engines from one station now have

the ability to travel to all parts of the

city much faster. Thanks solely to the

intersection priority system having

been deployed.

FREILOT was, according to Remi

Tops, ‘instrumental’ in the

development of business models for

cooperative mobility solutions such

as PEEK’s cooperative ITS platform.

The development of such business

models is precisely what led PEEK to

being the first company to launch a

commercially available cooperative

mobility solution.

The company does not shy away from

explaining just how instrumental

EU co-funded projects are in the

development cycle. Tops explained

that such projects ‘help inform the

world about what we [PEEK] do and

they’re a great channel in product

introduction’. He continued by

explaining that companies are more

willing to invest if they see the EU

supporting developments, not simply

due to ‘shared risk’ but ‘because

they only invest in things which they

see have a future’.

Of course, as Tops highlighted, ‘the

real proof is when customers want

to buy without external funding’. In

this case, it seems the story of EU

co-funding has a decidedly happy

ending. PEEK have launched the first

commercially available cooperative

ITS system on the market and it looks

as though the City of Copenhagen,

which recently concluded a tender for

traffic management in the city, might

purchase it as an option (although

this is still being considered). Such

a development would at once help

Copenhagen achieve another first; to

be the first CO2 neutral capital city

in the world.

EU funded projects help companies

focus their research and develop

business models to accompany new

developments as well as provide a

meeting place for developers and

potential customers. In the case

of FREILOT, it showed that the

technology was ready, that customers

wanted it and they were willing to

pay. Something PEEK has certainly

found. After all - they already have

enormous interest from around the

world.

companies are more willing to invest if they see the EU supporting developments

ITS interoperability testing events: a new way to make businessby Carla Coppola

With one interoperability event successfully conducted in 2011, and two already planned for 2012, the ITS sector is

picking up on a deployment enabler that has so far been under utilised: interoperability testing. This is happening

because suppliers need to ensure that their products communicate correctly with each other, and interoperability

testing events represent an essential step towards launching products on the market and towards commercial success.

Over the past few years,

interoperability events have

become a well-known practice

within several high-tech sectors,

such as telecommunication, as they

provide an exceptional opportunity

to test a product and pledge its

interoperability before placing it on

the market. Even if interoperability

events do not certify products

and services, they allow engineers

to spot problems in the product

development process early enough

to limit financial consequences. Such

events ideally take place early on in

the progress of the implementation

of a standard, and have proven to

create great excitement among

participant operators, equipment

manufacturers, standardisation

bodies and interest groups.

Indeed, interoperability events have

a great deal of benefits for companies

and standardisation organisations;

they offer instant feedback on

possible errors in a product and on

ambiguity of a standard (often due to

different interpretations of the same

standard) allowing early corrections

which, if implemented without

testing, would cost extra time and

money. The advantages of ensuring

interoperability are undeniable and

therefore the collaboration between

participants prevails over the risk

of sharing products and services

among competing companies. The

added value of the approach is

demonstrated in the increasing

numbers of participants at these

events; each participant company can

test its own product and technology

against competitors and find errors

that would have been impossible to

find otherwise.

ITS Interoperability testing events are

a recent success story. In November

last year ERTICO - ITS Europe and

ETSI (European Telecommunications

Standards Institute) joined forces to

launch the first ever ITS (Intelligent

Transport Systems) interoperability

event. The week was very important

for ERTICO and it was closely followed

via a live blog by Sébastien Mure

(Project Support Manager at ERTICO)

which allowed the ITS community to

participate virtually in the event.

This first 5-day interoperability event

focused on cooperative mobility

services and gathered over 50 people

from 14 organisations (technology

Image: courtesy of Sébastien Mure @ERTICO - ITS Europe

providers, research institutes, car

manufacturers and international

organisations) who brought

their ITS units and tested their

interoperability. The early results of

the event were shared and discussed

at a workshop hosted by ERTICO

Partner TNO Mobility in Helmond

(the Netherlands) and supported by

the European projects DRIVE C2X and

eCoMove whose implementations

were tested and successfully proved

to be interoperable.

The high attendance and impressive

results obtained (90% of the

750 executed tests confirmed

interoperability), prove the maturity

of the implementation of cooperative

ITS devices and highlight the great

interest of the ITS community in

testing, as well as the necessity for

companies and institutions to certify

the interoperability of products and

services and their compliance with

standards.

Additionally, this first experience

paved the way to future ITS

interoperability testing events.

The next milestone is the eCall

Interoperability event, the first of

its kind,

hosted by

E R T I C O

P a r t n e r

innovITS ADVANCE in the UK

(21-25 May) and supported by the

eCall deployment project HeERO, led

by ERTICO.

HeERO is the pilot project co-funded

by the European Commission under

the ICT Policy Support Programme

that addresses the pan-European in-

vehicle emergency call service (eCall)

based on the common European

emergency number 112.

According to Andy Rooke,

HeERO project coordinator, “the

implementation of the eCall service

at European level should take into

account two major conditions:

interoperability and cross border

continuity and harmonisation”.

Interoperability means that any

vehicle from any European country

can travel across Europe and use

the eCall service in case of incidents

and count on assistance. In order to

make this possible, interoperability

needs to be accomplished not only

from a technical point of view, but it

needs to cover all of the operational

aspects. On the other hand, the eCall

service can work only if developed in

a harmonised way in all European

countries. The HeERO project will use

the European standards as defined by

ETSI and CEN - European Committee

for Standardisation, and with this

project the European Commission is

aiming to facilitate the deployment

of a pan-European service by 2015.

The first eCall interoperability

event planned in May is part of

this harmonisation process. The

organisers estimate that between 7

and 10 different companies will be

represented with a total of 30 to 40

participants. The focus of this event

will be on testing the end-to-end

eCall chain (from In-Vehicle System

– IVS - to Public Safety Answering

Point – PSAP), following a defined

series of test scenarios. For each

test session, couples composed of

one IVS test device and one PSAP

test device will be formed. The duos

will then test the transmission of the

eCall under different scenarios, and

verify that all information is properly

transmitted and that the protocols

are respected. The test descriptions

and specifications have been written

by a group of selected experts, in

Recent research conducted

by TNS Political & Social at

the request of the European

Commission (Directorate-

General Information Society

and Media - http://ec.europa.

eu/information_society/

activities/112/docs/

report_2012.pdf) showed

that only 26% of citizens in

the 27 EU Member States

can correctly identify 112 as

the cross-border emergency

number and, just 47% of all EU

citizens said they would call

112 in case of an emergency

in their own country.

Nevertheless, according to

the study, the knowledge of

112 as a national emergency

number does not necessarily

correspond to awareness

of 112 as the European

emergency number. In fact,

only 38% of interviewees who

stated that they would call

112 in case of emergency in

their own country also knew

that this number could be used

in other EU countries.

This data shows that the

knowledge of 112 as the

European emergency number

“is not only influenced by the

national situation in terms of

available emergency numbers,

but also by the frequency and

amount of public information

disseminated about the

European emergency number

112”.

7

Did you know?

from previous page...

www.etsi.org/WebSite/OurServices/

plugtests/aboutus.aspx

http://ecomove-project.eu/news-

events/news/etsi-plugtests-watch-

the-video

Useful links

Thanks to François Fischer,

Sébastien Mure and Andy Rooke

for their collaboration in preparing

this article.

collaboration with the participants in

the tests. The tests will be performed

via a mobile network provided and

controlled by innovITS ADVANCE.

Additionally, a workshop titled

“From interoperability testing to

certification” will be held during

the testing operations where the

first results will be shown. The

workshop is

open to a wide audience and attendees

will have the opportunity to learn

more about interoperability testing

and eCall, and to visit the testing

area and meet the participants.

In terms of benefits for the

standardisation process, the event

is expected to provide feedback to

ETSI on the maturity of the standard,

to spot potential errors as well as

providing some feedback on the

testing procedures.

For suppliers and manufacturers,

a feedback on the interoperability

of their technologies against other

suppliers will be given and, according

to the final results, they can consider

what can be done to improve them.

In the same way, François Fischer,

Project Manager at ERTICO, who is

leading the organisation of the eCall

interoperability event, acknowledged

that these events are also pivotal

for projects that have the unique

opportunity of testing their

products and technologies before

they are actually implemented;

Click here to view the video of the first Interoperability event on CMS

http://vimeo.com/channels/etsi

the positive results obtained with the first interoperability event on cooperative mobility services convinced us that projects can greatly benefit from such events

A second interoperability testing

event on cooperative mobility services

is already planned to take place in

June 2012 in Versailles (France).

First Interoperability event: 5 days;

50 participants;

14 companies;

750 interoperability tests;

90% of the tests confirmed interoperability

Next interoperability events

21-25 May 2012 1st eCall Interoperability testing event

Nuneaton (UK)

11-15 June 2012 2nd Interoperability testing event on Cooperative Mobility Services

Versailles (FR)

September 2012 TPEG Interoperability testing event

Brussels (BE)

9

Can you describe FICOSA activities

in the ITS field?

Why have you joined ERTICO

- ITS Europe? What are your

expectations for this Partnership?

proprietary integrated antennas,

specialised manufacturing and

mass production capabilities, in-

house testing and state-of-the-

art measurement equipment,

and a strong IPR portfolio that

ensures a competitive advantage.

Currently, FICOSA’s engineering

group is a team of 20+ years

experience in several areas, such

as RF, software development,

3G/4G communications, GNSS

communications, etc.

Interview with:

Ramiro Quintero, FICOSA

FICOSA is, nowadays, one of

the worldwide leaders in the

development of in-vehicle

systems integrated in vehicles. A

firm commitment to innovative

solutions to our clients has led

FICOSA’s technology to be chosen

already by several customers,

and several projects awarded

for worldwide deployments of

several million units in 2013.

Our automotive customers are

already benefiting from the

advanced integration capabilities

in telematic modules to meet their

demands, as several car platforms

have been integrating FICOSA’s

telematic modules inside since

several months ago.

With today’s automotive

worldwide market and customer

changing needs, wireless access is

expected to lead to dramatically

multiband applications that take

advantage of ubiquitous mobility

and location. Several years ago,

FICOSA was qualified to understand

those trends in the ITS field by

working in close cooperation with

its customers. In that sense, it was

clear that the number of available

communication services within a

vehicle was constantly increasing.

As the users appreciate the utility

of new services, it was not only

the manufacturers of portable

devices, but also car makers

themselves, who wanted to have

these services integrated in the

FICOSA has several expectations in

joining ERTICO. In a world where

increasingly intelligent smart

vehicles and ITS are hitting the

roads, FICOSA cannot stress highly

enough getting in contact with the

right partners. In that sense, one

of the major expectations from

FICOSA is to participate with other

European partners in projects

where we can provide with the

right experience in the fields of

in-vehicle systems (telematic

units), and proper integration

of those systems in the vehicle

by means of our technology.

FICOSA is a Tier-1 supplier with

60+ years experience in dealing

with automotive makers. In

order to be successful, it is key

to establish strong links with the

ITS community, and ERTICO is a

vehicles. The proper functioning of

those services, such as GSM, UMTS,

DCS, GPS, Glonass, etc relied on good

antenna reception.

The antenna is one of the most

definitive elements of a wireless

device. Without it, wireless systems

would not be wireless. Some years

ago, FICOSA decided to address the

aforementioned new market trends

through a portfolio of innovative

antenna solutions in all the different

services used in automobile. It

started with the search of antenna

technologies that could provide more

than conventional solutions. Through

research, FICOSA led notable

advances in the design of two kinds

of traditionally difficult antennas:

the multiband and miniature. FICOSA

committed to support wireless

data communications by providing

specialised and unique antennas.

That commitment to provide with

state-of-the-art antennas benefited

FICOSA’s customers, since FICOSA’s

IPR portfolio ensures a competitive

advantage to our partners and clients.

Needless to say that the benefits of

FICOSA’s expertise do not end there,

however. FICOSA electronics know-

how in the communications and

automotive sectors also led to the

development of innovative telematic

units. Now FICOSA is a full-service

Tier-1 supplier in the telematic

arena that offers full development

of hardware / software solutions,

Are there any projects, activities

or sectors that you are particularly

interested in?

FICOSA is well recognised because

of its excellence in technology.

There are several areas where

FICOSA is leading the innovation

field and, therefore, where we

would like to keep the lead through

partnership. Looking towards

the future, FICOSA’s aim is to be

a natural partner for companies

that are starting to realize that

wireless integration is a crucial

issue. In that sense, FICOSA wants

to strengthen its leading position

by participating in projects that

require innovative solutions in the

telematics area, such as 3G/4G

telephony and GNSS satellite

communications, DSRC, M2M

solutions for car manufacturers

and aftermarket solutions, etc.

Website: www.ficosa.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ficosaofficialpage

Youtube:www.youtube.com/user/FicosaInternational

Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/ficosaworld

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/ficosa-international

Useful links

11

platform that really encourages that

cooperation among the partners. FICOSA Description

FICOSA is an industrial group based in Spain and a global

leader in research, development, production and marketing of

automotive systems and parts. Founded in 1949, the company,

with headquarters in Barcelona (Spain), holds a team close

to 8,000 employees and manufacturing plants, technological

centres and offices located throughout 19 countries in Europe,

North America, South America and Asia.

The Group invests 4% of its income in R&D, and operates one

of the top technology development centres in Spain addressed

to the automotive, electronics, energy and communications

industries. FICOSA has positioned itself for the future as a world

leader in electronic systems with a global and more diversified

business agenda and an expanded added value product line.

For further information, please contact us:

Avenue Louise 326B-1050 Brussels Belgium +32 (0)2 400 07 00 +32 (0)2 400 07 01pr@mail.ertico.com

www.ertico.com

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