thinking highways europe/row september 2007

Volume 2 • Issue 3 • Q3/2007

THINKING HIGHWAYSEUROPE/REST of the WORLD EDITION

Advanced transportation management policy • strategy • technology

finance • innovation • implementation integration • interoperability

the

INTELLIGENTchoice

LINKING HIGHWAYSCVIS reaches the parts other projects cannot reach

WATCHING THE DETECTORSCCTV for ITS comes under the scrutiny of Bruce Abernethy and Vibeke Ulmann

WIRED EARTHJack Opiola and Tony Ioannidis

on the digital transport Gaia

ADVANCING SLOWLYPhil Tarnoff’s dismay at the public

sector’s technology take-up

PLUS: CVHS • Weigh in Motion • Tolling & Customer Management • EU Finance & Funding • Brazil • Australia • South Africa • China • POLIS • EUROCITIES • David Pearson • Joaquin Cosmen Schortmann

I’d written, I had been told, my most interesting foreword yet. Largely, I suspected, because it didn’t mention music, football or indeed myself. Not even once. Then an email arrived.

“You can’t talk about it yet, so hold fire for a month or two, OK?” was the gist of the missive. The jaunty “OK?” wasn’t really a question at all, more of a polite way of ending an instruction. Suffice it to say, it was something very exciting and groundbreaking and involves a fair few world-renowned industry people, a huge organisation, several months work and a potentially remarkable end-product.

And that’s all I can say about it, which would understand-ably prompt the question “then why tell us at all?” Well, it’s simple. It’s such a big project for us to be involved with that we had to kind of tell you. Short of running into the street shouting “you’re never going to guess what we’ve just been asked to do?”which would certainly turn a few heads in Onslow Gardens where the most interesting thing that ever

Editor-in-Chief Kevin Borras Sales and Marketing Luis Hill, Tim Guest Design and Layout Phoebe Bentley, Kevin Borras Guest Designers Buro de Change (pages 48-55) Sub-Editor and Proofreader Maria Vasconcelos Contributing Editors Bruce Abernethy, Richard Bishop, Andrew Pickford, Phil Sayeg, Phil Tarnoff, Darryll Thomas, Harold Worrall, Amy Zuckerman Contributors to this issue Bruce Abernethy, Michael Aherne, Mariana Andrade, Barbara Bernardi, Phil Charles, Robert Cone, Joaquin Cosmen Schortmann, Richard Harris, Tony Ioannidis, Zeljko Jeftic, Paul Kompfner, Jack Opiola, David Pearson, Margaret Pettit, Vic Phanumphai, Ondrej Pribyl, Andreas Schmid, Phil Tarnoff, Vibeke

Thinking Highways is published by H3B Media Ltd.

ISSN 1753-433X

Thinking Highways is published quarterly in two editions – North America and Europe/Rest of the World - and is available on subscription at £30/€40 (Europe/RoW) and US$60 (North America). Distributed in the USA by DSW 75 Aberdeen Road, Emigsville, PA 17318-0437 USA. Periodicals postage paid at Emigsville, PA. POSTMASTER: send address changes to Thinking Highways, 401 S W Water Street, Suite 201B, Peoria, Illinois 61602, USA.

Although due care has been taken to ensure that the content of this publication is accurate and up-to-date, the publisher can accept no liability for errors and omissions. Unless otherwise stated, this publication has not tested products or services that are described herein, and their inclusion does not imply any form of endorsement. By accepting advertisements in this publication, the publisher does not warrant their accuracy, nor accept responsibility for their contents. The publisher welcomes unsolicited manuscripts and illustrations but can accept no liability for their safe return.

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Printed in the UK by Stones the Printers

“I’d love to tell you about it, but...”A last-minute development sees Thinking Highways sworn to secrecy - not, perhaps, our strongest suit

1Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 3www.h3bmedia.com

Foreword Thinking

Managing Director Luis Hill

[email protected]

Publishing Director Kevin Borras

[email protected]

www.h3bmedia.com

Kevin Borras is publishing director of H3B Media and editor-in-chief of Thinking Highways Europe/Rest of the World and North America editions.

“Our first issue saw the light of day in October 2006 and we weren’t sure

what you would make of it”

happens around here is the daily sighting of a chap that dresses like Elvis (fat, Vegas Elvis at that) this is the closest we can get, for now, to a trumpet-blowing press release. By the time our Q4 issue comes out in December I’ll be able to be a lot less cryptic. Trust me, this is going to be huge. We have, though,

excited about it. One new development that

we can talk about is our collaboration with Intertraffic on a series of Think Tanks to take place during their Amsterdam show in April. It’s the first time that Intertraffic have worked on something like this with a publisher so we are really pleased that we came to such an agreement so quickly.

Think Tanks looking at Cooperative Vehicles (with ERTICO), Satellite Technology in the Road Transport Sector (with the IRF-BPC), Transport’s Effects on the Climate and European Road Pricing Initiatives will be spread across all four days of the bi-annual traffic-fest and, just like our UK Road Pricing Think Tank in the UK in November and our Climate Change Think Tank in Massachussets in May, technology is sharing equal billing with policy, politics, interoperability, finance, funding and public acceptance.

And I’d love to tell you who we are interviewing in the December issue... TH

come a long way in a year. October 2006 saw our first issue see the light of day and we weren’t overly sure what you would make of it. Twelve months down the line and we have an announcement to make about our involvement in a project that is so far-reaching that some very senior and vastly experienced European transport officials are visibly

Ulmann, Paul Vorster, Bruce Willoughby, Daniel Zacarias

Visualisation Tom Waldschmidt ([email protected]) Conferences and Events Odile Pignier ([email protected])

Subscriptions and Circulation Pilarin Harvey-Granell Website Code Liquid

Financial Director Martin Brookstein

EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING H3B Media Ltd, 15 Onslow Gardens, Wallington, Surrey SM6 9QL, UK Tel +44 (0)870 919 3770 Fax +44 (0)870 919 3771 Email [email protected]

COLUMNS 04 Eurocities’ Mobility Forum 06 Prof Phil Charles’ Australian Update COVER STORY10 Andreas Schmid, Paul Kompfner and Zeljko

Jeftic discuss the widening remit and potential impact and applications of the CVIS project

THE THINKER20 ITS guru Phil Tarnoff on the painfully slow technology take-up by the public sector agencies

BRAZIL26 Daniel Zacarias looks at what ERTICO’s SIMBA

project is looking to achieve in Brazil EVENT PREVIEW29 H3B Media’s 1st UK Road Pricing Think Tank

IN MY OPINION38 Richard Harris and Robert Cone call for wider

debate as the CVIS, VII and ADAS bandwagons gather momentum

SOUTH AFRICA42 Kevin Borras talks to ITS South Africa’s CEO Dr Paul Vorster about the country’s plans for an

ITS Centre of Excellence

THINKING DIFFERENTLY 48 Bruce Abernethy assesses the essential nuts

and bolts of CCTV for ITS in an eight-page feature ‘imagined and constructed’ by advertising agency Buro De Change CCTV56 Continuing on the theme of closed-circuit television, Vibeke Ulmann focuses on the English Highways Agency’s revolutionary plans

THE FUTURE62 The forward thinking Jack Opiola and Tony Ioannidis have stunning visions of a digital transport Gaia AUTOMOBILE SAFETY70 When we received a letter saying “I’ve invented

something that will save many thousands of lives and I want to tell the advanced

transport world about it” we felt duty bound

Contents

to let Bangkok-based traffic engineer Vic Phanunphai do just that

THE THOUGHT PROCESS74 Joaquin Cosmen Schortmann, Member of the

Executive Committee of the IRF-Brussels Programme Centre

AUSTRALIA76 Transurban’s Bruce Willoughby guides us

smoothly through the company’s latest innovative project, GLIDe

INTERVIEW80 David Pearson, the new Chairman of innovITS

on what attracted him to ITS and what attracted ITS to him

POLIS NETWORK84 Sustainable Urban Traffic Management as

seen through the eyes of POLIS working group leader Michael Aherne

WEIGH IN MOTION90 Dr Ondre Pribyl on WIM’s role in an ITS environment

CHINA96 Mariana Andrade weighs up the impacts of the SIMBA project on China, host for the 14th World Congress on ITS

FINANCE AND FUNDING102 Margaret Pettit’s EU roundup has an element of familiarity about it. In a good way

104 Advertisers’ Index

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Two weeks ahead of the publication of the European Commission Green Paper on Urban Transport, the debate centred on two of the document’s major issues has started again in Brussels.

Stakeholders are currently wondering at which point the Commission’s document will redress the intermodal imbalance on one hand and on the other address the need for a comprehensive framework which includes both passenger and freight... or if we specifically talk about topics such as urban areas, logistics and so on.

The old concept of intermodality and the need for favouring the more environmental friendly mode was the catalyst for a fight between the representatives of the various modes, all concentrating on drafting a ranking from the worst to the best considering both economic and environmental performance. It went without saying that the funding of one infrastructure or operation over another depends on the political choice reflecting that ranking. Last year, following the Mid-Term Review of the

Is this really the dawn of a new era of co-operation in the cities? EUROCITIES are firm believers that it is...

4 Vol 2 No 3 Thinking Highways www.h3bmedia.com

EUROCITIES’ Mobility Forum

White Paper on Transport, Commissioner Barrot bravely put forward the new concept of co-modality, which revolutionised the old way of contemplating the dichotomy between modes and the type of traffic flows. Co-modality goes together with the complexity of the cities’ planning of the recognition that we are still facing problems and obstacles that result in an increased use of the individual car for mid-range commuters’ travel mode of choice within and in and out of cities.

column in the April/May issue we started our journey together by trying to understand what the needs of a city’s inhabitants are: going to work, to school, to the shops, to play or to watch sports to name but a few. It is still not a secret that most of the families in old and new Member States, as the Eurobarometer survey published in July 2007 shows, still prefer the good old polluting car. For years the European Commission has forced the modal split through favouring the more environmental means of transport, such as railways, but with limited success. So we need to think of a new way to create and manage a better modal split in a more natural (even organic) way.

In our opinion co-modality, as mentioned earlier, refers to the highly complex urban framework, and to the diversity of cities not only from country to country but within the same country as well.

This reflection brings to the table another old concept that is very close to retirement: the present dichotomy between passengers and freight. This is not an unfamiliar concept - for instance Barcelona’s spatial

Modal-shift or modal split refers to the need for finding a new balance between modes. The old fashioned dichotomy of railway or road still has some years to go before it is pensioned off. In our first

constraints obliged the city to think innovatively and to devote some passenger transport lanes to logistics delivery. Europe’s diversity requires ad hoc solutions for unique problems - city planners must start to think in this way if we are going to progress and survive.

As a result we will need to combine two levels of thinking - not only the integration of vertical modes but also

horizontal ones. This is all food for thought but it does not eradicate from the scenario the need anyway to fight climate change in its all forms - from mobility problems, to energy to demographic changes.

The concept of internalising the external costs still remains a priority for Europe and its cities. The fair competition between modes will result only after an implementation of this model all around Europe and beyond its borders through all modes of transport, including aviation.

Cities will need to look toward starting a very effective and efficient dialogue with

business and with the various governance levels. Intermodal thinking remains the ultimate solution to the problem, which cannot be solved purely by tackling the transport side of things. Integrated development is the key for a sustainable future where stakeholders fight together in order to achieve the ultimate equilibrium.

It might sound ambitious for the near future, but we want to share some optimistic thoughts after a very strange summer in most of Europe. Diderot once noted that we risk too much if we believe too much - but that also we risk too little if we believe too little. TH


A piece for the puzzle

Prof Phil Charles’ Australian Update

Could Dynamic Traffic Management be the answer to Australia’s growing congestion problems?

Traffic congestion is uppermost in the thoughts of major highway operators all around the world. Forecast growth in traffic across Australian major urban areas will increase congestion pressures, significantly increasing transport costs, reducing travel time reliability and subsequently increasing vehicle emissions and energy use.

A number of measures are available to mitigate congestion, encompassing demand reduction and management, improving management of traffic and increasing capacity. Usually a

combination of measures is employed, including proactive dynamic management of traffic flows, to increase throughput of traffic and provide some congestion relief.

About one fifth of all Australian metropolitan traffic currently occurs on urban freeways, which are typically performing at 20-25 per cent below their design capacity. Typical results for ramp metering in the US were 16-57 per cent increase in average peak hour travel speed, 25 per cent increase in peak period volume and 37-52 per cent reduction in average travel time.

Looking closely at traffic flows, considerable freeway congestion results from unstable traffic conditions that develop when a freeway is operating at or near its design capacity. This instability can cause the traffic flow to breakdown, resulting in stop-start traffic jams. Primary causes of this congestion are uncontrolled vehicle entry from on-ramps interfering with the main traffic flow and interactions between interchanges, such as vehicles weaving, merging or changing lanes over short distances to access exit ramps, and traffic queuing at an exit ramp.

Vol 2 No 3 Thinking Highways www.h3bmedia.com6

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Congested corridorEarlier this year the Victorian state highway agency, VicRoads commenced a A$1billion upgrade project of 75 km of the Monash Freeway, CityLink and the West Gate Freeway, which runs east-west through the centre of Melbourne. Transurban, which operates the CityLink toll road, is a partner in the project.

Over 160,000 vehicles per day, including up to 20,000 heavy freight vehicles, use the corridor which is regularly heavily congested, resulting in longer travel times for commuters and commercial vehicles.

The upgrade is designed to improve traffic flow, increase travel time reliability and traffic throughput and improve safety on one of the State’s busiest freeway.

This project includes a state-of-the-art new intelligent freeway management system, that incorporates coordinated ramp metering at all arterial road access points and a lane management system. The remainder of the works involves widening sections of the freeway to reduce merge and weaving movements and improving entry/exit points.

The concept of this project arose out of detailed freeway performance monitoring

which found that in the morning peak period there was 25 per cent less throughput of vehicles in recent times compared to five years previously. When a traffic flow breakdown problem occurred on the freeway during the peak period, the result was a 15-20 km backup of traffic that did not fully clear until the peak period was over.

Following detailed investigation of best practice freeway management worldwide, a package of measures was selected to regain the lost throughput, which includes coordinated ramp metering, full-lane management (integrated lane use and speed control) and on-road dynamic traffic information system.

The proposed coordinated ramp metering system involves trialling a range of algorithms, with the primary sophisticated algorithm being used under license from Europe (developed by a team led by Dr Markos Papageorgiou from the Technical University of Crete).

New freeway management control system software is being developed using a flexible modular approach based on ITC industry-accepted practices, allowing parallel testing of different algorithms and facilitating

ongoing enhancements. So what has been learned so

far? Even in an agency like VicRoads, which is known for its sophisticated intelligent transport systems, the new approach requires extensive testing. Additional expertise has been assembled in-house, particularly in telecom-munications and control systems.

The concept of fast tracking and ongoing development has been embedded in the process, for example software contracts allow for ongoing development for some time after the project is implemented.

This approach will result in new design approaches for fully managed freeway operations to manage and control merge and weaving movements as much as possible to reduce turbulence and the potential for unstable traffic flow. TH

Visit VicRoads’ website at www.vicroads.vic.gov.au and

www.mcwupgrade.com.au for the Monash-CityLink-Westgate

upgrade projectMany thanks to John Gaffney

of VicRoads for his assistance in compiling this article.

Prof Phil Charles is Director of the Centre for Transport

Strategy at the University of Queensland, Brisbane Australia.

[email protected]

Prof Phil Charles’ Australian Update


Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

Vol 2 No 3 Thinking Highways10 www.h3bmedia.com

Joined up thinking The CVIS project presents a high-level architecture for cooperative vehicle-infrastructure system deployment in Europe. ANDREAS SCHMID, ZELJKO JEFTIC and PAUL KOMPFNER take up what is promising to be an enthralling story

More and more voices are proclaiming the immi-nent birth of a brave new world of “cooperative sys-tems”, to be built upon the foundation of an expected ubiquitous connectivity amongst vehicles, roadside infrastructure and management/service centres.

Of course, this wonder can only come to pass if indeed almost all vehicles can communicate, if a substantial fraction of traffic management hardware is equipped, if agencies and operators establish links to the vehicles and the roadside equipment – and if a suitable commu-nication network infrastructure is in place.

Bringing all these elements together into a successful deployment poses challenges of a scale and complexity never before encountered in the world of ITS. In this arti-cle we describe the ambitions – and the achievements to date – of the CVIS project, that has set out to define “the” high-level architecture for cooperative vehicle-infrastructure systems in Europe. This consortium of over 60 partners is attempting, with the help of over €20 million in EU funding, to apply (and in some cases to define) international standards for wireless communi-cation and networking in a number of example case studies illustrating the potential significant benefits for traffic safety and efficiency, for the environment and for driver comfort.

The CVIS project was launched in February 2006 to develop a platform which would allow vehicles to communicate and cooperate directly with other nearby vehicles and with roadside infrastruc-ture. After six months, the specific and consolidated user needs, use cases and system requirements were pub-lished. A year later the second set of key results emerged – a CVIS high-level architecture for cooperative sys-tems, and a set of specific component architectures, that, unlike much of today’s high-tech equipment, should not become out-dated when each new communication technology arrives.

Unlike the patchwork quilt of different – and incom-patible – technologies and services that makes up the landscape of tolling in Europe today, cooperative sys-tems can never become an all-covering blanket if there is not profound agreement on the definition of the basic technical elements and, most importantly, how these can fit together. The process of discussing the different options and coming to a broad-based consensus is exactly what is happening now in CVIS, and whose interim results we present in this article. This consulta-tion should help to ensure that the final architecture is a robust solution capable of delivering the most impor-tant requirements for key stakeholders and, most impor-tantly, has the best chance of leading to a full deployment of cooperative systems in all of Europe’s vehicles and roadside equipment in all European countries.

Requirements for a successful architectureIf updatability is a necessary feature of a European cooperative systems architecture, other requirements

are equally important to ensure widespread deploy-ment. These include:

• separation of applications and services from the choice of communication system(s) used to link vehi-cles and infrastructure;

• ability for a vehicle user or owner to subscribe to, or use (for free-of-charge services), any accessible func-tion or service, anywhere in Europe;

• reciprocal interoperability: any vehicle is able to connect to available services, and any service can con-nect to any vehicle;

• any operator or service provider must be able to offer a (compliant or authorised) service anywhere and to any user;

• vehicle manufacturers must be able to guard the integrity of their on-board systems from security threats.

When such conditions are met, customers will find that cooperative system products are included when they buy a new vehicle, as vehicle manufacturers will install communication capability as a series feature. If a driver chooses to cross the continent, he or she will enjoy continuous “roaming” access to whichever serv-ices are provided locally.

From the driver’s point of view, services and applica-tions, such as personalised route guidance, traffic alerts

or local junction “green wave”, will work in the same way in Spain, Scot-land and Slovenia. The cities of Stock-holm, Strasbourg and Siena will each be able to collect “floating car” data from every vehicle on their roads – including foreign – and free to provide car park booking and payment or to collect any congestion charging fees due likewise from every vehicle.

Such a revolution in communication, interaction and cooperation amongst

vehicles and infrastructure demands a completely new architecture. It needs to be based on communication standards as robust and well accepted as those defining GSM/UMTS. But as it must be implemented in all vehi-cles it also needs to allow progress – i.e. include a new interface (e.g. WiMAX or DVB-H when this is widely deployed) without replacing all the in-vehicle hardware. Similarly, application software must also be flexible and updatable, allowing a free market in services and easy interoperability in both the vehicle and the roadside.

The bigger pictureIn the CVIS cooperative vision, all vehicles, road-side equipment and management or operating centres (e.g. for traffic or fleet management), as well as other mobile road users equipped with a communication terminal (pedestrians for example) can communicate and share information with each other. Each participant in this cooperative systems world is seen as a “node” in a com-mon “network”, formed either by ad-hoc links to nearby mobile users or by connection to an IP backbone.

Figure 1 shows the main entities encompassed in the high level architecture, and how they relate to each

Cover Feature


“Cooperative systems can never be an all-covering blanket if there is no agreement on

the basic technical elements”

other. Existing links are shown in blue, the new connec-tions enabled by a CVIS network appear in green. This architecture is not limited to a strictly hierarchical view but allows each of these entities or nodes to communi-cate freely with each other (and in either direction) according to their needs. Nodes can communicate via the IP network or as peer-to-peer if needed, for exam-ple, for time-critical safety applica-tions as elaborated by the “sister” SAFESPOT project.

Inside the boxEach cooperative system “node” belongs to one of four major sub- systems: central, vehicle, handheld and road-side. Figure 2 presents the CVIS project implementation architec-ture, showing how each node combines an interface (“gateway”) to any native or legacy systems, a host computer where services and applications are executed, and a communications and network router providing connec-tivity to an IPv6 network. In a real system deployment, these three components would be merged into one hardware unit.

Each node implemented within the CVIS project will have the same basic architecture, comprising three lay-ers: communications, JAVA/OSGi-based middleware and applications. In practice, not all applications may need the features (and overheads) of the JAVA/OSGi

framework, being implemented in native code or sub-ject to special real-time requirements. In the CVIS archi-tecture, an interface to native applications can easily be developed if needed.

The middleware layer includes a number of core components needed for inter-node cooperation, grouped into Basic and Domain functionalities (“facili-

ties” in CVIS-speak). Basic facilities include lifecycle management of serv-ices and applications, directory facili-ties for service publication and discovery, basic communication facili-ties, security facilities, remote man-agement, and software download to enable dynamic downloading of soft-ware on CVIS hosts. The Domain facili-ties encompass e.g. positioning, location referencing, payment or traf-fic information.

Communication for cooperative systems Cooperative transport systems are by definition based on mobile communications. In theory one single com-munication medium could provide a continuous – or near-continuous – IP connectivity. However, while mobile Internet on cellular (e.g. UMTS) is capable of being that unique channel, in practice it would be too costly, would not suit certain applications needing very immediate and short-range communication with road-side equipment, and might not offer sufficient network

Figure 1 – The principal entities in the CVIS cooperative system architecture

Cover Feature


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capacity if all vehicles were in near-continuous commu-nication with infrastructure systems.

CVIS is therefore developing technologies linking communication partners over a global IPv6 network. Compared with today’s predominantly IPv4 networks, IPv6 offers a vastly increased address space as well as support for network mobility, both of which will be needed once every vehicle has one or more IP addresses and wants to maintain a connection whilst travelling at high speed. IP itself was chosen since the mobile system parts may use different media (e.g. 3G cellular, WiFi, DSRC, infrared) and IP is the most suitable common layer for managing the different physical media.

The management of the physical wireless “channels” beneath the IPv6 network layer is handled in CVIS by the application of CALM (Continous Air interface for Long and Meduim Range). This group of standards (cur-rently under development in ISO TC/204 Working Group 16) defines elements at different levels that work together to separate any high-level applications from the details of the particular communication interfaces and network layer in use. Figure 3 shows the full CALM stack as implemented in the CVIS architecture. This pro-vides flexible management of whichever air interfaces may be available and in use, as well as of the way that the IPv6 network layer operates. A CALM management entity (CME) links the network layer in the CVIS router to the application layer in each CVIS host.

A co-operative ITS environment needs the availability of both two-way and one-way communications. Besides the dedicated peer-to-peer IP connections, features such as broadcast or geocast allow a large, unspecified number of communication partners in a region to be

addressed depending either on the range of the broad-cast medium or on the specified geographic area. In case a peer-to-peer partner is not known, a Distributed Directory Service allows applications to be discovered according to specific search criteria (e.g. type of appli-cation and logical ‘network’ neighbourhood).

The CVIS communication-relevant components and protocols are provided by the COMM sub-project, that has defined technology for seamless and continuous communication from the vehicle towards the infrastruc-ture and other vehicles. The CVIS communication sys-tem is based on standards for hybrid mobile networking from ISO, IEEE, IETF and ETSI.

The CVIS air interface is based on a number of com-munication channels including GPRS, UMTS, CALM M5 (mobile Wi-Fi), DSRC and IR (Infrared). The CALM tech-nology uses policy-based rules to select the optimal communications channel at any time and place.

The CVIS open reference communication system can be optimised or directly ported into commercial prod-ucts for vehicles and roadside systems alike. This refer-ence communication platform is also available to other European ITS projects (e.g. SAFESPOT, COOPERS, SIS-TER), and CVIS maintains close coordination with these other projects.

Adaptive software environmentBoth mobile and fixed system parts need to adapt their capabilities over either time and/or space when mov-ing through the road network. This means that new soft-ware must be delivered to both vehicle and roadside platforms each time either there is a new software release or (if needed) when a vehicle comes into a new

Figure 2 – Principal CVIS sub-systems

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service domain.Mechanisms for flexible software deployment and

management as provided by JAVA/OSGi CVIS frame-work, extended to fit the needs of co-operative systems, underpin the solution adopted by CVIS. Arbitrary sys-tem changes caused by software downloads would be a nightmare for all stakeholders, so each system entity (or “CVIS host”) needing a software update must obtain this from its assigned “host management centre”. Any stakeholder can operate a host management centre (HMC), in whatever way meets its needs and constraints. A host management centre knows the status of its assigned hosts and can permit or deny any software and configuration changes. CVIS also provides for dynamic mechanisms for hosts to obtain updates or new software on the fly, remotely if needed (and permitted).

The following illustration shows three hosts - nomadic, roadside and in-vehicle - linked by an IPv6 connection (blue lines symbolise the services’ information flow). If needed, new software (applications) can be deployed through host management centres (red lines). Each host must be related to exactly one HMC. (Each HMC is under the control of its governing organisation, e.g. a vehicle manufacturer). The software applications may be requested from an authorised software supplier or – as shown – come from a service provider wishing to deploy a new service. Figure 4 shows clearly the distinction between information flows due to the normal operation of application services and software flows resulting from application software provisioning to a host from its host management centre.

Cooperative monitoring The COMO sub-project is developing technology for collecting and delivering traffic-related data to any CVIS application that needs it, primarily through data gathered from moving “probe” vehicles, integrated with data from roadside sensors and detectors. Since a great number of potential applications and services may need the same basic monitoring data, CVIS treats coopera-

tive monitoring as a core service on call to applications. The use of COMO common specification and core soft-ware modules should ensure that data are interoperable across Europe, encouraging the development of an open market for traffic services.

COMO specifies the following data groups:1) Vehicle sensor and/or processed data (such as

XFCD/EFCD);2) Roadside unit (RSU) sensor and/or processed data

(such as loop or weather sensor data);3) RSU local traffic status overview for the area around

a given RSU;4) Traffic centre traffic status overview for the area

covered by a given centre.To provide information with a high trustworthiness,

COMO defines data fusion processes that guarantee that, wherever available, data from different sources – such as vehicles passing an RSU – will be used to pro-vide the best possible quality of information.

In addition, COMO provides information on different levels, such as individual RSU and city traffic centre. As an example, a given RSU will provide a local traffic status overview containing more detailed information than the traffic centre’s overview of the relevant area. A specific RSU might monitor traffic queues or turning rates for each lane at an individual signal-controlled intersec-tion, while the traffic centre’s overview might not con-tain data at a per-lane level. The COMO data set will be extensible in order to cover future sensors and informa-tion, allowing for a wide area of applications to be defined in the future. COMO data sets can be accessed via a standard query interface. Additionally, CVIS appli-cations can rely on subscription mechanisms which will provide COMO data according to specific rules, i.e. if new data sets of a specific kind become available.

Positioning and mappingOther key sources of information to all CVIS applica-tions are positioning and mapping facilities. Having an accurate position is crucial if it is to be used in traffic- related situations. The CVIS architecture describes two approaches to increased accuracy through use of Wireless Local Area Network and Wireless Sensor Networks.

Concerning mapping, CVIS and SAFESPOT partners are working on an innovative approach for structuring

Figure 4 – Host management and service operation

Figure 3: CVIS CALM management stack

ROBOT Visual Systems GmbHOpladener Strasse 20240789 Monheim, GermanyTel. +49 (0)2173-3940-190 Fax +49 (0)[email protected]

JENOPTIK Group.

Precise weight measurement with digital image documentation under high speed free flow conditions for fully automatic enforcement solves overweight vehicle problems like larger risks in traffic and damages to the road.

Dr. Ondrej Pribyl, Product Manager, Key Account

“Forget all you ever knewabout Weigh-in-Motion. We combine high precisionmeasurement with free flow.”

Cover Feature


near-environment information at certain locations. This new approach is called Local Dynamic Map, which is a layered database containing geo-referenced informa-tion about the static data, e.g. high accuracy map of an intersection, and dynamic data, e.g. information about other vehicles at the same intersection.

CVIS reference applicationsCVIS partners are developing not only a technology platform but also reference applications whose aim is to demonstrate proof of concept that cooperation between different CVIS nodes leads to more safe and efficient transport. In addition to the unifying high-level architec-ture for the CVIS integrated project and a separate architecture view from each of the four core technology sub-projects, the three sub-projects targeting Urban, Interurban and Freight and Fleet applications have each developed an architecture concept for their own spe-cific domain.

The application architecture is quite simple, but the application process is complex. The application is deliv-ered using “standardised” software modules located in the vehicle and roadside hosts, and linked using the communication services described above. The same principles apply to all the applications developed within CVIS, with the result that the project will make available a library of core application software that can be adopted (and adapted if needed) in order to establish future deployments relatively easily.

The challenges aheadThe CVIS consortium believes that it has built an archi-tecture that should meet the needs of the majority of ten-ants who will come to inhabit the cooperative systems edifice. This includes the vehicle makers and their sup-pliers, governments and public authorities, traffic man-agers, road operators, fleet operators, service providers – and most importantly the final user (the motorist, the traveller and the transport business).

We welcome these stakeholders’ interest, and feed-back with their views of the value of the CVIS results. By closing this circle of cooperation all parties can work together to ensure that the resulting cooperative sys-tems architecture is deployed successfully. TH

CVIS is an integrated project in the European Commu-nity’s Sixth Framework Programme, coordinated by

ERTICO – ITS Europe. It started on 1 February 2006 and will finish in January 2010. The CVIS project acknowl-

edges the support provided by the European Union through a grant of up to €21 million towards the total

project budget of €41m.PTV’s Andreas Schmid is CVIS High Level Architecture

Editor. Paul Kompfner and Zeljko Jeftic are CVIS IP Manager and CVIS Deputy IP Manager with

ERTICO – ITS Europe. They are contactable via email at [email protected], [email protected]

and [email protected] the CVIS project website at www.cvisproject.org,

while SAFESPOT can be visited at www.safespot-eu.org

Figure 5: Typical CVIS applications

TRAFFEX 2007, Hall 4, Stand E1

ROBOT Visual Systems GmbHOpladener Strasse 20240789 Monheim, GermanyTel. +49 (0)2173-3940-0Fax +49 (0)[email protected]

JENOPTIK Group.

With TraffiNet, the latest road safety technology data for GPS-based traffic monitoring can be recorded, retrieved and analysed centrally. Easy handling meetsthe high demand: the innovative system communicates via a self-explanatory, user-friendly network management software and easy-to-operate devices on site.

Ralf Schmitz, Area Sales Manager, Australasia

“Our networkedtechnologies globally create better road safety.”


The Thinker

Adopt or dieMany years ago, as a transportation systems consultant, I was involved in projects requiring the analysis of aging traffic signal systems to determine whether they should be replaced, either because of degraded relia-bility or inadequate functionality.

These studies included many con-siderations, but the primary question to be answered was whether or not the sys-tems had reached the end of their useful lives. Answering this question required a review of maintenance records to determine whether the equipment failure rate and its associated maintenance cost per intersection had increased to the point at which their annual-ized replacement cost exceeded the ongoing maintenance cost. These studies required a review of the jurisdictions’ signal maintenance records, which


The Thinker

PHIL TARNOFF examines the use of advanced technology by public sector agencies -

and is disconcerted, to say the least, with what he finds

invariably existed in the form of a disorganized stack of hand-

written faded time sheets, instead of computerized mainte-

nance records that could be used to facilitate a study of this nature. Now,

nearly 30 years later, PCs and user- friendly software are ubiquitous. Yet,

according to a recent survey, only 10 per cent of agencies with signal system

maintenance responsibilities have imple-mented computerized maintenance

records systems (which could be as simple as an Excel spreadsheet). In other words, this straightforward technol-

ogy with its obvious benefits is not being used even though it has been available for decades.

The question to be answered is whether this sim-ple example is representative of the pace of tech-

nology acceptance by the public sector. If so, does it matter? If it does matter, how can we cure it?

The Thinker


These are significant questions which cannot be ignored if our transportation systems are to effectively address rapidly growing travel demand and stagnant funding.

How are we doing?In an effort to determine whether the preceding exam-ple is symptomatic of a broader problem, a sample of technologies related to operations, infrastructure, toll collection, automotive telematics and consumer prod-ucts has been reviewed. The results of this review is shown in the accompanying table and plotted in its asso-ciated figure, above. The horizontal axis of the figure approximates the degree to which organizations using technology-based products are connected with their customers.

The information presented in these two exhibits is not encouraging. It paints a collective picture of a public

Table1: Adoption of New TechnologyTechnology Category Adaptive Signal Systems ITS Ramp Metering ITS Traffic Surveillance ITS Fiber Reinforced Polymers3 Materials Shoulder Rumble Strips Pavement EZPass Electronic Payment Navigation Systems Vehicle Telematics Web Browser Technology Consumer & Business Products

sector transportation community that continues its use of entrenched technologies and practices without con-cern for the potential benefits of new and useful devel-opments.

In spite of the fact that these exhibits are not based on a carefully conducted scientific survey, they paint a revealing picture of the overall technology adoption process. There can be little doubt, that the information presented is representative of the technology adoption timeframes for each of the business sectors presented. Admittedly, it would be easy to argue with these results, since there are numerous definitional issues regarding the time when a technology becomes available, and the number of agencies, manufacturers and/or customers that constitute its acceptance. In spite of these limita-tions, it is clear that the auto industry with its emphasis on reduced product cycles, and the IT industry with its rush to market are more proactive in their applications of technology than the majority of public transportation agencies. In other words, industries that derive their income directly from the expenditures of their custom-ers (and by implication customer satisfaction) are more agile than their publicly funded counterparts.

Why does the public sector fare so poorly?It is unacceptable for travelers and shippers to wait more than 30 years for the public sector transportation industry to adopt potentially beneficial technological advances. Yet it would also be unfair and inaccurate to conclude that these problems are caused by uncaring public employees. In fact the majority of problems that can be identified are associated with the environment in which a public agency operates including:

• Public sector transportation industry is large and diverse. While there are approximately a dozen auto-

The Thinker


Years to Adoption Comments20+ SCOOT Available during the 1980s. SCAT available in the early 1990s. 40+ 1963 Eisenhower Freeway in Chicago1. Today, 16% of freeway ramps are metered2 30+ Vehicle detectors introduced in the 1960s Currently installed on less than 50% of urban freeways and 6% of urban arterials 30+ In existence since the 1940’s. Still not used to any significant extent for bridge decks15 Initial installations prior to 19884. Still being studied by some DOTs5 Implemented by TBTA in 1995. Installed by PANY in 19975. Available since 199 6 according to Mark IV7+ First system in 1983 and introduced in 1990 . First GPS-based vehicle navigation system introduced by Magellan in 19957. By 1996 40 total sales exceeded 1m units8 1 Time to 10 million users9

mobile manufacturers producing a relatively homoge-neous product, the public sector transportation industry is represented by hundreds (if not thousands) of organi-zations ranging from very large state DOT’s to agencies in small towns employing a part-time traffic engineer. It would be unreasonable to expect this broad range of agencies to adopt new technology at the same pace.

• Employees receive few, if any, rewards for the suc-cessful development or adaptation of new technology, and are likely to be penalized for failure. For public employees, the “safe approach” is to avoid change.

• Elected officials and the media evaluate the effec-tiveness of transportation agencies based on projects completed and funds expended rather than measures that are important to travelers – travel time, travel relia-bility, travel cost, etc.

• The public sector procurement system, which emphasizes competitive selection of systems and serv-ices, discourages the use of proprietary new technolo-gies offered by a single provider.

• The procurement process favors the low-bid selec-tion of offerors. It rarely accounts for the best technical solution, life-cycle costs, and overall effectiveness.

• Public agencies are risk averse. Because of the extensive oversight of their activities by the press, elected offi-cials and the general public, the unsuc-cessful application of a new technology may be subjected to public ridicule or worse.

• The customer provides the funding for private sector products and services. i.e. an automobile purchaser is both the cus-tomer and the funding source. The public sector’s income is primarily tax based. The distribution of public funding is never based on past performance, and may be more related to political influence and con-siderations of fairness, than the needs of its customers (travelers and shippers).

These structural deficiencies must be corrected before the public sector can be expected to creatively and aggressively adopt new technology for improved service delivery. If this does not occur, the gap between the state-of-the-art and the state-of-the-practice within the public sector will continue to grow to the detriment of travelers as well as the nation’s economy.

Potential solutionsConsider the implications for an organization that requires 20 to 30 years to adopt new technology in an age where staff productivity and efficient service deliv-ery are essential characteristics. By implication, Charles Darwin captured the importance of technology adop-tion when he observed that:

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent; it is the one that is most adaptable to change.”

Restated, Darwin’s conclusions can be interpreted as an observation that an organization’s ability and willing-ness to accept new technology (change) will ensure its

longevity. And perhaps more important, the converse is also true. If it can be agreed that adaptability, and by implication acceptance of new technology, is essential, public sector transportation agencies must become more adaptable to change.

Thus successful transportation system managers are faced with two (non-exclusive) alternatives either rein-vention of the existing agency culture, or greatly increased outsourcing of agency functions.

Reinvention of the Agency’s cultureTransportation agencies must replace their existing culture by developing new proactive approaches that reward innovation and replace existing processes (such as the low bid procurement) with more flexible approaches that encourage change. It is difficult to rein-vent an agency’s culture, when so much of that culture is controlled by external forces of laws, regulations, civil service restrictions, and political expedience. Yet the mantra of “doing more with less” must become the cul-ture of the modern transportation agency. This mantra

should pervade all levels and functions of the organization including human resources, contracting, engineering, planning, operations and performance measurement.

Identification and implementation of productivity improvements could and should serve as the basis for employee reviews, employee rewards (merit salary increases, promotions, training, parking privileges, general recognition, etc.), business planning, and investments. Per-formance measurement should be con-ducted routinely, and should celebrate

productivity accomplishments of organizational units and individual staff members.

While these actions can be accomplished without major organizational change, they are significant, in that they represent a cultural shift away from punishment of risk takers, to the reward and recognition of these indi-viduals.

• Increased Outsourcing: The second alternative is the outsourcing of agency functions using incentive- based contracting. With this alternative, responsibility for a predefined set of agency function is competitively awarded to private sector organizations based on their demonstrated knowledge, creativity and agility. Under the right conditions, the private sector is able to over-come many of the environmental obstacles faced by public agencies. Private sector agility is the result of more flexible hiring (and firing) policies, fewer pro-curement restrictions, and well defined financial objec-tives.

Perhaps most important, the private sector benefits from the competitive environment in which it operates. An incompetent or inefficient organization is unlikely to experience long-term success. For these reasons, out-sourcing effectively allows public agencies to take advantage of the private sector culture without requir-ing major adjustments to the environment in which they

The Thinker


“Under the right conditions, the private sector can overcome environmental obstacles faced

by public agencies”

operate. Outsourcing is not a panacea. There are exam-ples of both successful and unsuccessful outsourcing activities. The objectives of these two alternatives are the same. Stated negatively, they are to replace or mod-ify entrenched technologies and avoid risk averse behavior. They are based on the recognition that suc-cessful organizations are those with a mission oriented structure where results are rewarded and staff is given greater leeway to affect changes.

ConclusionsIn this day and age of exploding technology which is affecting every aspect of our lives, it is disconcerting to realize that the transportation community, on which the economic health of the nation depends, continues to use outdated hardware, software and processes that are more than 20 years old. This situation must be corrected, since technology can help you know more by increasing visibility into the data…

“Technology can help you do more by increasing the productivity of your… operations… connected business processes, and collaborative technologies. [It] can help you spend less by simplifying your systems and posi-tioning you to cope with shrinking budgets and fewer resources. Know more, do more, spend less.” 10 TH

References

1 Colyar, Stribiak, Jacobson and Nelson, “Ramping Up Ramp Management”, Public Roads Magazine, Federal Highway Administration, July/August 2006.

The Thinker


2 US Department of Transportation, ITS Deployment Statistics http://www.itsdeployment.its.dot.gov/Results.asp?year=2006&rpt=M&filter=1&ID=360 3 Fiber Reinforced Polymers (FRPs) are a class of com-posite material manufactured from fibers and resins that have proven efficient and economical for the construction and repair of new and deteriorating structures including bridge decks. The mechanical properties and long life of FRPs make them ideal for many construction applications. Their lower life-cycle costs make them attractive alterna-tives to traditional materials (steel and concrete). How-ever, because of their high initial (acquisition) costs public agencies cannot acquire these materials through the tra-ditional low-bid process.

4 http://www.hsisinfo.org/pdf/00-032.pdf5 http://www.panynj.gov/AboutthePortAuthority/Press

Center/PressReleases/PressRelease/index.php?id=55 6 Wikipedia, Navigation Systems, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_navigation_system 7 Magellan, Corporate Home Page, http://corp.magel-langps.com/en/aboutUs/ 8 “ITS In Japan” Public Roads Magazine, Fall 1996, vol 60, No. 2. http://www.tfhrc.gov/pubrds/fall96/p96au41.htm 9 Per Myrseth and colleagues at Norwegian Computing Center, E-commerce in the Travel Industry – Enter2000-Barcelona April 2000, http://publications.nr.no/Enter2000/Tutorial_per/sld002.htm 10 “Know More, Do More, Spend Less”, Oracle Solutions for the Automotive Industry, http://www.oracle.com/industries/automotive/OracleinAutomotivefinal.pdf

H B Media

HOW EUROPE WORKS

4 Think Tanks

4 Subjects

4 Days

thinkinghighways


KEVIN AGUIGUI looks at the potential for digital video for surveillance and homeland security purposes and wonders if we’ve come as far as we should have done…

With the strategic objective to increase safety and reduce crippling traffic jams, the European Com-mission is implementing the SIMBA Project for four countries that it identifies as emerging markets: Brazil, South Africa, China (see Mariana Andrade’s article on pages 96-100) and India (covered in the April/May issue of Thinking Highways).

SIMBA, which is co-ordinated by ERTICO - ITS Europe, aims to boost research cooperation in road transport

between the EU and these important emerging markets. SIMBA covers three key areas of ITS, infrastructure and automotive and will pinpoint the areas of mutual interest for collaboration between the EU and each region. After almost a year of activities, it has shown that although many regions face similar problems in terms of conges-tion, pollution and road accidents, each region has sev-eral levels of development. AEA, the Brazilian Association of Automotive Engineering, acts as the Brazilian coordi-

Perpetual state of trabnsition

Perpetual state of transitionDespite having to hurdle some self-imposed political and cultural barriers, the SIMBA project is helping to further the continuing emergence of Brazil in the advanced traffic market, as DANIEL ZACARIAS reports

Brazil

Brazil


nator of the project.The AEA brings together OEMs and suppliers in order

to study technical issues related to the automotive vehi-cle industry in Brazil in particular and the transport sec-tor in general. AEA regularly organises seminars and technical events that deal with technology in the trans-port sector. As part of its activities, the SIMBA project brought together European and Brazilian infrastructure operators, vehicle makers, technology providers and

ITS stakeholders in São Paulo towards the end of 2006. A select group of high-level industry, government and academic people working in the areas of ITS, automo-tive development and infrastructure participated in the event and identified areas of potential cooperation and joint research.

Exchange of ideasBrazil’s Ministry of Cities was represented by Alfredo Peres, who heralded the workshop as a “great opportu-nity to exchange ideas and strengthen ties between Bra-zil and the EU.” Peres pointed out that many European companies are represented in Brazil and opportunities exist for synergy, as mobility in Brazil faces many diffi-culties and limitations.

Brazil is the largest country in South America and fifth largest in the world by area and population. Its R$1600 billion (R$=Real/€600 billion) economy has large and well-developed agricultural, mining/manu-facturing and service sectors. However, the country’s mobility is hampered by several factors, including mounting traffic congestion in urban centers, high road accidents rates, insufficient infrastructure, poor mainte-nance and low utilization of ITS technologies.

Through its cooperative efforts, SIMBA aims to address some of these issues to eventually improve Brazilian mobility in general. Its Brazilian activities will continue with further events scheduled in 2007.

On 4 October, 2007, the SIMBA Brazil National Event will be held in conjunction with the SIMEA Congress (International Symposium on Automotive Engineering). During the SIMBA event, the topics will focus on public transport, intelligent traffic lights, incident management and detection, ITS-awareness raising amongst govern-ment and citizens, the roles of ITS stakeholders, ITS poli-cies , alternative fuels, commercial vehicles, transport of cargo and effects of commercial vehicles on roads and vice versa. Discussions on infrastructure topics will include behavioural problems, pavement asset man-agement and maintenance, environmental impact, noise and recycling, and developing new infrastructure.

Aims of the event include the creation of joint EU- Brazil expert working groups, project proposals and joint road transport research roadmaps and a showcase of European technologies in Brazil is also planned.

Economically drivenThe country has 1.7m km of highways that are classified in federal, state and municipal. The purpose of this divi-sion is to define the boundaries of construction, opera-tion and maintenance responsibility.

The paved highways are in general interstate designed for intense traffic and freight transportation. The Federal highways from São Paulo to Belo Horizonte, São Paulo to Curitiba, Curitiba to Florianópolis, Florianópolis to Porto Alegre and Recife to Natal, are being duplicated.

Of 115,426 km of the paved state highways, 3.200km are divided in highways with four lanes or more. 10,794km are tolled, 90 per cent administered by con-cessionaires (37 enterprises) and 10 per cent adminis-tered by the state. The quality of the highways varies a

Brazil

lot in the country. The state of São Paulo has a road net-work comparable to the developed countries, being a lot of tolled highways and administered by concession-aires. According to Highways Quality Researches in 2006 by CNT (National Transports Confederation), 10.8 per cent of the national highways are very good, 14.2 per cent good, 38.4 per cent are not so good, 24.4 per cent bad and 12.2 per cent very bad.

Brazil has 111 cities with a population of over 200,000 and 11 with over 1m. Some of them are in big metropoli-tan areas, such as São Paulo (19m), Rio de Janeiro (10m), Belo Horizonte (5m). Mobility is a great challenge in the big cities. Public transportation is mainly made by bus, although some metropolitan areas have subway and railroads.

ITS applicationsThere are several applications in operation and in devel-opment in Brazil, but there is not a Government program to implement the possibilities of ITS applications to improve the safety and efficiency of transport on a national scale.

Briefly, Brazil currently has the following ITS programs in operation across the country:

• automatic toll payment;• traffic- and highway-monitoring by cameras;• emergency services for accidents or breakdowns;• real-time traffic information via VMS• fleet monitoring through satellite;• monitoring center of traffic information in real-time,

provided by mobile phones system;• automatic speed control;• automatic signal monitoring;• GPS navigation.Although all of this technology is widely known and is

in operation in many places, it is not applied in or on all of the highways and cities of the country. Recently, a leg-

islation of the use of electronic tags in all vehicles for remote identification was approved. The tags will be installed during the annual process of vehicle licensing in São Paulo over the next two years, and in the entire country by 2011 which opens up an almost endless stream of opportunities for ITS applications.

Road infrastructureThe development of Brazil’s infrastructure didn’t keep pace with the economical development of the country. For macroeconomical reasons, this has had a damaging effect on the transportation sector, particularly for the Federal Road Network, which has suffered from signifi-cant deterioration over the past 20 years or so. Ports need to be modernized to become internationally com-petitive, the fluvial transportation (unprepared rivers) need massive improvements, the air traffic control sys-tem needs to develop (and quickly), highways need to be brought up to date and there needs to be a fairly sig-nificant road-building program to eliminate the damag-ing and environmentally stifling bottlenecks in the export corridors.

The Federal Government recently launched the PAC (Growth Acceleration Plan) 2007-2011 for Transport Infrastructure of R$58.3 billion.

The investment will be divided up as follows:Highways R$33,437 billionRailroads R$7,863 billionPorts R$2,663 billionAirports R$3,001 billion Fluvial R$0.735 billionNavy R$10,581 billion.

Something of a challengeThe main problems facing the Brazilian road transporta-tion industry can be summarised as follows:

• Massive traffic jams in the bigger cities;


ERTICO’s Mariana Andrade (far left) listens intently at last October’s SIMBA workshop in Sao Paulo, Brazil

“Not another road pricing conference!”

www.h3bmedia.com/tnetworx/ruc.cfm

Vol 2 No3 Thinking Highways www.h3bmedia.com

• A high number of urban and highway accidents;• An insufficient interstate highway system and the

need for duplication of the road network;• The need for effective maintenance plans;• The high price of tolls for the freight sector;• A relatively high fleet age, resulting in high fuel con-

sumption, pollution, accidents, broken down vehicles, and low transport efficiency;

• Freight theft and safety;• Low level of integration and logistics, planning and

administration of the various transport modes;• And finally, and most relevantly to this magazine, the

low take-up and subsequent use of ITS.

São Paulo and so onA priority for Brazil is the implementation of SINIAV, the National Automatic Vehicle Identification System. This includes, crucially, São Paulo, the home of one in four vehicles in circulation in Brazil. It is not surprising that this city, and this statistic, is one of the objects of the study of the SIMBA Project.

São Paulo attracts businesses, people and vehicles from all regions of Brazil and Latin America. Its 11m inhabitants produce about 20m daily trips, circulating in a road system with approximately 16,000km of exten-sion, of which about 1600km forms the Strategic Road System – SVE, group of roads for which are projected ideal conditions of traffic as a function of its importance for the routine movements of the population.

The fleet of vehicles in the city is around 5.5m - whereas it only has 60 km of subway lines and 270 km of railroads. São Paulo is one of the few cities in the world that bases its public transportation network almost solely on its bus system. A total of 11,000 vehicles attends a daily demand of 6m passengers.

Jose Edison Parro (right), President of AEA and Governmental Relations of Delphi Automotive Systems of Brazil, holds court at the SIMBA meeting

Every day, the 16,000 km of streets in São Paulo city play host to some 500 new cars, buses, trucks and vans. It is easy to understand why driving in the city, even in the “quiet times” requires a remarkable level of patience. The chaos affects the drivers’ safety as stopped vehicles are easy targets for attackers, causes unacceptable lev-els of pollution and generate damages of R$3 billion reals a year to the São Paulo economy, according to an estimation from Eduardo Vasconcellos consultant, of the National Association of Public Transportations (ANTP). This is a serious problem – but one that has solutions. Below are nine of these solutions, put forward by Brazil-ian magazine Veja São Paulo in its 4 April 2007 issue.

1 Few measures, great impacts: Cost: R$530mCover holes, paint strips in busy avenues, regulate the

lowering curbs in big avenues and build embarkation and disembarkation areas inside schools.

2 Efficient rotation: Cost: R$1.1m.When it was implemented, in 1997, the municipal rota-

tion removed 20 per cent of the cars in the rush hours. Ten years later, the effect was annulled by the 500 new

Brazil

30

“This is the same people saying the same things as last time. At least I can get

some sleep...”

www.h3bmedia.com/networx/ruc.cfm

Brazil


vehicles that join the traffic everyday. With the help of 36 automatic licence plate readers, the CET fined 1m driv-ers in 2006.

3 More subways, more trains and better buses: Cost: US$ 20 billion in 18 years.

4 Implement more and greater fines so that all of the traffic laws are respected.

5 Education campaigns: Cost: R$500,000. 6 Tolling in the central areas: Cost: R$250m. 7 Remove cars in bad condition from the streets.This would see the removal of cars from the streets or

the forcing of their owners to repair them under the guise of a Vehicular Technical Inspection - this has been under consideration for 10 years since the new Brazilian Traffic Code was launched.

8 Automated traffic control: Cost: R$320m.Cities around the world realized some time ago that

the only way of making better use of the available road space was to invest in technology. “If the 1,500km of streets where 70 per cent of the vehicles circulate were monitored, the relief would be enormous”, says one of Brazil’s leading traffic engineers, Chequer Jabour Cheq-uer, a renowned specialist in ITS.

And this doesn’t just mean repairing the 1,040 of the 1,300 intelligent traffic signals that are currently broken. In order to begin to lower the traffic jam averages, it is calculated that it would be necessary to install another 1,300 high-tech traffic signals. The installation of other 350 cameras would guarantee that the main streets of the city were watched. Drivers could be alerted about the traffic conditions by VMS. Traffic lights, cameras and panels would cost the city around R$200m.

9 Radical improvement of Truck fleet discipline: Cost: R$3.7 billion.

According to CET, every three hours a truck breaks down and stops the traffic. Although the fleet represents 4.5 per cent of the traffic that transits through the capital, the trucks are responsible for 35 per cent of the traffic jams, according to information from the Companies of Freight Transportation Union (SETCESP). What needs to be done is four-fold:

• Conclude the Rodoanel section;• Build distribution centers in the periphery;• Prohibit large stores loading and unloading during

the day;• Create exclusive lanes in the Bandeirantes Avenue.The SIMBA project is going some way to make all of

these potentially idealistic plans inch closer and closer to realisation. TH

Daniel Zacarias is the Brazil SIMBA project Manager at the Assoçiao Brasileira Engenharia Automotiva (AEA).

He can be contacted via email at [email protected]

This is the 1st UK Road Pricing Think Tank organised by H3B Networx, the events division of H3B Media, publishers of Thinking Highways and ETC, etc.

Learn how to make your road pricing scheme publicly acceptable from public affairs and advertising experts.

Listen to the industry’s best speakers talk about the policy, strategy, technology, implementation, interoperability, integration and innovation - the issues that REALLY affect the road pricing sector.

Take part in genuine debate and help to shape the future of road pricing.

Find out how road tolling schemes in the UK, USA, Canada, Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany, Norway and France were funded, fi nanced and operated and how that can apply to your scheme.*

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C

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For more details visitwww.h3bmedia.com/networx/ruc.cfm

or email [email protected]

You can also register for your FREE copy of

Thinking Highways at www.h3bmedia.com

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*(Not to mention the innovative networking opportunities, speed thinking

session, gourmet dinner, Loire Valley wine-tasting and a whole host of

other attractions.)

NOT JUST ANOTHER ROAD PRICING CONFERENCE.

27-28 November 2007Mercedes-Benz World, Weybridge, Surrey

H B Media

“I’M NOT GOING TO ANOTHER ROAD PRICING CONFERENCE UNTIL ...”

...27 November 2007. Selling The Idea: The 1st UK Road Pricing Think Tank is a different kind of conference altogether. In fact, it’s not really a conference at all in the traditional sense. Across the two days there will be intense, interactive debates, forums and problem-solving sessions focusing on policy and politics, funding and fi nance, interoperability and integration, implementation and innovation. Experts from not only the road pricing, congestion charging, road user charging and electronic toll collection sectors, but also from the spheres of advertising, public affairs and fi nance will help you make YOUR scheme publicly acceptable.

THINKING DIFFERENTLYWhat road pricing needs is a positive spin. Drivers need to be told why it’s a good idea and that by paying to use the roads they are making a positive contribution to society. But how best to get this message across? Our advertising expert will explain how to con-vince the public that road pricing is something they want and need. “You are selling them a product and it’s a product they must have. Once you have sold them the idea, you are on to a winner.”

Financial analysts and risk assessment specialists will share their experiences of how they applied their expertise to various tolling projects and how they are relevant to yours, while experts from the petrochemical industry will explain how the two sectors are inextricably linked in Germany and how it’s a link that needs to be more adroitly exploited in the UK.

Another innovative feature will see representatives from the major political parties in the UK engage in a free-form Question & Answer session with local authorities, original equipment manu-facturers and suppliers. This ‘Town Hall’ format will be co-hosted and moderated by former BBC and Sky News presenter Nici Marx (pictured) and Kevin Borras, H3B Media’s publishing director and editor-in-chief of its Thinking Highways and ETC, etc magazines.

more >>>

“Selling the Idea”

The 1st UK Road Pricing Think Tank

Tue 27/Wed 28 November 2007

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION No serious event organiser would ever attempt to promote one of its seminars solely on the back of the venue, but in Mercedes-Benz World, we have a stunning location in store. Recently built within the grounds of Brooklands Motor Museum, one of the UK’s fi rst motor racing circuits, it possesses not only the fi nest conference facilities avail-able (including a cinema that we will make good use of) but it also houses the biggest collection of Mercedes-Benz and Maybachs in Europe and a magnifi cent array of visitor attractions.

Delegates will have full use of what Mercedes-Benz World and Brooklands has to offer (not that you’ll have that much time to explore) and an opportunity to take a spin on the skid pan and high-speed track in a top of the range Mercedes. Have a look for yourself on the website: www.mercedes-benzworld.co.uk

Mercedes-Benz World, Brooklands, Weybridge, Surrey, KT13 0SL, UK

www.h3bmedia.com/networx/ruc.cfm

A SPEAKER PROGRAMME TO SHOUT ABOUT“A stellar line-up of speakers” is not usually a claim that holds very much water. We think you will agree that in the case of the 1st UK Road Pricing Think Tank we can use the word “stellar” with a fair degree of justifi cation.

DAY ONE: 27 November 2007

POLICY AND POLITICS part 1Steve Norris, former Conservative Minister for Transport, UKJenny Jones GLA, Green Party/Mayor of London’s Green Transport Advisor, UKPeter Vine, Congestion Charging, Transport for London, UKTBA, Department for Transport, UK TBA, Liberal Democrat Transport Policy Spokesperson, UKLuke Blair, London Communications Agency, UKRepresentatives from the event’s sponsors, Siemens, Thales, Q-Free, Kapsch and Booz Allen Hamilton will be invited to respond to the points raised in the Policy and Politics session

FINANCE AND FUNDINGAndy Graham, White Willow Consulting, UKBob McQueen, Senior Road Pricing Advisor, PBS&J, USAPaul Wadsworth, Capita Symonds, UKJack Opiola, Booz Allen Hamilton, UK

PROBLEM SOLVINGDaryl Dunbar, British Telecom 21CN Portfolio Development, UKEric Sampson, Chairman, ITS UKAndrew Pickford, Transport Technology Consultants, UKJack Opiola, Booz Allen Hamilton, UKBern Grush, Skymeter Corporation, CanadaDavid Hytch, LogicaCMG, UKIan Catling, Ian Catling Consultancy, UK

DELIVERING STOCKHOLMBirger Höök, Swedish National Road Administration, SwedenJamie Houghton, IBM, UK

SPEED THINKINGDay one will be rounded off in style with a novel Speed Thinking session. Similar in format to the idea of speed dating, this session will see a panel of eight experts answering pertinent questions from delegates in a series of two-minute on-the-spot inter-views. When the time is up, a bell will ring and it will be another delegate’s turn to ask a question. Fun, maybe, but this unique and informal networking opportunity could lead anywhere.

LOIRE VALLEY WINE-TASTING SESSION andGOURMET DINNER

DAY TWO: 28 November 2007

INNOVATION AND THE FUTUREPhil Blythe, Professor of ITS, Newcastle University, UKBern Grush, Skymeter Corporation, CanadaDaryl Dunbar, British Telecom 21CN Portfolio Development, UKWiebren de Jonge, TIP Systems/Vrije Universiteit, NetherlandsEric Wurmser, Egis Projects, FranceRepresentatives from Vodafone, Orange and O2 have been invited to take part in a mobile communications forum as part of the Innovation and The Future Session

TIF ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSIONRepresentatives from Manchester, Norwich, Cambridge, Greater Bristol and the aborted West Midlands bid will take part in a lively Transport Innovation Fund debate

POLICY AND POLITICS part 2Tom Antonissen, International Road Federation - Brussels Programme Centre, BelgiumTim Hockney, London First, UKJenny Bird, Institute of Public Policy Research, UKRichard Bourn, Transport 2000, UKDr Andreas Kossak, Kossak Consultancy, GermanyPaul Watters, Automobile Association, UKRepresentatives from the event’s sponsors will be invited to respond to the points of view put forward in the Policy and Politics session

www.h3bmedia.com/networx/ruc.cfm+44 (0)870 919 3770

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PUBLIC ACCEPTANCE AND “POSITIVE SPIN”Simon Elliott, Financial Dynamics, UKPaul Watters, Automobile Association, UKDavid Pearson, InnovITS, UKJack Opiola, Booz Allen Hamilton, UKRussell H Smith, Richmond Strategic Management, UKBirger Höök, Swedish National Road Administration, SwedenRichard Harris, WSP, UKDuncan Matheson, PA Consulting, UKAndrew Pickford, Transport Technology Consultants, UKJamie Houghton, IBM, UK

TOWN HALL FORUMAll speakers will be invited to take part in the closing session -an open question and answer forum, hosted by Nici Marx and Kevin Borras. The quality of this session relies heavily on the audience asking searching, pertinent questions and raising insightful points. The Town Hall Forum will be what you make it - so don’t disappoint yourself!

FOR SPONSORSHIP DETAILS CALL LUIS HILLON +44 (0)870 919 3770

OR EMAIL [email protected]

THE COST OF ATTENDING

THIS TWO DAY EVENT

Public Authority

£550 + VAT

Private Sector

£750 + VAT

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ODILE PIGNIER via email at

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In today’s competitive global automotive market sharing research and development costs and working together is common.

One example of this was the pre-competitive collabo-ration by the European car manufacturers in the PROMETHEUS programme (1986–1994). Many of the developments started in PROMETHEUS have now emerged as standard or optional equipment in today’s vehicle fleet. These include improved vision systems, collision avoidance, vehicle communications, naviga-tion assistance and RDS-TMC.

One of the reasons that the output from PROMETHEUS has found its way into our every day lives was the paral-lel and wider ranging DRIVE programme (1989–1991)

established by the European Commission.Together these initiatives provided the solid engi-

neering and research capabilities of industry and the involvement of transport ministries, road authorities, city and regional authorities, research institutions, uni-versities and consultancies. DRIVE and the follow on programmes provided the focus for discussion, devel-opment, information exchange and operational testing in a real world environment. They also identified the information infrastructure required to support the new systems. These included, navigable map databases, map matching techniques, satellite positioning, and data storage and processing capacity.

One of the things that the ITS pioneers and visionaries

In My Opinion

Commercial - in confi dence?

Advanced Driver Assistance, Cooperative Vehicle Highway Systems and Vehicle Infrastructure Integration developments are gathering pace around the world. RICHARD HARRIS and ROBERT CONE call for wider debate, inclusion of stakeholders and the establishment of a forum for information exchange to identify benefits and business cases to minimise delays and speed acceptance

from PROMETHEUS and DRIVE had in common was their inability to predict the speed of deployment, operation and acceptance of new services and applications. One reason for this is the complex institutional, organisa-tional and financial environment in which live and work. Perhaps we are in danger of once again misjudging the need to identify and engage with stakeholders as ADAS/CVHS/VII is developed.

What would society think?Forgetting the technology and standardisation issues of such systems, there is still much to consider, including viable business cases for all stakeholders, the impact on operating procedures, the potential impacts on people,

the environment, legislation and policy. ADAS systems are already available in today’s vehicles and are pro-moted by individual motor manufacturers as they mar-ket their safety and comfort features. But the vehicles continue to operate on roads many of which are virtually unchanged from the roads of the 1950s.

Is it really so difficult to talk to each other?Lane departure warning systems seem like a sensible addition to vehicles, particularly those which do high mileages, where driver fatigue is likely to be a major factor. The benefits for drivers are clear, safety improve-ments, danger alert and perhaps an early indication that concentration levels are falling and a driving break is needed. Similarly there are benefits for the road opera-tors, fewer vehicle conflicts, reduced accidents, less congestion, reduced damage repair etc.

Indeed widespread introduction could enable reduced lane widths to be used during times of mainte-nance so that throughput and capacity could be main-tained. However, perhaps the type or quality of the lane markings, the frequency of re-painting white lines, or even the installation of special studs to mark the lane boundaries could be introduced to improve system performance and to accelerate deployment. Road oper-ators might welcome the opportunity to improve road safety and might even be prepared to introduce special features on strategic roads or those where safety issues have been identified.

But a single road operator, like a motor manufacturer is not in a position to establish a dialogue that will lead to an international approach for such initiatives.

Not in my back yardSimilarly everyone can accept the benefits of ADAS and the saving to society as a whole of reducing the number of accidents and achieving less severe accidents. But how do we get the investment needed to achieve these savings. The business case development needed is clear. How do we fund projects and initiatives in today’s financial environment that have such a dispersed ben-efits. The driver could pay, but perhaps only when pur-chasing a new, equipped vehicle. At any other time, the driver will assume that it will benefit someone else as he/she will not be involved in an accident anyway.

If we are unable to have a debate and a forum for dis-cussing even simple applications like lane departure warning systems, what hope is there for CVHS/VII?

CVHS/VII is a concept where individual vehicles com-municate to exchange information, with roadside infra-structure and/or with and between other individual vehicles. This is to enable potentially greater safety and improved efficiency through the reduction of incidents, increase in capacity and better integration of the vehi-cle and the roadside operations. For other stakeholders it might increase commercial activity or provide an improved driving experience.

It is therefore a tool that might be used to assist in reaching national and European policy goals of reduc-ing accidents and reducing adverse environmental

In My Opinion



impacts. CVHS could develop in many scenarios, in terms of timing, technical complexity and geographic coverage.

The pattern of CVHS deployment is likely to be based upon:

• near-term - an emphasis on vehicle navigation and information systems for which the technology is already reasonably mature to achieve better vehicle routeing;

• medium-term - progression towards intelligent speed adaptation (to adapt vehicle speeds to speed limits) and collision warning and avoidance systems to improve safety. Information systems will be more sophisticated and include the use of “mayday” applica-tions to detect and report accidents to improve network wide safety. Delivery of the type of information now dis-played on variable message signs into the vehicle, and displayed to the driver at appropriate times. Taken together these initiatives can lead to the development of a vehicle which has a greater awareness of the overall tactical situation than its driver, but the driver remains in control;

• longer-term - speed control assistance would be extended to all vehicles, collision warning and avoid-ance is extended to include partial non-driver control and lane keeping functions are introduced to improve traffic flow; and

• long-term - significant control is ceded to the vehicle and highway systems and collision warning and avoid-ance becomes much more sophisticated for all highway settings. These applications allow advanced operations, especially platooning on high-speed roads that will improve capacity.

CVHS applications will break new ground by altering the way our roads operate. Looking at the broader pol-icy setting within which decisions might be made about CVHS, we need to start from today’s policies. Policies will no doubt change and CVHS applications (some expected and others which are still to crystallise) will influence the development of that changed policy framework. The following policy issues are likely to be particularly challenging:

• setting a framework of responsibility for systems not

wholly controlled by the driver;• gaining the confidence of the public for the use of

CVHS derived information that will be essential for the effective management of the network;

• the cost of systems both to the user and the infra-structure provider;

• the route to implementation of more visionary sys-tems;

• deciding on the approach to worldwide manufactur-ing industry to achieve compatibility, finding the bal-ance between mandating and allowing market forces to drive development;

• enforcement of vehicle standards and the use of CVHS by competent vehicles and drivers;

• the shift to a controlled system and the implications for achieving safety that is the equivalent of a public transport system; and

• delivering an operational network quickly enough to promote take-up of technology.

To sum upSetting the policy framework for CVHS will be more time-consuming and the potential business case for deployment will be damaged unless the debate with all stakeholders is established and maintained.

The beneficiaries from CVHS are the travellers, who will have more comfortable and more efficient journeys, insurance companies who will pay less in infrastructure and other collision damage, the road operators who will bear less maintenance costs and have to undertake less cost reclamation and the motor manufacturers who will be able to sell a more interesting product. These tech-nologies also unlock a host of other applications relat-ing to travel, marketing and entertainment.

So why hasn’t it already happened? TH

Richard Harris is Director of ITS for WSP and can be contacted via email at [email protected]

Robert Cone is Director of Roads Network Management for Transport Wales and his email address

is [email protected]

In My Opinion

South Africa


The opportunity to “leapfrog” to new ITS technolo-gies in the absence of huge investment in old sys-tems that require upgrading is one of the factors driving ITS deployment in South Africa.

This makes the South African ITS industry very excit-ing with excellent business opportunities for compa-nies with local partners.

Another contributing factor for the rapid deployment of ITS systems includes the country’s hosting of the 2010 World Cup. This is providing the much-needed political support to progress with ITS deployment, such as those supporting the promotion of public transport.

“The two-fold priority driving ITS deployment in

South Africa is managing rampant congestion in the metropolitan areas such as Johannesburg and Cape Town in particular, and promoting public transport,” explains Dr Paul Vorster, CEO of ITS South Africa.

Land-use, apartheid policies and a culture of living outside of the city centres have resulted in massive urban sprawl and low population density that under-mined the business case for public transport.

The economic growth rate, consistently positive for more than a decade now, has seen a large increase in the number of private vehicles. Infrastructure upgrades lagged behind and the gap between the number of vehicles relative to road space has escalated out of hand.

Rapid ITS deployment in South Africa will now be

supported, and even expedited, by a new ITS Centre of Excellence. KEVIN BORRAS

spoke to ITS South Africa’s CEO, DR PAUL VORSTER,

himself a Thinking Highways columnist, about another

exciting development in his country’s advanced traffic

management odyssey

This has opened the way for the rapid growth in ITS deployment.

Decades of under-spending on transport infrastruc-ture have come to an end. Noting the infrastructure needs, the South African Government has announced capital projects to the value of €40m, with a high per-centage of the funding going towards transport-related infrastructure projects. This is part of a Government ini-tiative to sustain long-term economic growth called the Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative South Africa (com-monly referred to as ASGISA).

In common with most other countries South Africa is experiencing a shortage of engineers. The high number

of infrastructure projects already under way, or at the planning stage, has resulted in a significant skills short-age. Pledging to play a constructive role in supporting sustainable growth in the industry, the Board of ITS SA has recently approved the establishment of the ITS Cen-tre of Excellence, says Vorster.

Established in 2001 as a cooperative effort between transport stakeholders in both the public and the pri-vate sectors ITS South Africa (then known as the SA Soci-ety for ITS or SASITS) initially played an almost missionary role in promoting ITS as a way to help solve the many transport woes. Today ITS has become main-stream with strong institutional support.

South Africa


Excellent work

South Africa


“We are privileged to count transport leaders such as the SA National Roads Agency, the City of Cape Town, the Johannesburg Roads Agency and several other Pro-vincial and Departments of Transport as supporters,” enthuses Vorster. “|We have equally strong private sec-tor support.”

The ITS Centre of Excellence (ITS CoE) has been designed as a virtual organisation to promote flexibility and enhance its ability to cooperate with stakeholders in the field of ITS in particular and transport in general. The ITS CoE will serve as delivery mechanism for projects and build on the international network estab-lished by ITS South Africa through a series of MoUs and professional relationships.

Holding it all together (and up)The ITS CoE will be based on five “pillars” - knowledge management, training, education, research support and innovation/development with the first two pillars already activated.

Knowledge management services are delivered via the ITS South Africa website that is updated for mem-bers almost daily with industry news and business intel-ligence about what’s happening in the industry. This “tactical” side of knowledge management is supple-mented with a programme to expand it to include addi-tional strategic information about trends and new developments.

“It is not only about current business processes, but

also to anticipate and prepare for coming trends and new developments,” says Vorster. With many ITS practi-tioners being educated as professionals in fields such as civil or electrical engineering, or coming from the IT or communication industry, hands-on training to encour-age a holistic and integrated approach is vital in this stage of the ITS industry. Regular workshops on issues of topical interest, the biennial e-Transport Conference and Exhibition of the systems and products in the global market and the post-conference training session form part of the training pillar.

Says Vorster: “We have started with exploratory dis-cussions on developing the education pillar to ensure that 10 years from now there will be a pipeline of ITS-trained engineers entering into the industry. This is a long-term process that will yield results in producing the next generation of ITS professionals to meet the ITS challenges of 2020.”

Research support and innovation and development will be cultivated as the ITS Centre of Excellence settles down and expands its capacity.

ITS South Africa is also focusing and playing a key role in addressing immediate challenges that derive from hosting the World Cup. Games will be hosted in 10 ven-ues across the country and local government will play a leading role in upgrading the transport networks in the respective cities. To this end (and as part of the long-term ASGISA initiative) several flagship projects include:

South Africa

• Gautrain, a rapid rail link between Johannesburg and Pretoria and between Sandton and the OR Tambo Inter-national Airport (previously known as Johannesburg International);

• Bus Rapid Transit systems for Johannesburg and Pre-toria. Dedicated bus lanes, right-of-way, integrated tick-eting and comprehensive security systems will give urban dwellers a public transport option currently not available and further stimulate the ITS industry;

• The i-Traffic incident management project in the high-traffic stretch of freeway between Johannesburg and Pretoria and its roll-out to interconnecting free-ways;

• Expansion of the road network in the central prov-ince of Gauteng with a planned multi-lane free-flow toll system;

• Electronic Fare Collection for Public Transport in Western Cape with phase one of the tender already awarded;

• Airport upgrades and expansions underway at sev-eral South African airports, including traveler informa-tion systems, parking management, security systems and expanded e-ticketing systems;

• The struggling taxi recapitalision programme that aims to replace the aged fleet of 15-seater minibus taxis with custom-design vehicles carrying up to 35 passengers;

• Improvements to the Metrorail commuter services,

such as an improved “business-class” service between Soweto and the Johannesburg CBD.

One of the characteristics of the global ITS industry, is the willingness of ITS professionals to cooperate across national boundaries. A cooperative group such as IBEC is an example of the sharing of information and inter-institutional cooperation. Another example is the Europe-based Network of National ITS Associations that is supported by ERTICO. Given this cooperative spirit, ITS South Africa looks forward to engage potential part-ners and collaborators via the ITS Centre of Excellence, says Vorster. TH

“Research support and innovation and development will be cultivated as the ITS Centre of Excellence settles

down and expands its capacity”


South Africa


[email protected] +27113141405

HOW EUROPE WORKSCooperative Vehicles Think Tank

1 April 2008/Intertraffi c Amsterdam

H B Media thinkinghighways

1/[email protected]


[transmission begins] The demand for ITS surveillance tele-vision continues to grow. In the mid-1990s, a good rule of thumb was that a jurisdiction would have approxi-mately 15% CCTV cameras deployed supporting traffic surveillance as compared to deployed traffic control-lers. This percentage has now doubled. Cities that have 100 traffic controllers deployed will have at least 30 CCTV cameras deployed. The trend continues upward and the demand for video detection sensor (VIDS) video to complement surveillance CCTV video at traffic management centers (TMC) is resulting in it being a primary sensor for ITS. This article reviews CCTV technology evolution and its impact on Intelligent Trans-portation Systems.

Benefits of CCTV:

CCTV cameras classically include a camera with pan, tilt, and zoom (PTZ) capability. This is contrasted with VIDS that classically have been fixed cameras with inte-grated video data processing providing automatic detection and reporting of vehicles that enter detection gates manually set up within the image of the corridor. VIDS classically have replaced copper loop detectors because they have improved reliability and thus lower maintenance cost with only a small compromise in measured parameter accuracy. VIDS support the detection of vehicle presence (count), and when set up in pairs, can further report speed, headway and size classification. By setting up detection gates at specific locations and including an incident detection algorithm, VIDS can provide an alert to a traffic manager of a prob-able accident. Making the VIDS video available facili-tates incident verification of an accident and facilitates incident coordination between the TMC and the emer-gency management center (EMC). With surveillance CCTV cameras deployed, the PTZ function allows the traffic manager to provide a close look at the incident and share this video with an emergency resource dis-patcher within the EMC. This facilitates dispatching the needed emergency resources to save lives and rapidly clear the incident. CCTV provides the ability of both TMC and EMC staff to view traffic, road, and weather conditions. It provides information on all lanes within the field of view. CCTV supports verification of dynamic message sign text, identifies flooding and icing condi-tions on corridors, supports security of critical trans-portation infrastructure, as well as providing a sensor output that is unequalled in supporting interoperability between ITS centers. During a major emergency caused by nature or man, CCTV is an important sensor support-ing damage assessment and emergency evacuation. One further application of CCTV that continues to pro-vide demand for deployment is for traveler information. Travelers seem to believe CCTV images of corridors and thus want access to it via Internet and even digital cellular telephones. Travelers now prefer streaming video of corridor congestion as compared with a frame grabbed image. Streaming video demand from deployed CCTV cameras is starting to have a major impact on ITS communications networks as well as cost

Thinking Differently

The Nuts and Bolts of ITS

CCTV by Bruce

Abernethypage one

of providing traveler information via Internet service providers. The wealth of information within CCTV as well as VIDS video will continue to make video deploy-ment grow.

CCTV Technology Evolution:

There are a number of technology features that are emerging onto the market. Most of these improve-ments are driven by the security market and the mass deployment of security cameras supporting Homeland Security. One can only look at the success of security cameras deployed in London to identify and assist in the apprehension of terrorists. These security cameras have also been identified as an information source to assist in the successful prevention of a terrorist act. Security applications demand wide dynamic range of video as well as image resolution and quality suitable for not only detection but also identification. A few years ago, CCD technology was superior to CMOS imaging sensor technology. Now CMOS technology offers a 120 dB dynamic range and is less costly for high den-sity pixel configurations that are needed to enhance conventional resolution and to make high definition tel-evision (HDTV) affordable. Wide dynamic range allows a CCTV camera sensor to provide a viewable image of things in sun as well as the shadows. CMOS technology requires less power and is capable of operating at higher temperatures, a feature very beneficial to ITS deployments in US States like Arizona, New Mexico and Texas where summer temperatures can exceed 115 degrees Fahrenheit. CMOS sensors exhibit slightly less sensitivity compared with CCD, however, this can be made up by proper selection of a lens. CMOS sensors have an IR capability and can support day/night/IR oper-ations. An IR filter is incorporated to support selection of day/night versus IR operations. In addition, single large scale integration (LSI) chips are now available that directly interface with the CMOS (or CCD) pixel array and provide literally a two chip camera. The LSI camera processor chip includes all standard functions of a cam-era as well as functions such as video masking, video detection, video compression (with selectable com-pression standards) and a variety of interface options including USB and Ethernet. Also image stabilization that really works for mobile video applications is being integrated into the camera’s LSI processor. This author saw a demonstration of said technology, and it was very impressive. With this new LSI camera processor and CMOS sensor array, all one has to add is the lens and PTZ control electro-mechanics. In quantity, these cam-era chip sets are selling for under US$150. Today, the environmental housing and PTZ features of the CCTV camera are the greatest cost.

PTZ technology continues to improve, with the transi-tion from analog control, to digital stepping motors. Cameras are emerging integrated position encoders, facilitating positioning of a camera to an accuracy of less than 0.1 degree and assuring repeatability of returning to this location (PTZ) if commanded. Thus a PTZ camera is not capable of also providing VIDS func-




CCTV by Bruce

Abernethypage four



tions as well as surveillance functions. Positioning accuracy and repeatability is necessary because the detection gates of VIDS within a specific field of view must be calibrated.

Video Compression:

Again, the new CCTV cameras emerging onto the market have integrated video codec capability with selection of MPEG 2, MPEG 4 part 2, MPEG 4 Part 10 (H.264) as well as MJPEG. The LSI processor is an improvement over the current approach of adding a DSP to the camera and executing firmware licensed from a French company (the current predominate sup-plier of video compression firmware for DSPs). The most important benefit of this new LSI technology is that it eliminates the need to convert digital video within the camera chip to analog video and then back to digital video for compression by the DSP. A further advantage is that the LSI chip accommodates 10 bit video versus 8 bit video as accommodated by DSP video codec. This results in improved color and image quality.

Video compression standards are still of major con-cern in ITS. Television News stations desire MPEG 2 compressed video because they are set up to handle it. H.264 (MPEG 4 part 10) has been adopted by digital cellular service providers and is well suited for internet distribution of digital video. It is logical that ITS adopt H.264 because it supports standard and high definition television (MPEG 4 part 2 does not support HDTV) as well as narrow bandwidth in addition to wide bandwidth communications network compatibility. Unfortunately, few CCTV cameras on the market today incorporate H.264 video compression standards.

Important Considerations:

Just like traffic controllers must meet NEMA TS-2 envi-ronmental standards and quality standards, so should other equipment placed roadside. A CCTV camera must be designed from scratch to meet the environment in which it is to operate. Provisions must be made to assure that electronic components do not exceed their thermal rating. If their thermal rating is exceeded, life of the component will be compromised. A jurisdiction should verify that the CCTV camera to be deployed has been designed for NEMA TS-=2 temperatures and has been tested to these temperatures. Few cameras avail-able today truly meet NEMA temperature requirements for operations. Placing a camera not designed for NEMA temperatures in an environmental housing can make cooling of electronics even more difficult; how-ever it does protect the electronics from rain and blow-ing dust/sand. The appropriate approach is for the electronics and the environmental housing to be designed as an integral package where cooling and pro-tection against weather requirements are accommo-dated in the design. One further point is that it is necessary to keep moisture and dust out of the housing containing the camera lens and imaging device. Other-wise, condensation and dust will deposit on the imaging


CCTV by Bruce

Abernethypage six

IMAGINED + CONSTRUCTED by Buro de Change



mechanism causing degraded performance. A pres-surized housing using Nitrogen protects against mois-ture and dust intrusion. Seals must be designed to hold the pressure for several years to minimize maintenance actions. Dome cameras are difficult to seal because of their large sealing circumference as well as dissimilar materials (typically aluminium and Lexan). The curva-ture of the clear dome can also cause image distortion at full zoom, thus causing performance issues with the video masking algorithm. For ITS, IP-video over Ether-net is the appropriate choice. The reason is that the multicast capability of Ethernet minimizes communica-tions data loading where multiple users are requesting access to the digital video stream. With ITS emphasis on regional interoperability, IP-multicast of video is the only logical solution. The use of IP-packets for video stream distribution has significantly less overhead that transmission of the video stream utilizing ATM 53 byte cells. ATM protocol overhead for video stream trans-mission approaches 30%, compared to Ethernet.

Summary:

CCTV is a key sensor technology for ITS. Video from any source (CCTV or VIDS) is in demand by both traffic and emergency management personnel. Trend in emer-gency management is for higher resolution video facili-tating not only detection but identification. Where traffic and emergency management is integrated, HDTV CCTV cameras are predicted to be deployed, especially where the camera is primarily providing a security function for critical infrastructure and a secondary function in sup-port of transportation management. CCTV has also emerged as a critical sensor in the battle against terror-ism and associated coordination between traffic and emergency management to save lives and reduce dam-age to property during a major emergency. Transition to higher resolution cameras to meet Homeland Secu-rity needs as well as providing streaming video to trave-lers (which will most probably require 100% of CCTV camera digital video to be on the ITS communications networks, as compared to only that video being sought for viewing by ITS related managers/operators) will have a major impact on ITS communications network bandwidth requirements. The emerging CCTV cameras will have many more integrated functions than older technology, will be smaller and will require less power. The environmentalization of CCTV cameras suitable for roadside deployment and operations in all weather con-ditions as well as high accuracy/performance PTZ units associated with surveillance cameras will result in prod-uct cost to jurisdictions remaining about the same. But considering that no video codec transmitters will be necessary and that new, dual/quad core workstations are well suited for multiple digital video stream decod-ing/decompression and windowing, will result in an overall lower system cost. [transmission ends]

Bruce Abernethy, PE, is president, Vector Alpha Systems Inc.

[email protected]


CCTV by Bruce

Abernethypage eight


As the operator for national roads in England, the Highways Agency (HA) has undergone a transforma-tion in the last few years. Formed in 1994 to manage the country’s road building and highways maintenance programmes, it celebrated its 10th birthday by commit-ting to a doubling in its size over the following 12 months. The reason for this rapid growth was a substantial change in its remit, having also been handed responsibility for

managing traffic on England’s 5,800 miles of motorway and trunk roads.

Until the handover, the main responsibility for manag-ing traffic had resided with the police service. Through 33 separate control centres, each operated by a differ-ent police force and functioning completely independ-ently, they monitored their particular stretches of road for accidents and incidents likely to cause delay. Now,

CCTV

Special agents

the HA is responsible for coordinating the response to major incidents and issuing instructions on what response is required and subsequent dispatch of response teams.

Seven regional control centresUnder the new HA plan, the functions of the 33 separate control rooms will be consolidated into just seven

regional control centres (RCC). By the end of 2005, four were already live with the remaining three due to come on-stream this year. Unlike the police control rooms, these individual RCCs were immediately linked using the HA’s X25 network. In the future they will be linked with the National Roads Telecommunications Service (NRTS), a £490m scheme that forms a major part of the Government’s 10 year Plan for Transport.

The NRTS is a facilitation system which also allows oth-ers to deliver commitments as part of the government’s plan and it forms the basis for the upgrade of the X25 network. When complete, the NRTS project will provide a national digital system linking more than 14,000 road-side devices: message signs, emergency telephones, and up to 4,000 cameras and traffic monitoring systems, to the Highway Agency’s network of traffic control cen-tres. In effect, the HA will then be in a position to collect and analyse data from all 5,800 miles and manage traffic flows and react to incidents as if there was a single National Highway.

CCTV


VIBEKE ULMANN charts the steady progress of the

Highways Agency’s plans to revolutionise and update not only its road network but also

itself. Cutting-edge technology and carefully

considered collaborations and consultation are

paramount to the success of this far-reaching project


Trialling smarter roadsThe HA has implemented a number of innovative schemes to improve the efficiency and safety of the stra-tegic road network, including using speed controls to smooth traffic flows on the M25 orbital motorway that encircles London, a National Traffic Control Centre (NTCC) providing up-to-date infor-mation and advice on traffic problems, driver information signs at all strate-gic points on the network, automatic warning systems of traffic queues and testing the use of traffic signals to smooth flows on accesses to the M27 motorway in Hampshire.

The M27 was selected as a second generation trial site to prove the con-cept of a uniform approach to CCTV systems and cameras and it proved that second generation was a valid system. Working through Initial Electronic Security Systems, AMG was asked to link up to 23 cameras on a 20km stretch of the motorway and route all the signals back to a control centre situated at Parkgate.

“We required a proof of concept system that would demonstrate a capacity to transmit high quality video from a large number of cameras with maximum possi-ble uptime,” comments Mark Pennington of Initial. “The CCTV cameras have to give control centre operators the

ability to identify and monitor congestion, monitor inci-dents and coordinate all the emergency services, ensure that the hard shoulder is clear of debris and vehicles prior to opening, and monitor it whilst it is being used as a running lane.”

Quality, latency and resilience AMG installed a Guardian-Lite™ 2700 multi-channel video transmission sys-tem to link the cameras on the M27 trial. Using just two of the existing fibres running along the M27 in a dual-redundant ring design, the cameras were linked to the control centre. According to Alan Hayes, founder and managing director of AMG Systems, “this configuration is critical in the event of a break or catastrophic dam-

age to one of the fibre optic cables, since our equipment automatically re-routes the video signals through the other fibre, maintaining system integrity round-the-clock.

“The images themselves are of very high quality, despite the long line lengths involved, because we use a full-bandwidth solution that does not compress the video signal at all. The result is that the control room operators can select any one of the cameras and instan-taneously see high quality, real-time images of the scene

CCTV

“The images themselves are of very high quality,

despite the long line lengths involved,

because we use a full bandwidth solution”

On January 1, 2007 the Czech Republic’s electronic toll collection system for heavy vehicles started

commercial operation. Just 70 days and 14 hours later, toll revenue reached 1 billion Czech Koruna.

Electronic toll collection systems from Kapsch TrafficCom can work for you too | www.kapsch.net

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Like an unfolding blossom, the Swarco Group

continues to expand its market presence and

products, services, and solutions portfolio.

Today, 40 companies in 16 countries account for

more than 200 MEUR in sales related to traffic

control materials and traffic management solu-

tions. The blossom grows and gets new petals,

for instance with transport telematics specialist

Mizar Automazione in Italy and paint factory

Swarco Vicas in Romania. The development of

the blossom involves its change, but, similar to

the solid roots of a plant, some things remain

unchanged: our commitment to road safety

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ON THE ROAD TO FLOURISH

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on the motorway,” he says. “A further advantage of the Guardian-Lite™ 2700 system is that it freed up a large amount of roadside fibre. This asset can then be utilised within the roadside IP data network for a number of other purposes, such as emergency telephones, over-head traffic information boards, wind speed data, and traffic monitoring systems.”

A future UK national highwayGuardian-Lite 2700 overcomes four key design issues for CCTV systems - video quality, latency, camera count and resilience. Designed for multi-channel video collection and distribu-tion over singlemode fibre - together with associated data and audio signals if necessary – it will carry up to 64 uncompressed video signals in a real-time full bandwidth digital format. This ensures high quality transmission regardless of distance without compromising quality and without introducing latency to the video.

It will collect individual or multiple video signals in a ‘daisy-chain’ along a rail track or road and transmit them all back to one or multiple control rooms. Configured in dual-redundant mode, Guardian-Lite™ 2700 automati-cally re-routes all video signals in the event of a fibre break between two nodes. This dual redundant option

ensures no loss of signal during a catastrophic fibre fail-ure and the system comes equipped with a self healing capability once the fibre breakage is spliced.

“With its unparalleled video quality, zero latency and integrated redundancy technology, Guardian-Lite 2700 is ideally placed to ensure the surveillance of the UK’s busy highways. More than that, it is flexible enough to

accommodate foreseable future upgrades, such as increased camera count, without significant disruption,” says Pennington.

Highlights• M27 seen as ‘proof of concept’ for

the technologies employed in second generation,

• Guardian-Lite 2700 runs resilient ring for 23 cameras,

• The bi-directional channels pro-vide resilient redundancy in case of

fibre breakage. If a fibre or cable is unavailable, the sys-tem automatically switches video signals to the other direction and a fault reporting system advises the main-tenance engineer of the problem.

• Using just two fibres, AMG system frees up redun-dant fibre for IP data network linking message signs, emergency telephones, wind speed sensors and traffic monitoring systems, etc.th

AMG founder Alan Hayes

“High quality transmission is

ensured regardless of distance, without

compromising quality or

introducing latency”

CCTV


A digital transport Gaia

The Future


As computing power accelerates and networks,

both wired and wireless support complete mobility, the network knows all - and, say JACK OPIOLA and TONY IOANNIDIS, it’s everywhere

As embedded systems become smaller, smarter and better connected, with knowledge of their loca-tion and environment, the network of these systems becomes its own computing and communication platform.

This can be seen clearly in transportation where we have moved from the analogue age of loop detectors to radar or laser detection; silver-nitrate film from GATSO cameras for speed enforcement to digital images with automatic number plate reading; and, coins collected at toll booths to “cashless toll collection“ with electronic transponders. Currently, the new Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) movement in the USA and the “Smart Car” initiative in the European Union are creating their own, new kind of reality - a digital transport Gaia.

Our reference is to the “Gaia Hypothesis”. The Gaia hypothesis is an ecological hypothesis that proposes that living and nonliving parts of the earth are viewed as a complex interacting system that can be thought of as a


single organism. Named after the Greek earth goddess, this hypothesis postulates that all living things have a regulatory effect on the Earth’s environment that pro-motes life overall1.

As can be seen from the transitions in the transporta-tion marketplace over the past 20 years, we will continue to change and evolve our products, systems and solu-tions in the transport arena. These, like VII, will usher in new services that should be designed to run on this new platform; services that try to make do with the relatively clumsy systems we use today will be at a serious disad-vantage.

A Gaia authorityOne only has to look at the Intelligent Transport Systems or Electronic Toll Collection market today and envisage how it is and will change in light of introduction of VII. The VII Proof of Concept (POC) testing (see image 1 below) that is on-going in Michigan today, is one glimpse of the future reality that will enable the Gaia Hypothesis in transportation. The ubiquitous use of computing and network communications to share all data, dynamically and historically, will dramatically change our lives. We will interact with our modes of travel, our infrastructure, our environment and each other in new and dynamic

ways that will improve our mobility — our complete mobility.

According to Moore’s Law2 as demonstrated during the past 20 years, the density of transistors on integrated circuits will double every 18 months for the next 20 years. There’s at least one application with the depth to absorb the resulting exponential improvement in CPU speed, bandwidth, network and memory capacity. That application for VII is embedded computer networks.

Originally, an embedded computer was part of a product in ITS, usually one that had nothing to do with com-puters. It was a signal processor or timing signal for traffic light control-lers. In the 1980s, we began to see embedded computers in appliances. Soon they were part of most machines and became part of the systems. At the end of the 20th century, we are taking the next obvious step: networking the embedded computers into solutions

for traveller information, as one example. With very clever power delivery and power management, they can even be built into non-mechanical objects and strewn across the transport landscape.

Certainly this is true in ETC where either third party, stand alone 5.9 GHz transponders or embedded sys-tems for VII will provide new revenue collection models

“Some academics believe life will

ultimately return to a manageable rhythm. Most

consumers believe otherwise”

The Future

The Future


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however, we devise programming methodologies to reliably manage large autonomous networks. Some of the techniques are very new, based on insights that our research laboratories could not even begin to explain - schemes that couldn’t even initialize themselves in smaller settings. But others were there in plain sight all along: Biological systems are easily as complex as the cybernetic ecology of the early 21st Century.

Computer scientists have always been intrigued by biological analo-gies - in the 20th Century researchers worked with genetic programming and neural-network programming. Now we have the insight and the hard-ware to employ similar methods in large-scale applications. IBM, for example is currently building mem-

ory and microprocessors at the atomic level of structure, not through overlaid, hair-size circuit designs as part of “Nature Nanotechnology”3.

Like biology, the new programming methods are not deterministic. They are not even fully understandable in the sense that 20th Century programmers claimed to understand the code they wrote. By 2007, the largest control systems are being grown and trained, rather than written4. Some academics believe life will ulti-mately return to a manageable rhythm. The vast major-ity of consumers believe otherwise.

using contactless credit cards or mobile telephone Near Field Communications (NFC) solutions for multi-lane, free-flow tolling, dynamic High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes and possibly time-distance and location-based charging. The latter may introduce demand manage-ment for congestion charging and a viable alternative for fuel excise tax collection. So imagine this: In the early years of the 21st century, we continue to expand the wireless networks from the Internet to the roadside.

The overhead costs of transportation business continue to decline. We build embedded networks across our entire transport system that spread beneath the Net, supporting it much as plank-ton supports the ocean ecology. The advances in vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) and vehicle/roadside-to-person (VI2P) provide a new dimension of informa-tion and data exchange that will make the current POC for VII pale in comparison. This added power will make our 20th-century transport systems seem like a rehearsal for the solutions that lay ahead.

The science of thingsThe first decade of the century is filled with doubts and prophecies of imminent catastrophe; many of the new advances are plagued by system failures. In their wake,

“Civilization is a fractal patchwork of the old, the new

and the dangerously new”

The Future

Figure 1 - VII POC “Day 1” applications being tested for the FHWA VII program

(Illu

stra

tion

cour

tesy

of

Booz

Alle

n H

amilt

on)


“Perhaps integrated circuits could become a new

domain of life -peers to the

domains of plants, animals, fungi, and

bacteria”

new transport reality. Perhaps integrated circuits could become a new domain of life, peers to the domains of plants, animals, fungi, bacteria, etc. In the Gaia Hypoth-esis, ICs, unlike other forms of life, can’t reproduce on their own - but most forms of life on Earth can’t live or reproduce without others. Human life, for example, is utterly dependent on bacterial life.

The future direction of transportation may expand our definition of “life” to help us deal with the future stress of daily living and IC technology and networks can help us understand and discuss it more fully. Part of that life is our transportation system and our interaction with its many facets. Even at a disaster level, the multitude of microprocessors in products and systems will continue to provide a continuous mesh of interconnected net-works and processors like a sea of plankton supporting the eco-system of the oceans to nourish our transport needs.

As we march into the brave, new world of the 21st Cen-tury, distributed nanotechnology products and ubiqui-tous networks will help us interact with our environment, our infrastructure, each other and life in general. The VII POC and envisaged deployment of such networked technology is one evolutionary step in that direction. As computing power accelerates and networks – wired and wireless support integrated transport needs of the traveler. The transport network will know all - and it will be everywhere to support our complete mobility. We are entering a new digital transport Gaia. TH

Jack Opiola and Tony Ioannidis are Principals with Booz Allen Hamilton

References1 Wikipedia, Gaia Hypothesis.

2 The term Moore’s Law was coined by Carver Mead around 1970.

Moore’s original statement can be found in his publication “Cram-

ming more components onto integrated circuits”, Electronics Maga-

zine 19 April 1965. Under the assumption that chip “complexity” is

proportional to the number of transistors, regardless of what they do,

the law has largely held the test of time to date. However, one could

argue that the per-transistor complexity is less in large RAM cache

arrays than in execution units.

3 IBM prints with molecules, by Michael Kanellos, Staff Writer, CNET

News.com, Published: 10 September 2007, 9:00 PM PDT. Researchers

at IBM and ETH Zurich have devised a way to print patterns with mol-

ecules. The pattern on the solid substrate then can be exploited in a

number of ways, according to Heiko Wolf, researcher in nano-pattern-

ing at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory. It was created by placing

20,000 gold particles, each about 60 nanometers in diameter, with the

IBM-ETH technique. At 60 nanometers, each particle is one one-hun-

dredth the size of a human blood cell. The technique could be used to

place particles as small as 2 nanometers wide. (A nanometer is a bil-

lionth of a meter. A human hair is about 60 microns, or 60,000 nanom-

eters, wide).

4 Go to 2050: Computing, page 148.

5 “Lady of Mazes”, a novel by Karl Schroeder defines this concept

far better than the authors.

The Future


Thinking Highways’ financial analyst MARGARET PETTIT looks at the European Territorial Cooperation Programme and finds that like with any other major programme, it’s a matter of priorities

Automobile Safety


Actively passive...

passively active

It is universally accepted that the present day automobile has come a long way since it was first invented for the purpose of efficient and safe mobility.

However, it is also an indisputable fact that the devel-opment of the safety aspect of the automobile is still far behind that of the telematics/ergonomics/acceleration departments. Granted, the advent of some safety inno-vations such as the seatbelt, airbag and advanced brak-ing system have proved their usefulness beyond doubt but they are considered to be passive safety apparatus that cannot prevent accidents from actually occurring.

The main objective of this article is to disclose a basic principle of an active safety innovation that is based on an invention by the author (patent pending) that can be realized by current available technology that was spe-cifically designed to make future automobiles more intelligent by being able to sense the behaviour of the individual driver.

From the moment the ignition key is turned (or the button is pressed, depending on your car) the current status of that particular driver can be compared with a given parameter. This information can then be provided to not only the driver but also to other drivers that hap-pen to be traveling on the same section of the road at the same time.

In all driving situations on any road the hardest part of the operation for the average driver is to speculate on the behaviour, or potential behaviour, of other drivers. Without prior knowledge of the driving ability or the physical/psychological profile of other drivers (which can collectively be termed as a driver’s roadworthi-ness), present day driving has become very stressful for ordinary motorists all over the world. Therefore, even with minimal information that could be obtained either directly or indirectly from fellow drivers sharing the

Automobile Safety


VIC PHANUMPHAI would like the opportunity to save your life. Thinking Highways is happy to give him the opportunity to tell you how he plans to do it

same section of the road, an immeasurable benefit will be derived because it has been concluded by various studies that most traffic accidents are caused by the fail-ure of drivers to assess the situation ahead – it is often the case that they did not have enough time to react safely.

A safer futureIt is the objective of this invention to provide a method and apparatus that can enhance the safety aspect of an ordinary automobile or other vehicle while being driven by any driver. More specifically, the automobile in accordance with this invention is to be equipped with an apparatus that will detect, tabulate and process the information received from various locations or compo-nents of the automobile during the entire operation of the automobile, and then to use such information for the production of warning signals representing a real-time driving status or driving record based on the actual behaviour or driving proficiency of the driver himself after being compared to a given parameter.

Such a warning signal will be constantly shown to the driver of that particular automobile for his own correc-tion or adjustment, and also to all other drivers driving in the same section of the road so that they can take any necessary precaution in order to avoid an accident.

According to the principle of this invention, a driving record representing dangerous or erratic driving behaviour from the beginning of the journey to the present time, such as speeding, hard braking, frequent sharp-turning of the steering wheel or lane-changes made by the driver (and this also includes driving while under the influence of alcohol or drugs or due to fatigue or lack of sleep) will be continually collected and com-pared with the given parameter in order to produce a relevant signal (such as green/amber/red) for all to see,

Automobile Safety

or an audible alarm to warn the driver when his driving behavior had reached a dangerous level. With such information being constantly updated the driver him-self will be able to adjust or improve his driving habit gradually in order to change the signal down to the green zone.

It all stops hereAnother objective of this invention is to provide a method and apparatus that will produce an early warning signal of the intended braking or stopping of the automobile for the benefit of other drivers directly behind it. More specifically, the automobile will be equipped with an extra set of amber signals that operates in the same fashion as a normal traffic signal at the intersection. Hence, while the driver of the intelligent automobile is contemplating a stop during normal driving condition, his foot will be off the accelerator pedal at least for a certain period of time before a final decision is reached on whether or not to step on the brake pedal.

This so-called period of contemplation, detectable by a pressure-sensitive sensor, will activate the warning amber signal before the red braking signal shows in order to warn other drivers directly behind to appropri-ately prepare or react accordingly.

Detailed description The intelligent automobile, in accordance with the invention, is to be equipped with a microprocessing

unit, a number of sensors and two display panels or sig-nal units. One of the sensors detects the degree of move-ment or turning angle of the steering wheel of the automobile. The degree or the severity of the turning of the steering wheel made by the driver could be meas-ured as a factor of time and/or distance traveled. A dras-tic or severe turning of the steering wheel made in a short period of time or a short distance will represent a kind of hard turning that should not be happening so frequently under normal driving condition.

The microprocessor will be able to differentiate this information after a comparison is made with the given parameter. Additional sensors are to be installed to obtain vehicle speed and also other information con-cerning the frequency and the severity in the sudden change in pressure made to the brake pedal and to the accelerator pedal respectively by the driver of the auto-mobile. The information from all the sensors will be stored, processed, and compared with the given param-eters by the microprocessor; the result of which will be shown on the display panels instantaneously.

Other apparatus such as a breath-analyzer can be used in conjunction with this invention to measure the content of alcohol in the breath of the driver; and a warn-ing signal will be produced if the detected level shown to be higher than the given parameter. One of the dis-play panels is to be installed inside the automobile to keep the driver fully informed of his current driving sta-tus at all times, while another panel will be appropri-


ately located for the benefit of other drivers (or, if and when applicable, traffic law enforcement officers) in the vicinity. Upon the processing of the accumulated infor-mation detected by various sensors during any given period and/or distance traveled a driving profile (or the degree of roadworthiness) representing a true and accurate behavior of the driver will be used as a basis for the production of an appropriate signal to the dis-play panels. Normal or safe driving will be represented by a green signal, and the status will be gradually changed to amber and eventually to red when the driv-ing behaviour becomes highly erratic that could be dangerous to both himself and to the public.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention the automobile is also equipped with an extra set of tail lights (the amber signal on the information panel mentioned above can be used for this purpose) in order to provide a warning amber signal to the drivers of the following automobiles in advance of the normal red brake light.

With a pressure-sensitive sensor to detect the reduc-tion of pressure (or the absence of pressure) on the accelerator pedal the microprocessor will equate this reduction in pressure on the accelerator to be a period of contemplation or a period of indecision made by the driver before an actual braking. This forewarning signal will be provided to the driver of the automobile directly behind so that he can make use of such warning for his own advantage.

ConclusionAs previously stated, it would be perfect (as the inventor of the system) if this system could be introduced on all automobiles in order to achieve its optimum benefit. Because, with such a system on board, the driver of the intelligent automobile can make use of such informa-tion to make necessary adjustment on his own driving behavior, while fellow drivers of the world can enjoy “the right to know” on the status of other drivers’ road-worthiness at all times.

However, it is also very likely that, even with a full cooperation from all agencies concerned, this system will take time to be universally implemented or accepted. One option that could be considered as a good beginning is for the insurance industries to give some incentive to the automobile using the system.

It cannot be emphasized enough that several well-accepted safety devices as previously mentioned have proven their usefulness beyond all doubt because of their merits on the ability to reduce the severity of injury after an accident occurs. But these are considered to be passive safety measures that do not prevent traffic acci-dent. Whereas the apparatus in accordance with this invention is truly an active safety measure in every sense of the word that will be the most effective vehicle-to-vehicle communication system in the world of automo-tive technologies in this century. TH

Vic Phanumphai BSCE, MEng, PhD is an inventor and traffic engineer based in Bangkok, Thailand. He can be

contacted by email at [email protected]

Automobile Safety


Citizens clamour for safer, smarter and greener road transport. Putting an end to congestion, pollution and road accidents represents major societal aspira-tions which require major investments in road infra-structure and car technology, but, very probably, the most cost efficient investment is in Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS).

As part of this more intelligent transport, Galileo and EGNOS (European Geostationary Overlay Serv-ice) are undeniable cornerstones - but what are the real benefits? Europe has probably overemphasized the commercial interest of Galileo, thus leading to a complex situation where the benefits of the system are clear to all, but an intrinsic difficulty emerged in turning these benefits into a cash-flow for the company(ies) set-ting-up and administering the system. If we set aside all economic considerations, however, we can immediately see that Galileo offers vital advantages over the current GPS systems because it sets European independence in satellite navigation from the USA.

Can Europe afford to depend on other countries for the provision of a service that is essential for society? The experience with the high dependency of Europe on external energy (oil) supply gives a clear answer. More-over Galileo, and EGNOS as a reality today, provide a substantial value-added with regards to GPS in terms of new services and improved performance. Of special relevance for transport is the provision for the Galileo signal to deliver position integrity, something that will not only allow planes to land safely but also ensure that systems like Electronic Toll Collection will correctly and reliably compute the toll charges.

Joaquin Cosmen

SchortmannGMV’s CEO Advisor, Member of the Executive Committee of the European Union Road Federation (ERF), the Brussels Programme Centre of the International Road Federation (IRF)

The Thought Process


In order to better understand the needs of road trans-port and evaluate the benefits that Galileo will bring to that sector, the European GNSS Supervisory Authority has awarded a contract called GIROADS (www.intelligentroads.org). Coordinated by the ERF – IRF BPC, the resulting project involves representatives of different stakeholders in the road sector and ITS. The GIROADS contract is thus the main point of contact between the developers of Galileo and the road sector. Many important conclusions have been established in particular in what concerns the value-added of Galileo and EGNOS in addition to the current GPS system for the road sector.

Galileo is a complex project and not solely because of the technology, but because of the institutional and organisational aspects. In order to fairly analyse the situation it is important to understand that Galileo is the first EU development of a high technology project of such magnitude and misses the background of similar previous endeavours.

In addition, experience shows that all large projects are always subject to important schedule slippages and cost overruns, and Galileo will not be an exception. Hav-ing said this, the lack of a well defined responsibility chain among different stakeholders and the far too opti-mistic commercial perspective of Galileo are, undoubt-edly, elements that have to be corrected.

The European Commission has taken a major step to solve the situation by proposing to postpone the con-cession process and proposing full public funding for the Galileo development. In the meantime, however, Europe has to be conscious that EGNOS provides over

“What ITS can do is support policy objectives and improve knowledge,

information and management”

“The main reason for developing Galileo is

European Independence and Sovereignty. Can

Europe afford to depend on third countries for the provision of a service that is becoming essential for

society?”

Europe some similar service to those that will be pro-vided by Galileo, and it is already a reality today. Thus, the certification of EGNOS and a clear operational organisation is a must in the short term and Europe should take all necessary measures to avoid the Galileo decision process to affect all the urgent decisions that are needed for EGNOS.

Within the ERF – IRF BPC we have endorsed the EC target, stated in its White Paper on Transport, that the time has come to decide on key policy directions for developing efficient transport networks. How-ever, the ERF – IRF BPC has taken a critical position on some elements such as the “inter-modality dogma”. This position is contributing to the definition of a revised policy. At the ERF – IRF BPC we have supported the need to define interoperable Electronic Fee Collection sys-tems in Europe and have technically analysed how EGNOS and Galileo can contribute to this. We are con-cerned about the current situation where the standardi-sation process seems to be at less than full speed and the fact that individual Member States will have to make individual decisions before the standard is approved, which will make the interoperability target more diffi-cult to reach.

A few years ago, the ERF – IRF BPC, through its pres-ident Dr. Zaragoza, had the vision that the objective of “better roads for better life” was pivoting from the construction and maintenance world to a new frame where “Intelligent Transport” would play a much more central role. The ERF – IRF BPC then looked at its membership to single out individual players who would

be in favour of taking the lead on this particular topic. My company, GMV, considered it a very good opportu-nity to contribute to this new project, and offered its extensive experience in satellite navigation to the serv-ice of the Federation. Because of that experience, the ERF – IRF BPC proposed to name me as the representa-tive for all ITS-related discussions and I am very proud to be the spokesman for this new vision.

The challenges ahead for a real penetration of “Intel-ligent Transport” in the road sector are, as far as I understand, the availability of a cheap on-board units (OBUs) able to provide different services cou-pled with the existence of an appropriate level of standardisation in the provision of those same serv-ices. Up to now, in fact, the range of available services on offer does not justify the purchase of an OBU, mainly because of the limited value-added for the user and the relatively high price of the unit itself. If a single device at a price below €100 was able to support different serv-ices, on the other hand, it would definitely be more attractive to the end user.

In addition new EU policies, such as the implementa-tion of GNSS-based electronic toll collection in Europe, would be undoubtedly a major trigger for achieving the aforementioned penetration. Another key factor is rep-resented by the transition period from the existing situ-ation to the time where, in the near future, all cars will integrate an OBU as standard equipment. Then Euro-pean citizens will truly and fully be reaping the benefits of Intelligent Transport Systems. TH

Interview by Kevin Borras


Australia


GLIDe-ing into the future

As an active and long term toll road operator, we at Transurban have built our business around our abil-ity to deliver innovative technology applications, and tolling and value-add services. Different solu-tions may be needed at different times, so it’s impor-tant for us to be adaptable.

GLIDe emerged from this philosophy. It is our next generation software and hardware application which will support our road user charging needs now and in the future. The project represents a quantum leap in how we deliver tolling and customer management solutions. It will improve our core business systems and change the way we go about our daily business.

In an IT sense, GLIDe is one of the largest scale projects we’ve ever undertaken. It will replace GATe – the first generation of technology we purpose-built for CityLink more than 10 years ago – and reflect our learnings over the past eight years of operations.

At the time, the design of the CityLink technology was able to efficiently manage our tolling operations and customer relationships while we were a single toll road entity.

In the past two years alone, however, we’ve rapidly expanded our asset portfolio to comprise of interests in seven roads across two continents – Australia and North America – and existing operations continue to grow strongly. Today more than five million customers use Transurban roads.

A new challengeWe are now gearing up for a much-improved system that is flexible, less costly to run and will meet our increasingly diverse business needs. We want to move to technology that will give us the ability to better serv-ice customers and can scale up to ten times more cus-tomers across various regions and assets as needed.

Like GATe, GLIDe is to be purpose-built for Transur-ban using a combination of different technologies. To build GLIDe, we’ve brought together a lot of existing

technologies from various software companies to take us to the next level of tolling technology. We’ve chosen these particular companies as they have proven capa-bilities in developing and successfully delivering com-plex applications using leading-edge technologies where high performance is critical. When combined with our tolling expertise from projects across the globe, improved customer management is assured.

GLIDe is a solution that offers us operational flexibility and agility. It’s also highly customer-centric. That’s because we are building the system in a modular way so it can be adapted to our different tolling topologies, such as our HOT lane projects in the US.

GLIDe can also be used for emerging technologies such as Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), which we have looked at in the Australian environment in partnership with Siemens Tolling Technologies and Telstra. In effect, we can mix and match components of the GLIDe technology to better operate across our mul-tiple assets, and suit the specific requirements of each asset.

Seamless transitionThe existing GATe system was designed to integrate data processing from the roadside, trip reconstruction, rating and accounts management and CRM into one seamless application.

Learning from our experience of supporting large scale tolling systems, we have chosen to split GLIDe into three discrete technology solutions – retail manage-ment, asset management and interoperability manage-ment.

GLIDe’s design architecture for these three functions has adopted different IT technologies. The redevelop-ment of the system design has focused on ensuring scal-ability and operational efficiency. A full review of the current environment and development of a target envi-ronment has ensured that improvements to business processes are incorporated. Unified Modelling

Australia


Transurban is about to deliver GLIDe, its next generation of tolling and customer management technology. GLIDe team program director BRUCE WILLOUGHBY talks to Thinking Highways about its combination of technologies, philosophies, topologies and interoperability


Language (UML) has also been applied to standardise object development.

As previously mentioned, GLIDe has adopted archi-tecture that is open and flexible. An enterprise commu-nications framework using XML/SOAP has been adopted for inter-process data exchange. Interfaces with exter-nal agencies and their systems are supported via adap-tors that convert to the standard system architecture. In terms of hosting, the benefits of modern virtual machine operating systems enable scalability.

In the re-design of the GLIDe back office, we’ve focused on enhancing image processing, as this is an area where automation can greatly improve our opera-tional efficiency. Central to these efficiency gains are dual observation of registration numbers at the road-side, dual but independent Optical Character Recogni-tion (OCR) algorithms and image signature analysis.

These processes, together with improved details of account arrangements, can provide an opportunity to perform data fusion and more accurately identify a vehi-cle by registration number images alone. This process is demanding in terms of host data processing perform-ance, but leads to a more rapid inference of identify and less manual image viewing.

Reality bitesThe processing of transactions from the roadside to an account is more real time than rules-based. In re-design-ing the asset processor, we have aimed to reduce the time needed to reconstruct a trip and get the rated trip to an account.

To achieve this, we have developed an asset process-ing architecture that will permit multiple toll roads to be processed in one host environment. The applicable toll road topology can be applied to trip reconstruction for the respective source of the transactions.

Refreshing technology every 10 years or so is a stand-ard part of our business, but with GLIDe, we’re taking

the opportunity to rethink our operations and to replace our core technology with a system that will allow greater efficiency and effectiveness, but at the lowest possible operating costs.

By increasing our operational flexibility through toll-ing and customer management scalability and config-urable solutions, we will be able to enhance customer service and improve our market positioning through value-add services. For example, we will have a stronger customer focus by improving data accuracy and con-sistency, and providing more online self-care options.

Ultimately, we feel that GLIDe will give us a significant advantage when we’re competing for new assets against second generation toll road operators in Australia and overseas.

Team ethicsThe project has been two years in the making and the team is about to grow from 60 to more than 100. This consists of our full-time employees and people from our commercial suppliers.

As with any new system involving custom develop-ment, there is some risk involved and we will be manag-ing this risk very carefully. We are building some components from scratch and using proven building blocks and processing engines where possible. But the major part of the system will be based on proven appli-cation package software.

To help us manage this risk, we’ve pulled together a highly capable team with expertise in a range of areas including customer management, ITS, revenue manage-ment, interoperability and asset management.

We’re also leveraging the experience we have accu-mulated in the past 10 years in various tolling projects and toll roads Transurban has been involved with to design and build GLIDe. We’re currently in the solution design phase of the project and expect to roll it out to parts of the business towards the end of 2008. TH

Australia

“In re-designing the asset processor, we

have aimed to reduce the time needed to

reconstruct a trip and get the rate of trip to

an account” Citylink’s famous Soundtube

Australia



THINKINGHIGHWAYSEUROPE/REST of the WORLD EDITION

Advanced transportation management

policy • strategy • technology finance • innovation • implementation

integration • interoperability

the

INTELLIGENTchoice





ADVANCING SLOWLYPhil Tarnoff’s dismay at the publc


PLUS: CVHS • Weigh in Motion • Tolling & Customer Management • EU Finance & Funding • Brazil • Australia •South Africa • China • POLIS • EUROCITIES • David Pearson •Joaquin Cosmen Schortmann

COVER TH EUSep.indd 1 19/9/07 13:42:22

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Interview


David Pearson may well be a new name to the advanced traffic management industry but he is anything but new to senior management positions. Having worked with innovITS on a project last year I was keen to discover who he was and what, to use a somewhat inappropriately informal cliché, he will “bring to the party.”

Welcome to our world, David! What attracted you to the position of Chairman of innovITS?

I have been building up a portfolio of interests and wanted at least one to be within the public sector. I was approached about this role and was fascinated by the opportunity to contribute to the development of intelli-gent transport systems which in turn might improve road safety, reduce traffic congestion, and promote greater fuel efficiency and thus reduce carbon emis-sions.

And what qualities do you bring to the role?I think the Board was attracted by my experience in

running a variety of businesses over 25 years but par-ticularly a background in consumer marketing that per-haps means I can bring an insight into end-user acceptance of ITS; and significant experience in elec-tronics both with Sony where I was responsible for the consumer electronics business in the UK and later in Northern Europe over a 10-year period, and with NXT, a technology licensing company where I led the sale of innovative audio technology into several markets includ-ing automotive and mobile telephones. I have been both Chairman and Chief Executive of public companies in the technology space.

Not all of our readers will be familiar with innovITS. Can you give us an overview of the organisation you now lead?

innovITS limited is a British Government funded “cen-tre of excellence” in transport telematics and technolo-gies for sustainable mobility. It was established in response to recommendations from AIGT (Automotive Innovation & Growth Team.) It was funded by the DTI (Department of Trade & Industry), now the Department for Business Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. It was launched in 2004/5 as one of two innovation platform pilots with around £10m (€15m) dedicated funding.

Its mission is to accelerate the deployment of ITS to solve UK transport problems, in particular to improve road safety and security; to optimise transport produc-tivity via congestion reduction, traffic diversion and gaining extra capacity from existing infrastructure; to encourage integrated transport; and to enhance envi-ronmental, economic and social benefits.

How is it managed?innovITS is a company limited by guarantee. Its mem-

bers to date include SMMT, ITS UK, TRL, MIRA, Orange, Jaguar, Ricardo, and JCB. Each of these organisations has nominated a senior representative to the Board which I now chair and at a monthly meeting we review the activ-ities of the company with reports from the Chief Execu-tive Phil Pettitt. Phil was a member of the innovITS launch committee and has been CEO from the beginning. Phil has been building up the team with experts in related fields to allow innovITS to perform its mission. The posi-tion of Chairman was left vacant until now.

What have been the activities of innovITS so far?In its first year innovITS focussed primarily on estab-

lishing its credibility as a centre of excellence. It was particularly active in setting up VIVA UK which was delivered at the ITS World Congress in London last October. VIVA UK enabled many sites from round the UK to demonstrate ITS excellence in their operations to the congress delegates.

The virtual visits made to the sites bridged the dis-tances that would have otherwise made such visits impossible within the schedules of delegates from all over the world. And so in a beautifully neat way VIVA both demonstrated ITS and fulfilled its own mission!

An initial version of the ITS Technology Roadmap has been produced using the DTI mandated software for the purpose. This has been validated with the DfT (Depart-ment for Transport) and is being integrated with other TRMs. One dedicated staff member is now engaged in the ITS Knowledge Transfer Network. The KTN supports the ITS Innovation Platform, on which innovITS is repre-sented, and works alongside 20 other KTNs.

A series of workshops has been held including one, for example, strongly supported by MIRA, in the Area of Cooperative Active Safety Systems (CoAS). Another brought together the communications and transport industries. The aim was to build awareness amongst the latter of an internet-based standard for communications across all mainstream telecommunications modes (called IMS). After that innovITS has been involved in promoting projects within its remit. The aim is to pump prime project activities within innovITS, establish a track record in this area and provide promotional opportuni-ties and thus raise our profile.

And how do you see that changing over the next few years, perhaps even beyond your tenure?

First innovITS will need to ensure its long-term sus-tainability. There is no guarantee that public funding will continue indefinitely and while I would like to think that

KEVIN BORRAS caught up with DAVID PEARSON, the new chairman of innovITS and asked what

drove him to leave the consumer electronics industry for the ITS world.

Interview


What lies ahead


we can establish innovITS as an organisation that is sim-ply indispensable and so will command continued fund-ing, we need to find alternative methods of funding. We will seek to do that by finding new opportunities that are complementary to the activities of our members.

Second, by the original statutes of the company, we are required to appoint a council of up to 30 members. This will give us the opportunity to expand our mem-bership and thus increase our reach and potential influ-ence. I do not think of innovITS as a membership organisation per se, but through its constituency and its management of the Knowledge Transfer Network we have already connected over 900 organisations. How-ever, there is a bias on the Board towards the motor industry and, vital though that is to the achievement of our mission, I believe we can strengthen our influence by bringing in other publics; e.g. the infrastructure industry; perhaps the insurance industry given that at least one of its members is experimenting with variable pricing linked to an ITS infrastructure; the academic community and no doubt others.

Third, and as an extension of my second point, we will continue to widen our international links. We have recently been accepted as a member of ERTICO and I believe can contribute a great deal to the development of ITS internationally. We will not forget the national interests of our funders, far from it, but the ITS commu-nity is already global and we will ensure that we are fully integrated into it.

David, as a relative newcomer to the ITS industry what particular insights have you had at this early stage in your period of office?

As you say I am a relative newcomer though I have had various experiences earlier in my career which I think were relevant. At Sony I led the development of a very successful in-car entertainment systems business based on a car dealer option model with several leading marques and I also established a successful mobile phone business initially based on a partnership with Cellnet, the forerunner of O

2. I set up a service provider

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which was later sold on with a significant return on investment. At NXT I led the licensing of our audio tech-nology and saw it installed in cars from Toyota and PSA among others and also in mobile phones from a number of Japanese providers. This experience is relevant in that it has told me how difficult it can be to bring prod-ucts to market particularly when there is inertia in the system. It is often necessary to promote industry coop-eration first and then when the standards are agreed to let the hounds of free competition lose. Because compa-nies are understandably wary of appearing to cooper-ate with their natural competitors, often these standards are held up.

An example that I observed during my time at Sony was that there was considerable disagreement over the standards of what eventually became DVD. Once the consortium had agreed how to divide the licensing fees and formed an agency to promote and collect those fees the take off of DVD was one of the most successful ever in the history of consumer electronics. Of course, once the standard was agreed the competition in the market place between all the rights holders and their sub licen-sees was as fierce as ever.

An even earlier example goes back to the early 1920s. The British audio manufacturers of that time found it dif-ficult to sell their products because the radio spectrum was crowded with no consistency in broadcast quality across Europe. A consortium of six manufacturers, the original British Radio and Electrical Manufacturers Association, approached the Government and pro-posed that it set up and regulate the British Broadcast-ing Corporation. They even offered to hire and pay for the first Chief Executive, the later Lord Reith.

The lesson from this and many other technology devel-opments is that there is a pre-competitive stage when manufacturers and others should cooperate, share knowledge and agree standards in order to enjoy the fruits of a post competitive stage when all hell breaks loose. Organisations like innovITS can play a key role in facilitating this process. TH


Most European cities are faced with the permanent challenge of traffic congestion with the associated problems of reduced accessibility, environmental degradation and lower quality of life.

The emerging solutions to these problems ultimately rely on the twin approaches of (i) increased use and per-formance of the more sustainable modes, and (ii) reduced dependence and tighter control of car use. Within Sustainable Urban Transport Planning, cities will be setting objectives and targets for network managers in these two areas.

However, the principal urban traffic management philosophies and techniques developed over the past 30 years were generally intended (i) for a homogeneous

stream of vehicles and (ii) to accommodate increased traffic flows, with reduced vehicular delay.

Fuzzy visionAt national and international institutional levels, we face conflicting future visions of traffic management. Here are three examples of vision (and there are many more):

• Vision (i) The Technological Network - a vision of high-tech vehicles in constant communication with each other and with central control systems that provide each vehicle with its optimum route and road position, to min-imise journey time and to keep everything moving

• Vision (ii) The Quiet City - a vision of streets as

MICHAEL AHERNE, chair of the POLIS Traffic Efficiency and Monitoring Working Group on the new challenge of sustainable urban traffic management

Supporting cast

quality living and working places, noise-free, pollutant-free, safe, attractive and with minimal vehicular intru-sion, with pre-eminence of cycling, walking and recreational activity within the public realm, and with (underground) public transport

• Vision (iii) The Responsible Citizen - a sustainable city of responsible citizens, willing to choose the most appropriate mode for the trip (pre-planned, of course), interchanging effortlessly between walking, cycling, driving, bus and train, etc

While these are conflicting visions in many ways, they all share two common traits. The first is that each vision is separately supported by the EU, through the various research, cohesion, or structural programmes. The sec-ond common trait is that each vision pre-supposes or expects that congestion will disappear, i.e. that trans-port capacity will match travel demand exactly. Let us examine each trait more closely:

Is the EU riding two (or more) horses?The fact that the EU would support multiple visions of traffic management is not as odd as it might first appear:

Vision (i) is largely associated with highway network management. Development and management of a Euro-pean-wide highway network is considered essential to the EU economy, and the development of vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) tech-nology is a logical path to the delivery of this vision.

Vision (ii) derives from an environmental and qualita-tive view of urban living. Again, the EU recognises that 80% of the population of the EU lives in the cities in Europe, and that quality of life and health are key issues for the future.

Vision (iii) is the vision to which more and more urban planning authorities are subscribing, since it appears to be the only vision capable of providing accessibility, reliability and sustainability into the future. Addressing the gap between this third vision and the everyday commuting of European city life are at the heart of EU, national and local administrative activity.

Congestion-free city regions?The second common facet of these visions is of more concern - each vision pre-supposes an absence of con-gestion, or raises expectations that our cities can be congestion-free. Of course, this does not sit with recent European experience. The past 40 to 50 years can per-haps be broken into four phases, each with an associ-ated transport planning policy.

In the first phase (1960s- early 1970s), car ownership growth was constrained primarily by affordability, and so congestion levels were low. The prevailing traffic management policy was accommodation through road-side on-street parking, longer traffic signal cycle times, and so on.

In the second phase (late 1970s to mid-1980s) predict-and-provide policies attempted to accommodate not only the current usage, but provide for future traffic lev-

els. This resulted in the huge growth in car ownership and usage and generated the legacy of congestion.

The current phase is largely summarised by predict-and-provide-public-transport; provision of competitive public transport is expensive and difficult to deliver, and of course, congestion levels remain high Europe-wide.

Perhaps we are on the cusp of entering the predict-and-reduce or predict-and-suppress era of transport policy? The implementation of congestion charging in London and Stockholm might be signs of change in this direction.

However, unless we consciously address the reality of congestion, and move into a new phase of contra-congestion transport planning and traffic management, we will continue to delude ourselves that the excess traffic will simply “go away” regardless of which future vision we choose.

(No) network management objectivesIn the absence of a clear future vision, or an overall trans-port policy, it is no surprise that most cities are unclear on how the road and street network should best be man-aged on behalf of the public.

The network objectives have become complex and competing – EU Directives in relation to Noise and Air Quality Management simply add to the list. Of course, ensuring safety remains of paramount importance, and is expected.

Sustainable Traffic Management objectives need to be set locally as part of an overall Urban Strategy and

Transport Plan. These management objectives and corresponding per-formance targets are likely to include new objectives such as:

• Competitive bus speeds; • Reduced journey times; • Increased cycling and walking for

shorter trip lengths; • Absence of city centre congestion etc;• Reliable and repeatable network performance

across all the modes.(Incidentally, POLIS is partnering an EU project called

PILOT, which will generate guidance notes for European Cities on how to develop Sustainable Urban Transport Plans and objectives).

Many European cities do not have stated objectives for traffic. Accordingly, the modern urban traffic man-ager is like a circus performer spinning too many plates on the top of poles – plate-dropping (i.e. incidents, delays, malfunctions, queues, etc.) is ultimately inevita-ble, and no sense of achievement or job satisfaction is likely… what a lousy job!

Management paralysisIndeed, the fear of such inevitable failure may bring with it a certain paralysis: the member cities in POLIS recently considered possible reasons why operators appear to be reluctant to perform interventions on their traffic signal UTC system. Apart from the candid admis-sion of “not knowing how to intervene”, the other factors

POLIS Network


“Many European cities do not have stated objectives

for traffi c”

POLIS Network


were:1. The operator was uncertain if the intervention would

make the situation better of worse;2. The operator did not get enough forewarning to

make a useful intervention;3. There was no clear reporting structure - the traffic

was generally viewed like the weather; good some days, bad some days. A poor traffic situation was attributed to the traffic itself, and did not reflect on the quality of the traffic management;

4. There were no clear management objectives – and therefore no incentive to develop overall strategies or perform interventions.

A poor traffic situation is made all the poorer without pro-active network management. The development of appropriate traffic management techniques and prac-tices within traffic control centres, and control staff, is now worth exploring co-operatively between cities.

The right tools for the job?The main traffic management systems for our networks, including SCOOT and SCATS, were developed and installed 25 to 30 years ago, i.e. during the predict-and-provide era. Their intended purpose was the accommo-dation of additional traffic through adapting signals, and reduction of vehicular delay. These systems (albeit with subsequent development) remain as the backbone of our urban Traffic Management Centres, despite the fact that the challenges of sustainable traffic management are very different, and that most European cities are try-ing to reduce their dependence on the private car!

All urban areas are now dealing with a variety of traffic modes. These include walking, cycling, bus, private car and goods movement in all cases, and in many cases, trams and taxis. The prime concern is now the move-ment of people and goods, not vehicles. However, our primary traffic management tools (cameras and loops) concentrate on monitoring and responding to general (private) traffic volumes.

We have a legacy of Urban Traffic Management sys-tems within our cities, but in a new era of Sustainable Traffic management, a question mark hangs over the appropriateness of the systems in some cases, or the method of their use in other cases.

The three-strand approachSo what changes do we need to make, in order to provide modern Sustainable Urban Traffic Management? I suggest that there is a three-strand approach to develop new and appropriate manage-ment techniques, but all of them require the pre-requisite of setting network (traffic) management objectives in the first instance. The three strands are:

1. Development of Optimal Interven-tion Strategies:

This involves reviewing and analysing daily and sea-sonal norms, and developing suites of interventions to achieve optimal overall network performance.

There is a potentially strong role here for Decision

Support Systems (DSS) to assist traffic managers to take decisions and actively manage traffic challenges, in order to strive for the pre-determined network manage-ment objectives.

It would appear that there are two universal problems which need specific and novel approaches: (i) the boundary problem that exists between motorway/high-way management and the multi-modal urban street traf-fic management and (ii) the problem of managing the evening peak discharge from a confined central area.

2. Multi-modal detection/control: There is a highly developed technology for the detection of cars. Many other modes are not counted, and therefore do not count. Public transport modes may be detected, but are not often weighted to take account of the numbers of per-sons being carried.

Recognising the cost of data, the dangers of data over-load, and the realistic opportunities for intervention, it will examine in particular the type and level of data required for effective management (real-time, batch, trend, behavioural, qualitative and so on).

Ultimately, this module translates into the detection of person-trips (rather than vehicle movements) and behaviour across the various modes, performance measures for these, and using the data effectively through DSS.

3. Multi-modal Urban Traffic Management: While road authorities are responsible for the management of roads, they are not in a position to exercise management control over all the modes, especially within the increas-ingly competitive and privatised public transport mode.

Sustainable urban traffic management will require a partnership approach between key stakeholders in terms of setting and agreeing overall network manage-ment objectives, expected stakeholder activity and performance, collaborative actions, data and systems integration, co-ordinated interventions and emergency responses etc.

There is scope for significant improvement of the knowledge base on how this should be done, including:

• Appropriate management philosophy (Manage-ment by Exception, Management by Increment, Man-

agement by Objective etc.), • Management structures (within

agencies, between agencies etc.) for overall network management, incident management, intervention manage-ment, data exchange etc.

• The transparency and accountabil-ity of network management to the wider public etc.

• Audit procedures to identify / prompt management activity in vari-ous areas of network management,

including human dependency, legacy and contractual constraint, etc.

• Comparative study of network management in other industry sectors, and identification of transferable tech-niques and technology

“There is a question mark over the

appropriateness of urban traffic management

systems or their method of use ”

International trade fair for infrastructure, traffic management, safety and parking

Amsterdam RAIThe Netherlands

Intertraffic® com

1.2.3.4APRIL

2008

POLIS Network


HOW EUROPE WORKS

Satellite Technology In The Road Transport Sector: a GIROADS Think Tank


H B Media

thinkinghighways

2/4

[email protected]

Brussels Programme

Centre


Overload managementIn many walks of life, there are many managers who must deal with peak loading on a repeatable daily basis – sandwich shops, mobile phone net-works, electricity supply, ticket outlets, airports, supermarkets to name but a few. Many strategies are employed to deal with such peaks (extra staff, incen-tivising the off-peak, queue manage-ment, network protection protocols etc.) in the best interests of the customer and the business.

Most urban networks are similarly subject to peak traffic loads or overload, recurring daily in cities and towns across Europe. Ask any road-based commuter by bus, car, or bicycle (i.e. the customer), and they will be able to identify where congestion points predictably arise. However, ask the traffic manager about the “overload management strategy” for the net-work, and whether the current congestion points are the

best places to locate queues, and you may find that the daily congestion points just happen to be the locations where “not everything fits”.

Regardless of which management approach is taken, clear provision must be made for how the excess of traffic, i.e. the overload, is to be managed.

ConclusionThe goalposts have shifted in terms of traffic management goals over the past 30 years, but the management approach and supporting systems have not nec-

essarily moved the same way or at the same pace. The setting of clear objectives, coupled with appropriate management structures, systems and techniques, lie at the heart of Sustainable Traffic Management into the future. There is much to be done! TH

For more information about POLIS and its activities go to www.polis-online.org

“Sustainable urban traffic management

will require a partnership

approach between key stakeholders”

POLIS Network

Effect of heavy vehicles on road safetyAnother important aspect that merits consideration with respect to overloaded vehicles is their impact on road safety. Table 1 on the following page states the number of accidents and the number of deaths in accidents caused by truck drivers in the Czech Republic in 2006.

This table demonstrates that the majority of fatal acci-dents are caused by trucks that weigh more than 12 tons. This finding is not surprising. Heavy trucks have signifi-cantly longer braking distance. Also large trucks have a higher propensity to roll over, especially when a driver

Weigh in Motion


The transit of heavy, especially overloaded trucks is a problem in many countries. It is certainly true of the Czech Republic. This is proven, for example, in a feasibility study prepared for the Czech ministry of transport. For this reason, weigh in motion (WIM) systems are currently receiving a fair amount of attention.

The major objective of this article, though, is to intro-duce the concept of weigh in motion. Rather than dis-cussing the principles of WIM, the reasons for such systems are provided and their need justified. Another important objective is to discuss the possible usage of WIM systems within the scope of ITS, with a focus on electronic fee collection.

WIM refers to systems, which automatically measure the weight of passing vehicles without the need for stop-ping them. However, nowadays it is not generally true. In most projects, the WIM system does not ensure suffi-cient precision to provide exact weight measurement. Rather, it is used to detect potentially overloaded trucks, which are then asked to stop for a stationary check.

Effect of overloaded trucks on environmentIn the first section, several areas in which heavy trucks effect the environment, namely the effect on road pave-ment and road infrastructure, effect on road safety, and the effect they have on ecology are discussed.

It is generally well known that overloaded trucks have a significantly greater effect on the destruction of pave-ment. In order to quantify this effect, the Equivalent Standard Axles (ESA) index is used. It compares the effect of an actual axle load, Ac_AxelLoad, (not overall weight) to a reference axle load, Re_AxelLoad.

By convention, an 18,000-pound (ca. 8165 kg) single axle is 1.00 ESA equal. If a vehicle has, for example, 2.00 ESA, it means that its one passage is equal to two pas-sages of an 18,000 pound axle. This ratio is not linear. According to most studies2,3 a fourth power law is used, as in the following equation:

Similar to the effect on the pavement described here, the remaining infrastructure is also affected by heavy vehicles. For example bridges suffer greatly with over-loaded vehicles.

ONDREJ PRIBYL examines the role of weigh in motion

technologies and techniques in the realm of Intelligent Transportation Systems

Ac_AxelLoadRe_AxelLoad[

[4ESA =

attempts to avoid a crash or perform a rapid manoeuvre. This is dangerous especially on roads which are not designed for usage by large trucks, or on places where trucks interact with pedestrians.

Environmental studiesAnother often discussed aspect concerning heavy vehi-cles are the emissions and pollutions they produce. The following figure depicts external costs of different vehi-cle classes expressed in eurocents.

Despite the fact that large heavy vehicles have higher

Weigh in Motion


emissions than light trucks, their emissions expressed in relation to the amount of goods that can be trans-ported (tonkm) are the lowest. This is an important measure. With the assumption that given goods need to be transported, using large trucks brings decrease in emissions.

WIM-E system in the realm of ITSThe previous paragraphs have demonstrated the effect of overweighed vehicles on road infrastructure, envi-ronment, and safety. Here, some of the existing ITS solu-

The weigh forward

Weigh in Motion


tions are discussed and some arguments for usefulness of WIM systems are provided.

According to the principle of elec-tronic fee collection (EFC) systems, road users should pay for their real usage to finance its maintenance as well as the building of new road infra-structure. The more road wear there is, the higher the financial participa-tion of the user.

Road usage in EFC systems is usu-ally expressed by the distance traveled, vehicle weight class and emission class (the usage of emission classes shows that not only the road pavement is in focus but also that the ecological aspects are taken into con-sideration). Table 2 on the facing page shows the toll rates inthe Czech Republic.

This table, however, demonstrates that the vehicles actually do not pay for the damage they cause to pave-

ment and road infrastructure. The first section of this article showed that a truck with fewer axles causes more

damage than a truck of the same weight but with more axles. The set-ting of the toll rates in the Czech Republic (similar to other countries) assumes that a truck that has more axles is heavier, which is not always true. Also, it motivates the drivers to lift axles and so to cause more dam-age to the pavement. The reason why such a simplified scheme is used lies in the existing insufficient enforce-ment methods. The existing enforce-

ment systems in the scope of EFC do not enable the necessary detailed classification as the number of axles cannot be usually precisely verified.

The use of WIM, however, introduces new possibili-ties. With such a system, a more detailed classification, the determination of the number of axles together with

Table 1: Number of accidents and deaths in accidents caused by truck drivers in the Czech Republic in 2006

Trucks (weight Less than 3.6-7.5 t 7.6-11.9t Above 12 t Not specified class) 3.5 t

Number of 9219 6519 4248 10,905 438accidents

Number of deaths 29 23 16 53 1

(Source: Official statistics of the ministry of transport, CR)

Figure 2: Marginal external costs for different vehicle classes (Source: Int Panis L., De Nocker L., Torfs R., Wuyts H., 2000. External costs of heavy duty vehicles for goods transport and buses. Proceedings of the VI Urban Transport and the environment for the 21th century. Eds. L. Sucharov & C.A.Brebbia. WIT press,Southampton , UK. 544.pp. 211-220.)

“The setting of the toll rates in the Czech

Republic assumes that a truck that has more axles is heavier, which is not always

the case”

deliver valuable input for Traffic Information Centers (TIC). For each vehicle (violator or not), its class, weight,and speed are determined without vehicle iden-tification (e. g. by making a picture of an offending vehi-cle), thus traffic data collection is done without privacy violation. This data is aggregated in a predefined inter-val and can be further sent to other TICs. With this infor-mation, the level of service can be easily determined. Furthermore, the data can be used for traffic planning.

ROBOT’s WIM-E SystemIn this section the WIM system developed by ROBOT Visual Systems GmbH is presented. It uses the acronym WIM-E, which denotes that it is a WIM system with auto-mated enforcement. It means that the weight of vehicles passing under free flow conditions is measured and proof material is automatically collected in case of exceeding of the weight limit(s). The system’s basic configuration is shown in Figure 3 below.

Figure 3: Basic configuration of a WIM-E system

Part of the proof material is the data from the weighing system, a sequence of pictures that shows the trajectory of the vehicle and proves its passage above the weight

sensors, and a picture from which the license plate is automatically recog-nized and which contains a clear view of the face of the driver (optional, according to local legislation).

An essential feature of the WIM-E system is that it does not only meas-ure the overall weight of vehicles, but also the weight of each axle and of an axle group. It can easily determine vehicles that have incorrect weight distribution since such vehicles again

cause a greater wear of the road. According to the requirements of the customers, com-

binations of violations (axle weight, axle group weight, total weight, and/or speed) can be defined and these can be enforced using modern photographic enforce-ment systems.

Automatic for the peopleIt is important to point out that the system works fully automatically. There is no need to stop overloaded vehi-cles. The owner of the vehicle receives a protocol of the violation similarly to the case of a speed violation. In order to provide such an automated system, several conditions must be fulfilled.

First, the weighing system must ensure a minimum

their weight as well as the overall weight of the vehicle can be easily determined.

In addition, the WIM system can be used for trigger-ing cameras for proof material collection. The cost of such a WIM system is not necessarily dramatically higher than the cost of a common enforcement system which usually uses advanced laser classification and triggering systems. These are not needed with a WIM system.

Invisible invasionThe biggest disadvantage of WIM is its invasive nature. The induct loops as well as the piezo sensors (or other sensors) must be embedded into the road surface which can potentially lead to a decreased durability of the pavement - the reason why it is not allowed in some loca-tions. It must be kept in mind that the WIM system is needed just at enforcement gantries. Even then, the WIM solution could be installed just at selected gantries while on others the standard classifi-cation system could be used.

Electronic fee collection systems also have another negative aspect: some drivers avoid paying tolls by using secondary roads that are not designed for high volumes of large trucks. It is true from all perspectives discussed above: the pavement (faster destruction and need for resurfacing), its geometry (for exam-ple the curves are not always designed for big trucks so the danger of a wrong manoeuvre and consequently accident rates are increased), as well as the environment (the secondary roads go often through small towns and villages, where the braking and accelerating actually increases pollution).

A solution that is often applied is banning large trucks from selected secondary roads. Even though this can be done quite easily by displaying traffic signs, sufficient enforcement is needed. For this reason, on selected sec-ondary roads that are often used for bypassing the tolled roads, the WIM system with photographic proof is highly recommended, as it avoids manual processing.

WIM systems are using rather advanced technology and collect a lot of detailed traffic data. Hence, they can

Table 2: Toll rates in the Czech Republic

Emission class Euro 0-2 Number of axles 2 3 4+ Toll (CZK/km) 2.3 3.7 5.4

Emission class Euro 3-5Number of axles 2 3 4+ Toll (CZK/km) 1.7 2.9 4.2

“The cost of a WIM system is not necessarily

dramatically higher than the cost of a

common enforcement system”

Weigh in Motion


level of precision. The usage of highly precise sensors and their dual configuration ensures such precision (imprecision smaller than +/-5 per cent). The system must also ensure that the data from sensors and pictures cannot be tampered with.

This is done using an advanced key management sys-tem and the digital signature of all materials collected. Also the communication between particular system components is done using secured protocols. Finally, the camera systems use housing that is protected from vandalism, detect any unallowed attempt to access their components and send automatically an alarm signal to a predefined center.

ConclusionThis article shows that EFC systems can be further adapted to better fulfill their basic principle: the users should pay according to their impact on the road infra-structure and the environment. WIM systems are best suited and thus highly recommended for this purpose. In the scope of EFC, WIM can be used to achieve better classification of vehicles and, thus, provides the data needed for a “fair” EFC system. Furthermore, WIM sys-tems are a good source for input data to TIC, thus enhanc-ing remarkably the quality of traffic monitoring and planning.

Weigh in Motion

“Users should pay according to their impact on the road infrastructure and the environment”

95Thinking Highways Vol 2 No3www.h3bmedia.com

WIM systems are much more efficient, when extended by means of automatic enforcement. The introduced ROBOT’s WIM-E system fulfils all requirements on a such modern system. For more information on this product, please contact directly ROBOT Visual Systems GmbH ([email protected]) or the author. TH

Ing. Ondrej Pribyl, Ph.D, of ROBOT Visual Systems GmbH, can be contacted via email at

[email protected]

The author would like to thank Dr. Hamed Amor for valuable comments to this article.

References1 Pribyl, P. et al. “Podklady pro koncepci vázení nák-

ladních vozidel v CR.” Projekt vedy a výzkumu minister-stva dopravy - Etapová výzkumná zpráva za rok 2005 . 1F54L/057/120. Leden 2006.

2 G. Arnold, et al. “Effect on Pavement Wear of Increased Mass Limits for Heavy Vehicles – Stage 3”. Land Transport New Zealand Research Report 279. ISBN 0-478-25390-7. ISSN 1177-0600. 2005.

3 The U.S. Department of Transportation “Compre-hensive Truck Size and Weight Study.” Publication Number: FHWA-PL-00-029 (Volume II). August 2000.

Computer Recognition Systems

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China


By contributing to the establishment of European standards in emerging markets, international coop-eration activities provide early market access opportunities for ERTICO – ITS Europe Partners. To capitalize on this, ERTICO has identified several key priority areas. One of these is China.

For several years now, ERTICO has made inroads into China through ITS projects backed by the EC which help to foster European and Chinese cooperation. One such successful project, begun in March 2006 and funded through the EC Directorate General for Research, is SIMBA.

SIMBA has been bringing together the EU and the nations of Brazil, China, India and South Africa with the

aim of creating an international cooperation network to increase road safety, improve mobility and enhance transport efficiency through the use of ITS, automotive technological development and enhancements to road infrastructure.

ERTICO is proud to be coordinating such an interna-tional effort with vehicles as global products. As it is the first ITS initiative to straddle four continents interoper-ability is a key factor.

This year’s SIMBA China National Event is scheduled to take place in Beijing on 9 October 2007 in parallel with the opening day of the 14th ITS World Congress in which will run from 9-13 October at the Beijing Exhibi-tion Center.

Getting the message acrossIn addition, the introduction and take-up of TMC (traffic message channel) as the Chinese national standard is something that ERTICO is particularly proud of. Thanks to the ITS cooperation project DYNASTY a new front for TMC has opened. DYNASTY ran from November 2004 until January 2006 and was a European-Chinese ITS cooperation project created with the help of key Chi-nese authorities and a number of major European indus-try players. DYNASTY was highly successful in raising awareness of European-developed ITS technologies, as demonstrated and validated by its consortium mem-

Across the divide

In the second of two articles looking at ERTICO’s far-reaching SIMBA project, MARIANA ANDRADE briefly assesses its impacts

on China - host for the rapidly looming ITS World Congress

Modibec Workshop in Beijing

China


HOW EUROPE WORKS

Transport’s Impacts: A Climate Change Think Tank



3/[email protected]

China


Above: The 2nd Annual Meeting on ITS in Beijing gets underway and below, a delegation from Shanghai pays a visit to ERTICO

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bers. It made significant progress in China, where it pio-neered the showcasing of European dynamic traffic information services, TMC technologies and vehicle on-board navigation technologies.

In late 2006 the Chinese National ITS Standardisation Committee announced that it would accept the RDS TMC-based Chinese standards for real-time traffic information. This was in great part thanks to the dedica-tion and support of ERTICO’s European and Chinese partners in the DYNASTY project. Formally submitted by the Beijing Transportation Research Centre, with the support of ERTICO and the TMC Forum, the new stand-ards have been implemented throughout China since April 2007.

Building on a strong foundationLaunched in January 2007, the MODIBEC project – a two-year initiative that aims to promote and support RTD cooperation between the EU and China in the field of digital broadcasting technologies, especially in terms of convergence with mobile communications – has been riding high on the success of DYNASTY. MODIBEC plans to demonstrate DAB/DVB-TMC in December 2007 and has enjoyed strong support from the EC and Shanghai governmental departments and enterprises.

A series of workshops were also planned by ERTICO in Guangzhou and Shanghai in late August 2007. They focussed on encouraging European and local stake-holders to discuss research priorities and find areas and

themes suitable for European and Chinese cooperation.

ERTICO is happy to see its activities in China move from the stage of defining key priorities to actually facil-itating the use of European knowledge, technologies, systems and services in the country. We remain commit-ted to our relations in China and look forward to further cooperation in this vital emerging market. TH

China

Above: Beijing Traffic Management Centre and below, right a demonstration of the DYNASTY project

HOW EUROPE WORKS

1st European Road Pricing Think Tank



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Aselsan ..............................................................................................73Bosch ...................................................................outside back coverCapita Symonds ...............................................................................88Computer Recognition Systems ..................................................95Consulting Stream ..........................................................................65GMV...................................................................................................93H3B Media’s 1st UK Road Pricing Think Tank ... 29, 31, 33, 34, 36H3B Media/Intertraffi c 2008 Think Tanks ........25, 47, 88, 96, 101Image Sensing Systems ...................................................................07Jupiter Systems ................................................................................45Intertraffi c Amsterdam 2008 ........................................................87Kapsch Traffi cCom ..........................................................................59Neavia ................................................................................................78Noptel ...............................................................................................82PTV AG ..............................................................................................83

Q-Free ASA .......................................................... inside front coverRedspeed International ..................................................................41ROBOT Visual Systems GmbH ....................................... 17 and 19Satellic Traffi c Management ...........................................................15Siemens AG München...................................................... 02 and 03Sodi Scientifi ca .................................................................................99Swarco ...............................................................................................60Telefon-Gradnja ...............................................................................09Thales ................................................................................................13TranspoQuip 2008 ..........................................................................97Truvelo ..............................................................................................46Vitronic .............................................................................................66White Willow Transport Intelligence ....................................... 104World ITS Directory ................................................................... 101WSP ........................................................................ inside back cover

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made mainly by the Member States, regions and cities themselves. The aim is to encourage and motivate regional and urban networks to create partnerships to address the core issues facing all EU regions.

News from Jaspers, Jeremie and JessicaThese initiatives, announced in the last issue (Volume 2, Issue 2), will be dealt with by three new regional offices to be backed by the European Commission, European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruc-tion and Development. The first is operating out of War-saw and is helping authorities in Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to prepare major investment projects (including roads) supported by EU funds. A Jaspers office has now been opened in Vienna to assist authori-ties in Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Slovenia in preparing major projects and another office will be established in Bucharest. Also, the European Invesment Fund will be setting up a Jeremie office in Athens.

EU research and innovationThe EU’s Research and Innovation 7th Framework Pro-gramme (FP7) has several specific programmes but the largest and the only one of interest to ITS is the Coopera-

tion Programme – the core of FP7. The Cooperation Pro-gramme fosters collaborative research across Europe and other partner countries, according to several key thematic areas. Among these themes are information and communications technologies, transport, space and security. The Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation has proposed a total budget for FP7 of €50,521m for the period 2007-13 – an average of €7,217m per annum. This is one and a half times larger than the 6th Framework Programme. The budget for the Cooperation Programme is €32,292m, taking the largest share of all programmes.

The budget for aspects of possible interest are: €9,050m for information and communications technolo-gies, €4,160m for transport (including aeronautics), €1,430m for space with security receiving €1,400m. At least 15 per cent of funding under the Cooperation Programme will go to SMEs.

The Cooperation Programme includes the new Joint Technology Initiatives. These are industry-driven, large-scale multi-financed actions, supported in some cases by a mix of public and private funding and are not sub-ject to the Calls for Proposals approach. This Programme also includes the coordination of non-community research programmes (i.e. non-EU framework pro-grammes), aiming to bring European national and regional research programmes closer together (e.g. ERA-NET), and the new risk-sharing finance facility to enhance backing for private investors. (The European Research Area - ERA - is a research policy concept.) Special attention is also being given to multi- disciplinary and cross-theme research, including joint calls for proposals between themes.

Safe and secureAs security is an important issue it is worth noting (for those not aware) that a new organization, the European Organization for Security (EOS), has been formed, headed by Luigi Rebuffi and is now operational. ERTICO is a founding member and reports that “EOS is an indus-try initiative open to private non-governmental stake-holders engaged in civil security (companies, industry associations and research centres).

Its formation is a direct result of the recommendations made by the European Security Research Advisory Board (ESRAB), which advocated a close private/public interaction in security research under the EC’s 7th Research Framework Programme. ERTICO’s contribu-tion to EOS will look at how ITS can improve the security of road transport.” Further information about EOS can be obtained from Sara Goldberger (PR & Communica-tions Manager), [email protected].

Currently there is an FP7 joint call for proposals between ICT and Security themes on Critical Infrastruc-ture Protection with a budget of €40m. The deadline for proposals is 29 November 07 and further details can be obtained from www.cordis.europa.eu/fp7. References FP7-ICT-SEC-2007-1; OJ C 181/24 dated 3 August 07.

TH

Margaret Pettit is principal of Clematis Consulting. [email protected]

Funding and Finance



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ducks?

Aselsan ..............................................................................................73Bosch ...................................................................outside back coverCapita Symonds ...............................................................................88Computer Recognition Systems ..................................................95Consulting Stream ..........................................................................65GMV...................................................................................................93H3B Media’s 1st UK Road Pricing Think Tank ... 29, 31, 33, 34, 36H3B Media/Intertraffi c 2008 Think Tanks ........25, 47, 88, 96, 101Image Sensing Systems ...................................................................07Jupiter Systems ................................................................................45Intertraffi c Amsterdam 2008 ........................................................87Kapsch Traffi cCom ..........................................................................59Neavia ................................................................................................78Noptel ...............................................................................................82PTV AG ..............................................................................................83

Q-Free ASA .......................................................... inside front coverRedspeed International ..................................................................41ROBOT Visual Systems GmbH ....................................... 17 and 19Satellic Traffi c Management ...........................................................15Siemens AG München...................................................... 02 and 03Sodi Scientifi ca .................................................................................99Swarco ...............................................................................................60Telefon-Gradnja ...............................................................................09Thales ................................................................................................13TranspoQuip 2008 ..........................................................................97Truvelo ..............................................................................................46Vitronic .............................................................................................66White Willow Transport Intelligence ....................................... 104World ITS Directory ................................................................... 101WSP ........................................................................ inside back cover

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