thinking highways north america september 2007

Volume 2 • Issue 3 • September/October 2007

THINKING HIGHWAYS

NORTH AMERICAN EDITION

Advanced transportation management

policy • strategy • technology finance • innovation • implementation

integration • interoperability

the

INTELLIGENTchoice

EDUCATING RITAShelley Row: “The ITS program is at a point where we can rethink how to move forward”

ADVANCING SLOWLYPhil Tarnoff’s dismay at the publlc sector’s ITS take-up

EMISSION STATEMENTDavid Schonbrunn’s illuminating

climate change chronicle

WATCHING THE DETECTORSCCTV for ITS comes under

Bruce Abernethy’s scrutiny

COMMON RAILAmy Zuckerman on the

potential of the auto train

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Vehicle Separation

Axle Counting

Vehicle Classification

Vehicle EnforcementSecurity Camera Trigger

Data Collection andTransmission

I’d written, I’d been told, my most interesting foreword yet. Largely, I suspected, because it didn’t mention music, soccer 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 this suburban outpost on the

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)

Associate Editors Richard Bishop, Amy Zuckerman

Contributing Editors Bruce Abernethy, Andrew Pickford, Phil Sayeg, Phil Tarnoff, Darryll Thomas, Harold Worrall

Contributors to this issue Bruce Abernethy, Richard Bishop, Tom Bouwer, Becky Bouwman, Michal Eshkol, Robert Gordon, Mark Johnson, Bob Kelly, Tim McGuckin, Charlie Miitchell, Paul Najarian, David Schonbrunn, Rick Schuman, Russ Shields, Phil Tarnoff,

Thinking Highways is published by H3B Media Ltd.

ISSN 1753-43Z1

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.

© 2007 H3B Media Ltd. All rights reserved. The views and opinions of the authors are not necessarily those of H3B Media Ltd.Reproduction (in whole or in part) of any text, photograph or illustration contained in this publication without the written permission of the publisher is strictly prohibited.

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

CEO Luis Hill

[email protected]

Vice-President, Publishing Kevin Borras

[email protected]

www.h3bmedia.com

Kevin Borras is publishing director of H3B Media and editor-in-chief of Thinking Highways North American Edition.

London’s southernmost fringe where the most interesting thing that ever happens around here is the daily sighting of a man that dresses like Vegas-era Elvis) this is the closest we can get, for now, to a trumpet-blowing press release.

By the time our fourth issue of the year 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, 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 (not that we actually can) about our involvement in a project that is so far-reaching that some very senior and vastly experienced government officials are visibly excited about it.

One new development that we can talk about is our Climate Change Think Tank, which will take place at the University of Massachussets at the end of May 2008. Subtitled

“Transportation’s Impacts and Solutions” the Think Tank will focus on the ways in which transportation contributes to climate change and the ways climate change affects the US transportation . It will also formulate a set of policy recommendations to address the interrelationships between climate change and planning, management and operations of transportation facilities and services. Admittedly that does sound like a rather grand plan but aiming high is what we are all about.

Congressman John Olver will give the keynote address and confirmed speakers include climate change expert Ray Bradley, UMass Transportation Academy director Prof John Collura and Californian environmentalist David Schonbrunn, whose article “View from another planet” on pages 34-37 is thoroughly fascinating while making Thinking Highways’ editorial team feel very small at the same time. Which, given the news that we can’t tell you about, is no mean feat. TH

Vibeke Ulmann, Harold Worrall, Amy Zuckerman

Sub-Editor and Proofreader Maria Vasconcelos

Subscriptions and Circulation Pilarin Harvey-Granell

Visualisation Tom Waldschmidt

Conferences and Events Odile Pignier

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]

COLUMNS04 Bob Kelly and Mark Johnson ‘s Legal Brief

08 Richard Bishop’s Intelligent Vehicles

10 Harold Worrall’s Bright Ideas

14 Paul Najarian’s Connected World

COVER FEATURE18 Tim McGuckin talks to Shelley Row, Director of

RITA’s ITS Joint Program Office

THE THINKER24 ITS guru Phil Tarnoff is alarmed at the slow take-up of advanced technology by the public

sector

AUTO TRAIN 30 You drive onto a train. The train takes you and

your car to where you want to go. You drive off again having saved time and the environment. a Amy Zuckerman reports from the Auto Train

CLIMATE CHANGE34 An environmentalist’s take on the transport

and global warming argument, by David Schonbrunn

TRAVELER INFORMATION38 Bruce Abernethy wonders if ITS kiosks are justifiable in 2007 when mobile Internet services are so prevalent

INCIDENT MANAGEMENT42 New concepts, new ideas and new thinking,

courtesy of Robert L Gordon

CCTV48 Bruce Abernethy again, this time looking at the

nuts and bolts of CCTV for ITS in an article ‘constructed and imagined’ by advertising agency Buro de Change

BUSINESS MATTERS56 Vibeke Ulmann gets a look ‘behind the scenes’ at a British company’s efforts to penetrate the US market

PUBLIC PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS62 Rick Schuman on how Wisconsin DOT and

Inrix complemented each other perfectly

THE THOUGHT PROCESS66 T Russell Shields, Founder and Chairman, Ygomi LLC

FLOATING CAR DATA68 Cellular FCD is making an impact and about

time too, says Michal Eshkol SMART HIGHWAYS72 Becky Bouwman reports from Florida as the

Sunshine State expands its ITS horizons

T-FOCUS76 Open design software for ETC systems

80 The benefits of blown fiber

84 Real-time traffic information wises up

88 Advertisers Index

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CONTENTS

Funding and Finance

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 prioritiesView from another planet

Climate Change

Vol 2 No 3 Thinking Highways16 www.h3bmedia.com 17Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 3www.h3bmedia.com

When DAVID SCHONBRUNN read the April/May issue of Thinking Highways he felt

compelled to write an article offering his own views on transportation’s impacts

onm and solutions for, climate change

As a working California environmentalist, I was thoroughly shocked by some of the things I’ve read recently in Thinking Highways: “Climate experts … have known for at least 40 years that emissions are highest when vehicles idle.” (‘Climate Control’, pp 24-27, April/May 2007). While that might be true on a grams/km basis, that measure is meaningless when a vehicle isn’t moving. Common sense dic-tates that absolute emissions bear a relationship to the energy expended, which increases with speed.

The same article suggests that the reduction of con-gestion is the path forward in the fight against climate change. A recent emission analysis paper determined that the vast majority of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in Los Angeles occurred during free-flow highway condi-tions, while the congested periods that cause increased emissions involved less than 10 per cent of total VMT.1 This means that reducing automotive greenhouse gas emissions will require reducing all driving, rather than just the unpleasant part - congestion.

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

p84

The outcome is still uncertain, but New York City has taken the first steps toward implementing a congestion pricing program for the most congested parts of Manhattan (the central business district below 86th Street).

Mayor Bloomberg intends that this project be part of a multi-year, multi-faceted effort to improve mobility throughout the city in response to population growth, commercial activity and environmental impact concerns.

This past summer, the City and State Government reached an agreement that satisfied the Federal Highway Administration, at least in part, to qualify for federal grant funds of as much as US$354m to support implementation of the program. However, there remain many hurdles to overcome before this program can become a reality.

Planning the planThe New York City Council must pass a plan by the end of 2007 and the State legislature must approve it or an alternative plan within 90 days thereafter. The plan must be implemented by the end of 2009 and then remain in effect for at least 18 months thereafter.

The FHWA is also requiring that the plan reduce traffic by at least six per cent. A further condition is that the

Manhattan on the rocks?As congestion pricing heads for New York, are all the legal issues being properly considered?

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

Robert Kelly and Mark Johnson

Robert Kelly is a partner with the Washington, DC based law firm Squire, Sanders, Dempsey

“There are few, if any,

restrictions on photographing people in public

spaces”

city and state government must name a 17-member commission to develop the plan to be presented to the city council and stage legislature. This commission must include a broad spectrum of proponents and opponents of congestion pricing. The commission’s meetings must be open to the public.

on civil liberties issues, specifically individuals’ privacy. At a state legislative hearing this past June, Mayor Bloomberg faced questioning about privacy and the use of cameras to track vehicles through the congestion zone. As we discussed in our previous article “We know where you’re going” (Thinking Highways North American Edition, June/July 2007) privacy is a critical legal issue that any congestion pricing project, including New York City’s, should confront and manage at the outset.

Private investigationsTo its credit, the City already recognizes some of the privacy implications. The project’s technical report, New York City Mobility Needs Assessment 2007-2030, states (p. 143): “Drivers’ privacy would be protected, as [payment] records would only be kept for the purposes of congestion charging, and discarded as soon as payments are processed.”

This statement suggests that the City will take steps in the design of the congestion pricing project to protect users’ personal financial information. If implemented, this limitation should provide two benefits. First, it should significantly reduce the risk that personal financial information would reach unauthorized third parties. Second, it guards against the

This commission, and any eventual plan, must deal with many unknowns, including how to provide sufficient mass transit alternatives to those no longer choosing to drive into Manhattan, parking by residents and non-residents in areas bordering the congestion zone, and whether the program would impose inequitable financial hardships on middle and lower income drivers.

The commission must also hammer basic operations details of the program, including the covered zone, pricing, effective hours, and enforcement. There are all legitimate concerns, for which there should be legitimate answers.

Criticism has also focused

Mark Johnson is an attorney at law with Squire, Sanders, Dempsey’s Buenos Aires, Argentina office

Xxxxx

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Robert Kelly and Mark JohnsonRobert Kelly and Mark Johnson

potential for “scope creep” wherein the information is used for a purpose unrelated to why it was collected in the first place (i.e., to pay for driving in the restricted area).

The technical plan also explains that the City’s congestion pricing project will not create its own proprietary system of electronic tags, but utilize existing tags for the E-Z Pass electronic toll program for many New York bridges, tunnels and the state thruway. The E-Z Pass project in New York includes in its customer agreement (terms and conditions) the following statement regarding privacy: “Non-Disclosure: E-ZPass respects the privacy of all account holders. Account information will not be disclosed to third parties without your consent except as permissible by law and the

policies of E-ZPass and the entities providing service to E-ZPass.” (While this statement should provide some comfort to users, the referenced privacy policies of E-ZPass do not appear to be available through the program’s website.) Presumably, the City’s congestion pricing project will, at a minimum, operate consistent with this statement.

Use once then discardIn 2002, the New York State Senate considered legislation that would have established a set of requirements for the State’s E-Z Pass program to protect the privacy of users.

While it appears that this legislation was not ultimately enacted into law, there is some statutory privacy protection. Section 2985 of the New York State Public Authority Law (subsection 14) provides that photographs taken for toll enforcement purposes shall be used only by the authorized state public authority only for that purpose and not disclosed to the public or used in any court (except in a proceeding regarding liability for the toll at issue.) Moreover, the public authority cannot sell or otherwise distribute the names

and addresses of electronic toll collection system account holders for any commercial purpose, except with account holders’ prior consent. Presumably, this provision would also apply to the City’s congestion pricing project.

Since 1984, New York State has had in place the “Personal Privacy Protection Law, which pertains to personal information collected by state agencies.

This law requires that state agencies implement “fair information practices” regarding the collection, maintenance, use and disclosure of personal information. Individuals have the right to see records the state maintains about them, seek to correct or amend these records, prohibits the state agencies from releasing personal information, except, for example, with the consent of the individual or for other delineated purposes provided in the law.

Common lawWhile the Personal Privacy Protection Law does not apply to local units of government in the State, to the extent that the City’s congestion pricing project is implemented in conjunction with the state’s E-Z Pass program, the Personal Privacy Protection Law would appear to apply. Even if not, the law’s requirements are reasonable and commonly accepted measures that the City would be well advised to follow.

It is heartening to see that the City already recognizes the privacy implications of its proposed congestion pricing project, especially at such an early stage even before final project approval. While this recognition should give the public some comfort, privacy protection should continue to be a focus throughout the design and implementation of the project. TH


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36

Harold Worrall’s Bright Ideas

8 Vol 2 No 3 Thinking Highways

Richard Bishop provides strategic consulting services for the vehicle industry and government agencies worldwide and is widely recognised as one of the world’s leading experts in intelligent vehicles. He is the editor of the online newsletter IVSource.net, which is soon to be brought under the H3B Media umbrella. Find out more about Team Lux at www.team-lux.com

Richard Bishop’s Intelligent Vehicles

Son visor

Thinking Highways’ associate editor finds a personal connection between his newly mobile offspring and the DARPA Urban Challenge

My 16 year old son Jimmy got his learner’s permit a few months ago, at about the same time my robot car started driving in preparation for the DARPA Urban Challenge.

They’re both learning the ropes of negotiating traffic, road signs, odd intersections and just plain driving etiquette.

Yesterday Jimmy was in the driver’s seat as we were driving home from a weekend in the country.

The first left turn onto the main road home provided a challenge in patience. It was a curving road with limited sight distance. The traffic wasn’t heavy but was enough to keep us waiting – gaps would appear which were just big enough to tempt him to hit the pedal and zoom out there.

But after seeing clear traffic to the right, then checking to the left, and preparing to proceed but looking right one more time…. over and over another car would appear around the curve.

Not normally a patient man myself, I was the very embodiment of patience in this case for the sake of teaching a teenager to chill out a little.

A higher intelligenceWe weren’t in Team LUX’s Lynx of course, we were in my Nissan Pathfinder. Had we both been relaxing in the back seat of the Lynx at this same intersection, the driver’s patience would not have been an issue – Lynx will sit for hours before taking its next turn, just waiting for the right conditions. And the left-right-left action which was creating a sore neck for Jimmy would be a foreign concept to Lynx – its sees in all directions, all the time. Well, not really. It sees in only three directions at once from each of its two front and one rear laser scanners. And then it has to combine that data to get an overall picture of its maneuvering options. So, it doesn’t see in all directions simultaneously – only about once every millisecond. Compared to Jimmy or me, though, that’ll do just fine.

However, if we were in the Lynx yesterday, we might still be sitting at that intersection today. The “rules of engagement” defined by DARPA are exceedingly conservative compared to regular drivers – it can only proceed through an intersection at an artificially

slow speed, at a grandmotherly pace (maybe a great-grandmotherly pace). The way the traffic was showing up yesterday, and knowing its maximum speed for that left turn maneuver, the Lynx would detect gaps in the traffic, calculate its time to do the turn, and in most every case conclude “nope – not enough room.” There are no fundamental limits to maneuver speeds and systems eventually offered for public use will be capable of safely entering gaps smaller than we would choose. Of course, the ride might consist of more g’s than we prefer as well.

The technology that Team LUX is building for the Urban Challenge is capable of seeing better and maneuvering better than most drivers – and it doesn’t get impatient, tired, or distracted. Along this trajectory to automated cars are ever-more-capable driver assist systems that will increasingly keep us out of harm’s way – and keep those other guys from hitting us as well (if their cars are also equipped). These technologies are much more than high-tech wizardry – they are life-savers. TH

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All systems go.EventuallyInstitutional momentum and technological change


Dr Harold Worrall is president of Transportation Innovations and is past chair of ITS Florida, ITS America and the International Bridge, Tunnel and Turnpike Association (IBTTA). From 1992 until 2004 he was executive director of the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority


Like a sitting donkey, institutional momentum guards the financial and power relationships that have evolved in the process of carrying out major programs.

Just as firemen remained long after steam power was eclipsed or the QWERTY keyboard has remained the standard for the typed word, institutional momentum is sociologically inherent. It is a part of our bureaucratic processes that we need to make the execution of programs efficient.

The position of fireman was a result of union insistence to preserve employment whereas the QWERTY keyboard, which was devised to slow typists so that the metal hammers of turn of the century

typewriters would not jam and is still with us on the fastest of computers, was the result of an evolved standard. A large portion of the populace would be affected by a change in keyboard arrangement and who would dare attempt to sell a keyboard that was other than QWERTY in the English-speaking world. It has become the standard.

“The concept of AETC is one of

the most disconcerting

recent innovations”

Though other schemes like DVORAK have been devised

that should be faster, we were unwilling to learn new methods. QWERTY still works and provides the basic functionality necessary.

AETC and Institutional MomentumThe reality of institutional momentum can slow or even stop the finest developments of technological innovation and new technologies often come to the toll industry. The concept of All-Electronic-Toll-Collection (AETC) is one of the most recent and perhaps one of the most disconcerting. It is not a modification of technique but a radical change in the way toll agencies and their customers interrelate. The practice of manual toll collection that has been a part of the process since the beginning of tolling may well cease to exist. Will institutional momentum slow AETC development or perhaps even stop it completely?

The potential for the failure of this new technique hinges on our ability to recognize the difference between institutional momentum and real, quantifiable risks. Generally, personnel costs for manual collection comprise about a third of operations costs, back office about another third and other cash-related costs account for the remainder. Violation enforcement, including communications with occasional violators (usually infrequent customers) and prosecuting chronic violators

Paul Najarian

12 Vol 2 No 3 Thinking Highways

takes additional resources. As the percentage of tolls collected electronically increases, back office costs increase until the conversion to AETC. There is the potential for greater loss of revenue because of the change from a “barrier” mentality to an “open road.”

However, the potential to reduce operations costs by the 30 per cent used for manual collection and the costs of plaza infrastructure construction and maintenance add to the potential savings.

Fixed priceFrom this gross analysis of operations cost structure, it is possible to identify up to 50 per cent of total operations costs that can be avoided. However, as long as even minimal manual toll collections occur, the fixed costs of manual toll collection are incurred.

Increasing back office costs are also controllable to a degree. AETC will likely increase the violation rate, especially if the industry continues to think about violation processing in the same manner and apply the same violation processing methods. Violation control and deterrence is the critical success factor in converting an existing facility to AETC. The deterrence effect is extremely important for a successful conversion to AETC.

If customers believe that violations will be detected and prosecuted, there will be fewer violations and payments will be more forthcoming. Current practice is to take an image of the license plate, convert it to a digital representation, access registration and address information and send the violation notice.

Fingering violatorsSome toll operators and software providers have taken

a new approach to license plate recognition. In addition to recording an image of the license plate, other image information is collected creating a “fingerprint” of the vehicle.

This additional information is used to uniquely match a vehicle and avoid costly manual review processes. This technique is especially valuable when applied to frequent, repeat customers. Data from recent toll agency studies indicate that as few as 2 per cent of the customers using a tollway on an annual basis generate 33 per cent of the total trips and 11 per cent generate 60 per cent of the total trips.

This is astounding! The data was collected from 40,000 surveys distributed and statistically verified and demonstrates the value of offering alternative methods of electronic payment to the infrequent customer, methods that do not involve an ETC transponder.

“If customers believe that

violators will be prosecuted, there

will be fewer violations”

New approachesFrom this data it is apparent that strategies to accomplish AETC by offering the same business model but at a reduced cost will not be successful.

To convert an agency to 100 per cent ETC from 67 per cent would require 10 times the number of transponders needed for a 67 per cent ETC penetration.

More importantly some customers prefer not to purchase a transponder and maintain a balance when their infrequent use does not


logically support such action. If a customer uses a toll

highway twice a year it would make sense to pay more for the toll and avoid the cost and inconvenience of acquiring a transponder and making sure that it is mounted properly and that the batteries are working.

New business options must be introduced along with the advances in toll technology. The lack of these options may be the result of institutional momentum militating against AETC.

Toll operators have offered day passes, rental car toll payment and pre-registered user agreements. Day passes are implemented by charging a one-time fee for the amount of travel that occurs in a period of time, usually a day.

Companies have begun to offer services to collect tolls for rental cars and to offer electronic toll accounts that do not require the purchase and installation of an electronic transponder.

One version of this non transponder account is the pre-registered account. Pre-registered accounts offer infrequent customers the option of making toll payments via license plate recognition by registering to do so in advance though usually at a slightly higher toll rate.

Pre-registered account information is minimal and includes license plate number and a payment mechanism. When the license plate is recognized by the system, the toll is charged.

Without alternative payment methods, infrequent customers would be processed through a costly violations process. These higher processing costs would, of course, be passed through to the customer.

The collection of tolls, administrative fees and penalties can also be a time consuming and labor intensive process and some have begun to outsource this process for

The futureAETC is starting to occur. Several facilities have been developed as AETC from inception and Gauteng in South Africa will be one of the largest. Further, several agencies are considering converting to AETC. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey have announced their intention to study the potential of converting to AETC. The Board of North Texas Tollway Authority, NTTA have voted to convert their entire system to AETC by 2010.

New applications of managed lanes, congestion pricing and urban congestion charging are uniformly AETC in nature. Most new Greenfield projects being proposed as concessions are AETC.

There is little doubt that AETC will occur but institution momentum could restrict progress and prevent the customers of existing toll motorways from enjoying the benefits of AETC. TH

production goals and making adjustments that improve the current process. Such a productive environment may counter changes which can take the organization to new plateaus of productivity.

Perhaps the greatest deterrent to new approaches such as AETC is the risk that change may introduce errors in process or risk the agency to unfavorable press reports and ultimately public sentiment.

When an agency collects US$1billion annually, a 1 per cent loss is US$10m.

“There is natural reluctance to

disrupt an effi cient process and be mandated

to reduce staffi ng”

the cost of toll revenue due. This ensures a higher

percentage of revenue for the agency on a more immediate basis, blunting the criticism of potential increased losses.

It also allows the agency to focus on the core business. Outsourcing these vital functions could also be thwarted by institutional considerations.

Keeping the status quoVarious factors conspire to maintain status quo. When business activity is routine, more is known and there is more stability and less chance for error.

Personal relationships are formed and the process of production becomes familiar. Organizational relationships are established and become comfortable.

There is natural reluctance to disrupt an efficient process and be mandated to reduce staffing. Pride develops from meeting established

Vol 2 No 3 Thinking Highways

Paul Najarian Paul Najarian’s Connected World

issued a Public Notice kicking off the rulemaking cycle for the petition. The date coincided with ITS America’s annual meeting, which was held in Washington, DC that year. The FCC Public Notice brought substantial media coverage to ITS America and was a catalyst for ITS America’s recognition in the telecommunications world.

Long-term visionThe initial petition, and subsequent briefings to the FCC staff, envisioned that vehicles would be equipped and integrated with DSRC by the 2002 model year. Yet, now, such integration is not contemplated until 2010, at the earliest.

In 1998, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (“TEA-21”) directed the FCC, in consultation with the Department of Transportation (DOT), to consider the spectrum needs “for the operation of intelligent transportation systems, including spectrum for the dedicated short-range vehicle-to-wayside wireless standard.”

Section 5206(f) of TEA-21 instructed the FCC to complete a rulemaking to consider such allocation, no later than 1 January 2000. TEA-21 also directed DOT to promote, through the National Architecture, interoperability among ITS technologies implemented throughout the

The whole spectrumEven more importantly, the spectrum was contiguous to the 5.8 GHz band used for unlicensed wireless LAN applications, such as IEEE 802.11a-based WiFi applications. The principal idea was to take advantage of economies of scale with such chipsets operating from the 5.8 to 5.9 GHz band, whereby certain ITS applications (those that do not require any security) could have been delivered over the 5.8 GHz band, but safety-related applications would be strictly limited to the 5.9 GHz band. This also would have extended non-safety ITS applications across the entire 5.8 GHz band.

On 28 May 1997, the FCC

17 May 2007 marked the 10th anniversary of ITS America’s petition to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) seeking spectrum for Dedicated Short-Range Commun-ications (DSRC) in the 5.9 GHz band – an anniversary that was neither celebrated nor recalled by the industry, or even the sponsor of the petition. Ten years on, is DSRC still viable today?

The DSRC effort began in August 1995, when the ITS America Board of Directors decided to seek a spectrum allocation for the nationwide deployment of DSRC, and instructed the ITS America staff to prepare a petition to the FCC.

Nearly two years of effort went into identifying a suitable spectrum, justifying the required bandwidth, and developing a list of potential applications. Although neither industry nor ITS America advocated any migration from current operations in the 900 MHz band, mainly used for ETC operations, the petition cited many advantages of the 5.9 GHz band for ITS services.

Mainly, the spectrum would be allocated on a co-primary status in the 5.9 GHz, as compared to a secondary allocation in the 900 MHz. The co-primary status would provide security and substantial protection from interference.

The requested bandwidth,

75 MHz in the 5850 – 5925 MHz band, was extremely large as compared to similar allocations for wireless applications. This bandwidth would have allowed for multiple, high data rate applications.

“The principal idea was to take

advantage of economies of

scale with such chipsets

operating from the 5.8 to 5.9 GHz band”

Autopsy or resuscitation?DSRC is a decade old, but is it ageing well or is it on the verge of obsolescence? Paul Najarian analyses the situation

Paul Najarian was director of telecoms at ITS America from 1996-2006. He can be contacted via email: [email protected]

14

United States. In other words, the FCC was to allocate the spectrum and DOT was to provide the related standard.

On 22 October 1999, in light (and a few months shy) of the Congressionally-mandated deadline of 1 January 2000, the FCC allocated 75 MHz of spectrum in the 5.9 GHz band for DSRC-based ITS applications, and adopted basic technical rules for DSRC operations. Within the FCC, the petition was then transferred to the wireless bureau for the establishment of licensing rules for the deployment of DSRC.

This promising start did not lead to the fulfillment of the vision of ubiquitous deployment of DSRC. The reasons are many.

Early developmentsOne reason was the continued development of the 5.9 GHz DSRC standard under the auspices of ASTM International, formerly known as the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM).

DOT originally had a contractual vehicle to develop the DSRC physical layer standard in the 900 MHz band through ASTM’s E17.51 subcommittee on Vehicle Roadside Communications. It seemed a natural extension of the efforts of this sub-committee to broaden its mandate to develop the various layer standards at 5.9 GHz.

In October 2002, three years after the FCC allocation, the subcommittee finally completed its work, and ASTM adopted ASTM E2213-02e1 “Standard Specification for Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Roadside and Vehicle Systems - 5 GHz Band Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer (PHY) Specifications.”

This standard was later revised and published in August 2003, as ASTM E2213-03.

The ASTM standard extended the IEEE 802.11a, traditionally used for wireless LAN applications, into a high-speed vehicular environment. The standard also described both the medium access control layer (MAC) and the physical layer (PHY) specifications for DSRC equipment.

Adoption agencyIn order to ensure nationwide interoperability, particularly for public safety communications, the ASTM E2213-03 version of the standard was submitted to the FCC for adoption as part of the FCC’s licensing rules and deployment requirements.

ballots, in September 2004, the IEEE 802.11 Committee formally approved the establishment of 802.11p as a Task Group to prepare a standard for Wireless Access in a Vehicular Environment (WAVE), using the ASTM standard as its baseline.

To date, the IEEE 802.11p WAVE standard effort is still on-going. Its progress and final status is ambiguous due to the complexities of the balloting process and continuing work on resolution of comments.

Review previewWhile the ITS industry has concentrated its DSRC standards efforts on IEEE 802.11p, it is important to note that it is the ASTM standard that is in fact currently mandated by the FCC. More importantly, in early 2009, the FCC ruling that mandated the ASTM standard will come under cyclical review.

The bifurcation of the standards process between the ASTM effort and the IEEE effort resulted in the ITS industry losing three years of lead-time in the development of potential DSRC products. To date, there is no DSRC product that incorporates the ASTM standard.

Thus, the FCC will have a difficult time justifying a continued DSRC mandate using the ASTM standard in light of the industry’s focus on IEEE 802.11p.

Unfortunately, the FCC cannot simply switch to the industry-dominant IEEE proposed standard. Instead, a new petition would be required to have the FCC mandate IEEE 802.11p instead of the ASTM standard.

The ITS industry could be left in the unfortunate position of having no FCC mandated standard and therefore no assurance for nationwide interoperability.

Another reason for the delay

Thereafter, on 10 February 2004, a Federal Register notice published a new FCC Report & Order establishing the licensing rules for DSRC, but more importantly mandating the use of the ASTM E2213-03 standard for DSRC pubic safety communications in the 5.9 GHz band.

Although the standards effort was on-going through ASTM, the ITS industry was also considering other standards fora, such as IEEE or the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), which would have provided a broader technical endorsement of the DSRC standard, as well as much needed commercial exposure and public acceptance.

After more than a year of negotiations and preliminary

“In early 2009 the FCC ruling that mandated the

ASTM standard will come under cyclical review”

15Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 3


in deployment of DSRC is requirements creep caused by the manufacturers’ efforts to integrate vehicle-to-roadside applications and vehicle-to-vehicle applications in a single DSRC platform.

Complications set inThe technical and propagation characteristics of vehicle-to-vehicle are drastically different from (and much more complicated than) vehicle-to-roadside. Yet, various DSRC and safety-related consortia have insisted on a single platform that combines the two, regardless of the increased cost of such an approach and the resultant delay.

By receiving from the FCC a dedicated, 10 MHz channel for vehicle-to-vehicle applications within the 5.9 GHz band (despite the existence of other more appropriate locations outside the 5.9 GHz band), the consortia have made those applications more attractive despite the engineering difficulties and cost they entail when combined with vehicle-to-roadside applications.

If the industry had not insisted on a single platform for these divergent applications, vehicle-to-roadside applications could have been developed, marketed and sold relatively quickly. The vehicle-to-roadside applications would not, in effect, be delayed pending the development of a business case for the combined applications.

The incompleteness of the FCC’s licensing rules for deployment of DSRC has also contributed to the delay. There are a number of open issues relating to the development of a band-sharing protocol with the fixed-satellite services industry, which shares the 5.9 GHz band on a co-primary basis.

The industry has focused on

standards’ development rather than the regulatory framework that will be needed to ensure 5.9 GHz band usability.

States of playThese are just a few of the contributing factors to the delayed deployment of DSRC in the United States. Given the delay, it may seem difficult to believe that DSRC has a future. But, there are two important drivers that could change the fate of DSRC: the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) program and the Cooperative Intersection Collision Avoidance Systems (CICAS) initiative.

The Innovative Mobility Showcase at the 2005 ITS World Congress was the start of a concerted DOT and

industry effort to demonstrate various DSRC applications that could be integrated as part of the VII program.

Field operational tests using DSRC have followed as part of the on-going VII program. The problem with these demonstrations, however, is that it is unclear if the manufacturers are using standardized DSRC platforms (whether in the vehicle or the infrastructure) in the 5.9 GHz band. What is known is that these tests and demonstrations have required temporary, experimental licenses issued by the FCC on a case-by-case basis, since the FCC licensing regime is not complete.

Even if VII is not fully deployed by DOT, DSRC may still be available (and cost-effective) for intersection collision avoidance systems, as a stand-alone application. DOT has determined to work

Paul Najarian’s Connected World

with State and local agencies and manufacturers on ways to reduce intersection collisions, including vehicle-pedestrian collisions. DSRC could effectively eliminate many such collisions with appropriate infrastructure or vehicular integration.

The 2008 ITS World Congress in New York City is likely to be the last opportunity to show the commercial viability of DSRC, which, however, has a number of strong competitors. Cellular, WiMax and Direct-Broadcast Satellite technologies could easily deliver non-safety related applications similar to DSRC.

In fact, in Europe, some tolling applications currently are delivered by a combination of cellular and satellite-based systems.

...eight, nine, tenIn February 2007, the European based market research firm Research and Markets issued a report on the market potential for DSRC in the 5.9 GHz band. This sees a commercial introduction of 5.9 GHz systems in 2008 due to the pending ratification of the IEEE 802.11p standard, but anticipates that DSRC will not have broad application before 2010.

At the 2008 ITS World Congress, DSRC will be at a major crossroads. If the industry is able to showcase real applications that make business sense in light of the regulatory framework and commercial needs, DSRC may well have the future seen by Research and Markets. But, if the industry is still demonstrating uncertified, black-box prototypes and has not made an effort to bring coherence to the regulatory framework, we may have to acknowledge that Dedicated Short-Range Communications has become Dead Short-Range Communications, and remove it from its life-support. TH

“Given the delay, it may be difficult

to believe that DSRC has a

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

Cover Feature

Vol 2 No 3 Thinking Highways18 www.h3bmedia.com

Cover Feature


This woman’s

workSHELLEY ROW, RITA’s Director

of the Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint

Program Office talks to OmniAir’s TIM McGUCKIN

about her organization, her role, her life and what she

hopes will be her legacy

The chance meeting of ITS JPO Director Shelley Row and H3B Media’s CEO Luis Hill at the ITS America Annual Meeting in Palm Springs revealed a mutual appreciation of each other’s work. A request for an interview was met with an enthusiastically positive response and what you are about to read is the result of that serendipitous near-collision.

Shelley, firstly thank your for agreeing to talk to Thinking Highways. Strategically and politically, how does the Intelligent Transportation Systems/Joint Pro-gram Office’s move from under the auspices of FHWA, a modal agency, to under that of RITA, a cross-cutting agency focused on multi-modal technology implementation, affect the office’s day to day running?

The move to the US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Research and Innovative Technology Adminis-tration (RITA), in many ways, has had little impact in the day-to-day operation of the Intelligent Transportation Systems/Joint Program Office (ITS JPO). The office receives excellent administrative support from the Fed-eral Highway Administration (FHWA), which keeps internal processes moving smoothly. At the same time, we’ve been welcomed into RITA and are still learning to

Cover Feature


take advantage of all that RITA offers. Being in RITA is particularly well suited to the multi-modal nature of the ITS program and we’ve enjoyed good visibility and attention from high-level USDOT executives.

RITA staff seemed quite excited to host the Office. Is the ITS JPO treated differently by them? How? Why do you think that may be?

The ITS JPO is fortunate. We’ve enjoyed support from both FHWA and RITA. From our place within RITA, we are well positioned to serve in a multi-modal capacity to advocate for and advance technology innovations in transportation. The RITA leadership has been proactive in gaining high level exposure for the ITS JPO within the upper levels of the Administration. We’ve enjoyed more visibility and the opportunity to work with the Secre-tary’s staff more closely. We are pleased to now have our new Administrator, Paul Brubaker, on board. Adminis-trator Brubaker comes from both a government and technology background. He has already shown strong interest in the ITS program and keen understanding of the technologies. We look forward to working with him and taking advantage of his expertise in commercializa-tion of technologies.

The RITA staff has been attentive and responsive to our needs and to connecting us with others in the Depart-ment with whom we have not traditionally worked. It’s a new and growing relationship that will continue to mature as we learn about the synergies available through RITA’s Office of Research, Development & Tech-nology, Bureau of Transportation Statistics, Volpe Center, and other RITA resources.

The staff of ITS JPO has changed substantially since the departure of Bill Jones and Michael Freitas. I imagine this gave you an opportunity to re-shape the staff to fit new priorities. What is the organisational chart and what are the positions that report to you?

Like all offices, the ITS JPO is undergoing change, some of which was necessitated by the departure of senior staff. I view change as an opportunity. I’m ener-gized by the excitement we see in today’s technologies, as evidenced in consumer electronics and the telecom-munication industry. I look forward to bringing that excitement to the Department and the ITS community in general. I think this is an opportune time to revisit the direction of the pro-gram and take full advantage of the information technology revolution that we’re experiencing. Secretary Peters recently named the members of the new ITS Advisory Committee, and I am looking forward to working with this group of talented people to help guide the ITS JPO’s programs in new directions.

I expect to make changes to the organizational structure within the ITS JPO as the direc-tion becomes clearer. In the near term, I’ve created a Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII) team to focus on technology, applications, and policy research. I expect to form other teams to guide our research and technol-ogy transfer program areas.

About the ProgramWith respect to what ITS JPO has been focused on the last few years - VII - the Working Group was somewhat insular as it concentrated mostly on standards and technology development, prototype DSRC devices, system architec-ture, and the Proof of Concept activities. While these must

be completed and demonstrated, what are the next management initiatives and program activities facing the ITS JPO as it works to move beyond prov-ing VII and toward deploying it?

The ITS JPO programs are much broader than just the VII program, but I’ll start with VII. There has been a wealth of excellent work to launch the VII program. In many respects the singular focus up to now was war-ranted and necessary to establish the

program on a firm footing. Today, I see the program at a turning point.

We are embarking on the proof of concept test that will validate the technical feasibility of the VII architec-ture and some “day 1” applications as well as provide a better understanding of the associated costs and bene-

“I’m energized by the excitement we see in today’s technologies,

as evidenced in consumer electronics

and the telecoms industry”

fits. However, this is only part of the work needed to move forward. We are initiating policy work to develop alternative business models and governance structures. Our ability to find a workable business model is key to ultimate success. We expect to bring the technical test results together with results from policy research in spring or summer of 2008 for a viabil-ity decision by the Executive Leader-ship Team.

While not assured, we anticipate an affirmative decision by the Executive Leadership Team, and therefore have begun to plan for research activities that follow proof of concept testing. In general, we are planning for activities in four areas: technical, applications, outreach and policy research. In the technical area, there will be technical issues from the proof of concept test that will need resolution, such as scalability and security. We expect to keep the test bed functioning after the proof of concept test to support further research.

I anticipate increasing the focus on development of prototype applications and tools to support the actual

Cover Feature


deployment of VII, and to broaden that discussion from safety, mobility and private applications to include tran-sit and freight applications. I also expect to increase our outreach activities by leveraging associations to engage the broader community of potential VII stakeholders anticipated to be key users and beneficiaries of a VII network. Our goals are to better inform the community about VII and to be responsive to its input and concerns. We have plans to establish a public website this fall that will include program documents.

We plan to provide as many documents as possible, except for those pertaining to security designs whose exposure might jeopardize a deployed system. Finally, much of our attention will be on policy issues, including exploration of options for a governance framework and business model, as well as matters relating to security, privacy and liability. We need to find innovative ways to deploy, operate, maintain and govern a VII network. We will explore a range of options from public sector fund-ing to public/private partnerships. VII is a true partner-ship in that the full potential of VII cannot be achieved without the buy-in of the public sector and the automo-tive industry. As we move forward, I believe we will need to also engage other industries who may play substan-tial supporting roles in a fully functioning VII, particu-larly the telecommunications industry. Much work has been done and much more is needed.

The Congestion Initiative is a priority of the Secretary’s Office. A result is that substantial funds will shift away from current ITS JPO activities. How does this bode for the VII program? For instance, does it force the ITS JPO to embrace new ideas, partners, or strategies? What are they? Could this, for lack of a better term, ‘forced efficiency’ actually help VII deployment?

The Congestion Initiative is indeed a signature pro-gram for this Administration. We view the ITS portion of the Congestion Initiative as a central part of the JPO’s program and we expect to learn from the technology applications tested as part of the Congestion Initiative. We look forward to working with the cities that have been named as Urban Partners.

In realigning the current ITS programs to support the Congestion Initiative, we were successful in maintaining

funding for the major initiatives at levels that allow them to successfully achieve their purpose. There are also many other activities related to tech-nology transfer that are funded through the ITS JPO. We believe that the staff and program offices have chosen wisely and will maintain sup-port in critical areas of the ITS pro-gram. We will also look at ways to

work more creatively with others and to leverage resources. I expect you will see us pursue partnering opportunities in training, evaluation and other activities. Tight budgets can be helpful in forcing focus on the highest value activities and finding creative ways to make things happen.

VII and to a large extent, ITS JPO, was mostly about “highways.” Given that 1) ITS/JPO is under the non-modal

“I believe we will need to also engage other industries who may play substantial supporting roles in a fully functioning VII”

All photos in this article by Roger Lotz


RITA, and 2) the Congestion Initiative recognizes the value of multi-modal solutions, what is your view of ITS JPO’s role in helping both RITA meet its mission and seeing the Con-gestion Initiative realize the benefits it hopes to?

I am personally pleased that the ITS JPO is well posi-tioned to be multi-modal. As part of RITA, the ITS JPO is doing more to promote multi-modal approaches. We need the contributions from all of our modal partners in order to provide effective transportation solutions for our future. In the VII program, we are reaching out to the transit and freight communities about applications. The Congestion Initiative is already heavily focused on multi-modal options.

Clearly, as congestion pricing becomes more preva-lent, robust transit options need to be available. In all cases, technology is the enabler to make highways and transit systems function most effectively and to provide information to enable traveler choice.

We see the same synergy in the Integrated Corridor Management program. It, too, is centered on the trans-portation efficiencies that can be gained when we coor-

dinate all modes within a corridor. The ITS JPO with FTA supports the United We Ride campaign through the Mobility Services for All Americans project. This project tests the ability of technology to link a plethora of transit providers in the human services field.

I am also an advocate for real-time information. My vision of the future is one where we have real-time travel information on all roads, all modes, all the time. I believe real-time information is essential to managing a multi-modal network and providing robust, useful information to travelers for informed decision making.

Without good, extensive data on the roadway and transit systems, we are currently limited in our ability to manage the transportation network for performance. Finally, RITA’s Office of Research, Development and Technology, led by Dr. Jan Brecht-Clark, is positioned to be the focal point for research coordination within USDOT.

We look forward to working with our sister organiza-tions in RITA to leverage research within the ITS JPO and across the Department.

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“My grandparents were ranchers and

musicians. We were raised with horses, cattle and pianos”

Cover Feature


public service? How does it meet your aspirations profes-sionally, personally and, say, in a community sense? What does it give you that the private sector may not?

I learned a lot from my time at the Institute of Trans-portation Engineers and it’s an experience for which I’m thankful. However, I couldn’t pass up the opportu-nity to serve as the Director of the ITS Joint Program office. I believe in the work of this office and the compel-ling role of technology in the future of transportation. Additionally, it’s important to me and my value system to feel that I’m contributing. I’m excited by the opportunity to make a difference through public policy and I believe that the ITS program offers great potential. It’s good to come to work each day and have that opportunity.

How does your approach to the job differ from that of your predecessors (albeit you filled a long-vacant role)? Does the stage of the VII Program force a new approach?

Jeff Paniati very ably served as the Director of the ITS JPO in an interim capacity. At the same time, he led FHWA’s Office of Operations. The ITS JPO turned out to be an interim position that lasted several years. I think the biggest difference is that I have the luxury of focus-ing specifically on the ITS program and Jeff can now focus more fully on his office.

I think the ITS program is at a point where we can rethink how to move forward and in which direction. As I said earlier, there is much to learn from technol-ogy in our daily lives that hasn’t been fully brought to bear in trans-portation. That warrants considera-tion and creativity in how to apply it within the ITS JPO activities. I look forward to more discussions within the ITS community on their views.

What is the most difficult challenge that you face on a daily basis?

Balancing the demands of the position can be chal-lenging. I think anyone who is leading an office within a large agency, public or private, faces the same chal-lenges. I find it a daily balancing act to stay connected to the ongoing projects within the ITS JPO while also maintaining and growing relationships within the Department and within the ITS community.

What is your relationship with Mary Peters like? It is excellent. I had the pleasure of working with Sec-

retary Peters when she was the FHWA Administrator. Like everyone, I was pleased that she was selected by the President to lead USDOT. She is a strong supporter of ITS, as are her senior staff members.

Last question. It’s 2017 and you have moved on. How will people remember Shelley Row, Director of the ITS JPO and how would you like to be remembered? What do you want your legacy to be?

I hope to leave a legacy of leadership – leadership in advancing efficient, multi-modal transportation through the use of technology; leadership in creatively working with private industry; leadership in charting new direc-tions for the ITS program; leadership in implementing VII; and leadership in developing the next generation of transportation leaders. TH

On a personal levelShelley, I have gathered that you are a wife and mother. There are millions of working mothers out there but not all of them run departments of the USDOT, so can you tell our readers a little bit about yourself? Let’s start with the obvi-ous question. Where are you from?

I grew up in Smithville, Texas. It’s a town of 3,000 between Austin and Houston. My sister and I grew up in a small town environment where you know everyone and everyone knows you. My grandparents were ranch-ers and musicians. We were raised with horses, cattle, and pianos. I still have good friends and family in Smithville and I look forward to every trip home for Texas barbecue.

How old are your children? I have a 29 year old step-daughter. She and her hus-

band are lawyers in LA. She’s a delightful person, and her father and I are very proud of her. One of my per-sonal joys is to see the wonderful relationship that they share. It’s a bonus that I get to be part of it, too.

What did you graduate in and from where? I have undergraduate degrees in Civil Engineering

and in Architecture from Texas Tech University. I had visions of being a structural engineer for an architec-tural firm and finding ways to build creative buildings. Life didn’t work out that way, and I found my way into transportation shortly after graduating. I’ve been in the transportation profession ever since and have thoroughly enjoyed it. Later, I received my MBA from Vir-ginia Tech.

How long have you lived in the DC area? Describe your commute.

I live in Annapolis, MD. It’s a charm-ing small city on the Chesapeake Bay. Our house is walking distance from the historic district and a block from the water. I lived in Annapolis in the early 90s; left for Atlanta and the Olym-pics; returned to Annapolis in 1996, met my husband, and intend to stay. I drive to the Metro train station and take the train to the office. I’m an early riser, so the traffic is not bad and the trip is dependable. I enjoy commut-ing by train because there’s less stress and I can read the paper before I get to work. The trip home is filled with reading and “Blackberry” time.

You are extremely approachable and are clearly a very good listener! This begs the question, do you consider yourself to be a politician with a lower case ‘p’ or Politician with a capital P?

I don’t consider myself to be a politician or a Politician. I try to work effectively with people to move ITS forward. To do that, I need to listen and understand what is hap-pening in the community. It’s easy to become isolated within government. The best way I know to stay con-nected to reality is to talk to people. I welcome input. It helps us make decisions that have a higher likelihood of success.

After leaving the FHWA for the Institute of Transporta-tion Engineers, what prompted you to come back to gov-ernment? Can you tell me something about your views on

“There is much to learn from

technology in our daily lives that hasn’t been fully brought to

bear in transportation”


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 procurement restrictions, and well defined financial objectives.

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 modify entrenched technologies and avoid risk averse behav-ior. They are based on the recognition that successful organizations are those with a mission oriented struc-ture 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.

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

The Thinker

www.h3bmedia.com


Back in the 1970s, during the height of the energy crisis, Eugene K Garfield envisioned expanding his fledgling Auto Train business from the one route along the northeast corridor to multiple routes nationwide as a means of removing cars from high-ways and saving gasoline.

Just over 30 years later, the need to address highway congestion is just as dire today as it was then, if not more so, and the environmental concerns are even greater. But there is still only one auto train in the United States and only one route - the same one Garfield instituted in 1971 between Lorton, VA outside of Washington, DC and Sanford, FL, near Orlando.

So why hasn’t the auto train concept taken off as it has


Auto Train

Automatedtracking system

Loading cars onto a Eurotunnel train and above, clear indication that trucks as well as smaller vehicles make full use of the UK-France service

in Europe and other parts of the world? Could it be that an expanded auto train system could play a role in traf-fic management, particularly on the nation’s most con-gested highways that ring urban centers?

A welcome expansionOfficials from Amtrak, the country’s one national pas-senger rail service and proprietor of Garfield’s busi-ness since 1983, now called Auto Train, say they would welcome expanding the service. They cite both busi-ness and environmental reasons.

Garfield’s venture went bankrupt, but not for lack of customers. He couldn’t pull out after two highly publi-cized derailments in the 1970s. Fred Nardelli, Amtrak

Auto Train


District Superintendent, based in Sanford, says the serv-ice has grown tremendously over the years. The rail cars with auto carriers attached haul about 230,000 passen-gers and 100,000 vehicles annually along the 855-mile, north/south route, he says, and the service grossed almost US$50mn in ticket revenue in FY2006. According to a Wikipedia report, the Amtrak Auto Train is the rail-road’s best-paying long distance train in terms of income in comparison with operating expenses.

Amtrak officials agree that there’s an environmental case to be made for the Auto Train, as well. According to Roy Dietchman, Amtrak Vice President for Environmen-tal, based in Washington, DC, Amtrak diesel locomotives emit 0.196kg per passenger mile compared to automo-biles, which emit “in the range of 0.300kg per passen-ger mile.” Multiply those figures by 100,000 vehicles annually making a possible round trip and it’s possible to see how an expanded Auto Train could play a part in easing highway congestion along with reducing green-house gases.

So why can’t Amtrak make the case for expanding Auto Train? And how might the auto train model be applied alternatively to ease highway congestion?

Bigger and betterBased on current ridership - everyone from snow birds, college students and vacationers - Nardelli and Drew Galloway, Amtrak’s Chief Coordinator of Project Plan-ning, have plenty of ideas for expanding Auto Train. They envision additional routes from Houston or Chi-cago to Florida or Chicago to either Arizona or Califor-nia, for starters. But both point out that infrastructure demands are at the heart of the problem, ranging from lack of space for terminals to handle bi-level loading and unloading to locating railroads willing to cut deals for passenger traffic versus freight.

Not that Amtrak isn’t trying. Nardelli says Amtrak has been conducting discussions with Coast Starlight Rail-road for a Los Angeles to Seattle Auto Train route and has studied including Auto Train on Amtrak’s own Sun-set Ltd run from New Orleans to LA. But infrastructure gets in the way. Galloway points out that the US has cut back its rail lines to circa 1890, with most of the traffic devoted to freight. Nardelli explains that there isn’t much room in the larger cities for the sorts of large-scale terminals and that Auto Train requires to transfer 200 to 300 automobiles per run. Thirty carriers are usually needed per run, but Auto Train has carried as many as 50, they say.

“A lot of people wonder why it can’t start around New York City instead of Lorton, which Amtrak rebuilt in 2000. But no there’s infrastructure for it. It would be cost-prohibitive to put it together unless we had the partner-ing and strategy to create the facility. And running a Chicago to Florida route would be tough, for example, because the freight traffic on those lines is so heavy,” says Nardelli.

It would help if passengers could drive on and off the carriers themselves as they do in some auto trains in Europe, such as Eurotunnel that links England and France, but Galloway says it would be difficult to gain

Is there a traffic management and environmental case for ramping up Amtrak’s Auto

Train, asks AMY ZUCKERMAN


legal approval for that approach. “The economics for a single-level car are very challenging considering lia-bility,” he says.

David Schonbrunn, president of the Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund, based San Rafael, CA, recently witnessed the Amtrak loading and unloading facility in Sanford and sees some potential for a ramped up Auto Train as one of many options for reducing highway congestion. However, he agrees with Amtrak officials that there are plenty of impediments.

As currently configured with an emphasis on long haul travel only, Schonbrunn says Auto-Train is limited “to a very specialized market – someone who is traveling for a long distance, wants to use his car and has the time. This market competes with fly and rent for those long-distance trips,” which he notes pretty much relegates the service to vacationers.

Working on the way to workWhat about shorter hauls in the 100 to 600-mile cate-gory, which might appeal to business people who want to work for a two or three hour stretch and have the con-venience of their own vehicle at the other end? Eurotun-nel operates such a service from Folkestone, England, and Calais, France, for example, which is an even shorter haul. Schonbrunn doesn’t know of any studies in the United States exploring relatively short-haul auto trains, though he can envision a possible market. In fact, Schon-brunn would be an optimal candidate for applying auto train to shorter hauls as he prefers mass transit, but being in California he often copes with “the last mile” issue where no transit service is available to the destina-tion; what he calls “transit-inaccessible locations.”

Ironically, Schonbrunn recently attended two meet-

ings of the California Transportation Commission based in Sacramento, neither of which were accessible by mass transit. After those sessions he requested that future meetings be held at transit-accessible locations. An auto train service would have provided a feasible com-promise, he agreed.

Given the hour and a half Nardelli cited for loading and unloading vehicles from the long-haul Auto Train, Schonbrunn said that time would have to be factored along with transit time to determine if shorter haul runs would be marketable. But given the time spent in traffic backups on highways and well-publicized airline delays he said there could be the potential business case for an auto train.

Congestion questionOn the energy side, Schonbrunn says “there’s no ques-tion this approach could reduce energy use, but how much it will reduce congestion is questionable. The data on carrying freight on rail versus trucks shows that the rails are at least six times more energy efficient.” How-ever, it would take far more than a handful of auto train routes to have an impact on greenhouse gas emissions that stem from highway congestion.

“The allied approach would be a dual mode bus that can travel on both highways and rails. The bus can go off highway and not be stuck in congestion. The beauty of that approach is the passenger doesn’t have to move or transfer,” he adds.

Neither Nardelli or Galloway had considered the pos-sibility of a short-haul auto train. “Once again, we have to find a place to make this work,” said Nardelli, adding that it’s a “logistical nightmare to get agreements with railroads for this.” TH

Auto Train

Funding and Finance

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 prioritiesView from another planet


Climate Change


When DAVID SCHONBRUNN read the April/May issue of Thinking Highways he felt

compelled to write an article offering his own views on

transportation’s impacts on and solutions for, climate

change

As a working California environmentalist, I was thoroughly shocked by some of the things I read recently in Thinking Highways: “Climate experts … have known for at least 40 years that emissions are highest when vehicles idle.” (‘Climate Control’, pp 24-27, April/May 2007). While that might be true on a grams/km basis, that measure is meaningless when a vehicle isn’t moving. Common sense dic-tates that absolute emissions bear a relationship to the energy expended, which increases with speed.

The same article suggests that the reduction of con-gestion is the path forward in the fight against climate change. A recent emission analysis paper determined that the vast majority of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in Los Angeles occurred during free-flow highway condi-tions, while the congested periods that cause increased emissions involved less than 10 per cent of total VMT.1 This means that reducing automotive greenhouse gas emissions will require reducing all driving, rather than just the unpleasant part - congestion.

Climate Change


A quote from Prof. Dr. Dusan Gruden also clashed furiously with my understanding: “The combustion of petroleum products by the private automobile contrib-utes an insignificant portion of the global CO

2

emissions.” (‘The people or their sun?’ ibid, pp 28-32). That’s surely not the situation in California.

Pulling in the same directionWhen statements like these are presented as facts, it makes me feel like I live on another planet. Despite that, environmentalists need to be able to work together with the readers of Thinking Highways, in furtherance of our common goals. We are likely to be some of the strongest supporters of road pricing and congestion tolls. In the interest of building understanding, I thought it would be useful to offer ITS practitioners an environmentalist’s big picture view of the world of climate change.

The Governor of California issued an Executive Order that calls for the State to reduce its greenhouse gas emis-sions by 80 per cent below 1990 levels by 20502. This amounts to an astonishing 82 per cent reduction on current levels. With road transportation making up a third of the most recent statewide inventory of emis-sions3, motor vehicles are by far the biggest cause of global warming in California - larger than the combined next two biggest sources, electric power generation and oil refining. Clearly, meeting this ambitious goal will require profound changes in transportation.

As interim measures, the State has adopted lower GHG vehicle emissions standards4 (consistent with its decades of refusal to innovate, the auto industry has challenged these regulations in court), and lower car-bon-content automotive fuels.5 However, I believe long-term change will require a move from fossil fuel to electric-powered vehicles, both pure electrics as well as plug-in hybrids.

Those look like the only scalable option to me. The power grid, the delivery system for electric cars, is here now, while batteries are good and getting better. A hydrogen delivery system and hydrogen fuel cells are way off in the future. Corn-based ethanol is just a giant handout to agribusiness - one that makes political rather than economic or environmental sense. Flex-fueled vehicles are the auto industry’s fig leaf to look as if they are doing something about global warming, after they literally crushed a promising technology.6

Prior to this transition to electric vehi-cles, GHG emissions from the transporta-tion sector will continue to increase rapidly. Future VMT is projected to increase dramatically faster than the population. Strong interventions are needed to cap VMT growth and start to reduce overall driving.

Environmentalists believe that a major component of the response to the threat of climate change needs to be a shift in the pattern of growth away from suburban sprawl, where every trip requires a vehicle trip. Let’s not continue the mistake of condemning new residents to dependence on the automobile! Clustering homes into

traditional mixed-use villages and towns will make many trips feasible by walking or cycling. Convenient public transit becomes much more viable economically when people live closer together, and when job sites and retail are next to transit stops.

Reduce driving - a lot!Deciding to not create more auto-dependence is a help-ful step, but one that only works at the margins of exces-sive vehicle emissions. Past suburbanization - the cause of most auto emissions in North America - has created a tangle of expectation and privilege that will be painful to clear up. This unsustainable system of dispersed ori-gins and destinations mixed with free parking and an unpriced road network will strongly resist change. Nonetheless, it is clear that any successful response to the threat of climate change will require a significant

drop in how much people drive every year.

Reforming transportation in the sub-urbs will take the introduction of eco-nomic rationality. Pricing will most likely be the most effective technique in the toolbox of transportation demand man-agement (TDM). We know from transpor-tation demand modelling that trip cost and trip time are key determinants of mode choice. Having a tangible cost associated with each trip is essential to

demand reduction. Other than causing the elimination of some low-value trips, pricing will nudge drivers to shift some vehicle trips to walking, biking, carpooling or transit. With appropriate pricing, they will trade off an increment of convenience for lower cost. The trade-off only works, however, when the infrastructure is in place

“Flex-fueled vehicles are the auto industry’s

fig leaf to look as if they are doing something about global warming”


to make the alternative mode trip reasonably conven-ient and safe.

This means wide-ranging programs like building bike paths to ensure that children can safely get to school on their own, and creating ride-match services to help driv-ers find carpool partners. Given the tight budgets of transportation agencies, providing convenient transit will require shifting funds away from traditional highway building and exer-cising the discipline of cost- effectiveness. Once society agrees that we all need to reduce driving, adding highway capacity will no longer seem a reasonable use of public funds.

Shifting trips to transit requires improved transit time-competitiveness to counteract the longer travel times caused by multiple stops, as well as the perceived disadvantage of having to wait for a bus or train (an ITS opportunity for NextBus-type information displays). This means making sure transit doesn’t get stuck in traffic, no matter how congested the roads get. Speeding up transit riders will require taking mixed-flow lanes away from single-occupant drivers to provide high-occupancy vehicle lanes (which have a higher person-throughput than mixed-flow lanes when operated properly). It means implementing traffic sig-nal priority (another ITS opportunity) for transit vehi-cles operating on surface streets. And it means putting existing separated rights-of-way into transit use, such as commuter rail.

Once the alternatives are in place, how do we create that higher cost per vehicle trip needed to incentivize mode shift? Pay-at-the-pump auto insurance is a good way to move part of the fixed costs of auto ownership

Climate Change

over to the variable cost side of the equation, where more driving creates higher costs.

Significant gas taxes or carbon taxes would do the trick - and yield revenue for transit operations - if they were politically achievable. Capable politicians tell me to forget about that option, but nevertheless, one concept that might prove viable would be to authorize swapping local transportation sales tax measures for revenue-equivalent increases in the gas tax.

My organization believes that the most feasible way to institute road pricing is to extend government authority over private parking areas and require parking charges for all commercial parking spaces. The principle here is that charging a parking fee at the trip end is functionally equivalent to pricing local roads, while requiring a lot less hardware. Charging for employee parking simpli-fies parking cash-out and other commute alternative programs - employees who don’t use employer-subsi-dized parking spaces receive cash instead. Retail malls would no longer have an unfair advantage over down-town shopping districts, and would be encouraged to put excess parking areas to productive use. A local tax per commercial parking space would generate revenue for transit operations like shuttles.

Finally, we are very supportive of road tolling, traffic flow smoothing and congestion tolling, but have no idea how to get there politically. I’m confident that environ-mentalists will stand with the ITS community as these kinds of proposals come forward. As the scientific find-ings on global warming get more and more alarming, hopefully the public will discover it is willing to make the sacrifices necessary to avoid the worst of the conse-quences of a century-long binge on fossil fuels. TH

The author is President of the Transpor-tation Solutions Defense and Education

Fund, a small San Francisco Bay Area environmental organization advocating the regional planning of transportation,

land use and air quality. Visit the website at www.transdef.org or email him at

[email protected] Schonbrunn, along with

Congressman John Olver, is one of the keynote speakers at H3B Media’s Cimate

Change: Transportation’s Impacts & Solutions Think Tank at the University of Massachussets

at Amherst in May 2008. For more details go to www.h3bmedia.com and click on the H3B Events button.

References 1 Barth, M. and K. Boriboonsomsin (2007) Real-World CO2 Impacts

of Traffic Congestion, submitted to the Transportation Research

Board’s Transportation Research Record, National Academy of

Science, 2007. See figure 8.

2 http://gov.ca.gov/index.php?/print-version/executive-

order/1861/

3 www.arb.ca.gov/cc/ccei/inventory/tables/rpt_inventory_ipcc_

sum.pdf

4 www.arb.ca.gov/cc/factsheets/ccfaq.pdf

5 www.arb.ca.gov/fuels/lcfs/eos0107.pdf

6 www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/presskit.pdf

“Charging a parking fee at the

trip’s end is functionally equivalent to pricing local

roads”

Traveler Information


In the mid-1990s, one of the major ITS initiatives was to deploy kiosk terminals for public access to sup-port easy access to traveler information.

Public Transit Agencies had a major interest in deploy-ing ITS kiosks because planners believed that this would help improve ridership. Furthermore, funds were avail-able from the federal government to support kiosk deployment. Public Transit was slow to become an inte-grated part of advanced traveler information systems deployed by jurisdictions. With the 511 initiative emerg-ing in the post 2000 era, finally an integrated service became available. The question addressed is the cur-rent benefits/cost of deploying kiosks.

Types of kioskThere are three basic types of kiosk from an operational standpoint:

1) Standalone with Database Periodically Updated.• Typical use is providing a traveler with basic infor-

mation on available public transportation and also yellow page information access;

• May include basic trip planning based on origin/destination and travel timing;

• Local data base may be updated by dial-up commu-nications link or manually updated using a CD;

• Used primarily in transportation terminal areas;• May or may not have graphics capability.2) Interactive with Remote Transportation Database

Data and Graphics. • Provides same capability as local data base type;• Improved trip planning because current status of

public transit vehicles is considered;• Provides access to real-time traveler information;• Status of transit vehicles;• Congestion status of corridors;• Location of Road Work;• Current corridor and/or lane closures;• Special Event Routes;• Includes color graphics.3) Interactive with Remote Transportation Database -

Full Multimedia.• Same as above but also includes access to corridor

surveillance video.One major issue is the need for corridor status infor-

mation to be provided to public transit travelers, except

at park and ride locations. For this reason, public transit agencies generally deploy kiosks at transfer points that only relate to that particular public transit system.

Further discriminators of kiosk terminals are their deployment location and meeting requirements for them to be weather- and vandal-proof. Kiosk terminals deployed in transportation facilities are generally viewable by facilities security and do not need to be environmentalized. Thus, they are much lower cost. Communications is the other major cost element, where the kiosk is linked to centralized traveler information data bases at 511 centers (or similar).

BRUCE ABERNETHY questions whether ITS kiosks are really

justifiable in 2007

Cost elements of Kiosk include materials and con-struction cost, communications infrastructure cost, maintenance cost and cost of vandalism (can require as much as 10-15 per cent replacement per year depend-ing on deployment location). For multimedia, interac-tive communication, the largest bandwidth is required.

Why are kiosks so susceptible to vandalism? Kiosk terminals are basically computers and displays with communications interface and special keyboards/keypads to make them simpler to operate. They essen-tially include components that are useful to computer

hobbyists and those with more than a passing interest in video games. They become attractive targets for theft. Furthermore, if they are integrated with a 511 center, communications may be degraded causing a slowdown in information access. If the 511 information happens to be incorrect for any reason, the person using the termi-nal may get upset and “take his anger out on the kiosk.”

Obviously the kiosk must be built to withstand a cer-tain amount of abuse; however, this adds to cost and complexity of installation. Thus the jurisdiction must trade off the cost of making the kiosk nearly indestruct-ible versus the risk of having to replace the kiosk.



Terminal velocity


Ruggedized, environmentalized kiosks can cost as much as US$30,000 installed (not including communications).

So, is modern technology making kiosk obsolete? The primary purpose of the kiosk is to provide a traveler with information related to the transportation system and to assist him with his trip planning. In general, if the person is a local traveler, he will most likely be familiar with public transportation routes and transfer points and is generally interested in the current schedule and status. Similarly for local travelers using personal vehi-cles, he will know his primary route and alternates that he will use if the primary route is too congested.

Thus, he is interested in the congestion status of his primary and secondary corridors. He knows travel time since he has driven these corridors in varying conges-tion conditions. It is the visiting traveler that has the greatest need for complete trip planning. Local travel-ers most likely have access to traveler information via their office or home computer linked by the Internet to a 511 center. Thus, the value of roadside kiosks is mar-ginal to them.

The hard cellThe most important point is that approximately 80 per cent of the adult population in Europe and America has

cell phones and the trend is rapidly growing towards use of 3G, multimedia cell phones. Projections indicate that perhaps 90 per cent of the population will have cell phones by 2015 and they will all be multimedia/3G (or improved) types.

A recent article in Business Wire, entitled “Planes, Trains and Laptops” indicates that 50 per cent of travel-ers plan to take laptop computers when they go on vaca-tion and they include wireless links to Internet.

Furthermore, approximately 60 per cent of the busi-ness travelers now take their laptop computer on busi-ness trips. Airports, major public places, hotels, convention centers and other locations visited by a large number of people have wireless Internet access. This means that the majority of travelers have means to access 511 centers via Internet and to obtain multime-dia traveler information. This being the case, then what is the benefit/cost for a jurisdiction to pay for kiosk deployment?

And of course, there’s VII to considerThe other trend to consider is the Vehicle-to-Infrastruc-ture (VII) initiative. The ITS objective is to link intelligent vehicles with the intelligent infrastructure. Watching recent advertisements for General Motors’ OnStar, it is clear that trip planning is supported as well as emer-gency information (recent agreement with the Red Cross) and Mayday.

It is debatable how VII will be deployed based on infrastructure communications cost and spectrum demand management issues.

Certainly use of digital cellular is a solution. The trend related to convergence of broadband digital cellular with WiMax, further supports the projection that VII will evolve utilizing a service provider’s communications infrastructure.

So, given that fact that kiosks support possibly only 20 per cent of travelers and technology continues to make personal communications less costly with improvements in functionality, jurisdictions should probably seriously consider the reasonableness of investing in kiosk deployment. This is also true of emer-gency telephones deployed along roadsides, based on the percent of population having cell phones.

How many travelers can use a kiosk? There are a number of considerations related to use time of a kiosk. The use time is a function of features offered on the kiosk terminal. Users tend to request more information than they need if it is available. This includes corridor congestion graphics as well as video from various CCTV cameras.

The author conducted a study of an advanced kiosk with virtual trip planning, which provided key landmark features along the recommended route in the late 1990s. The kiosk provided a great, virtual, out-the-window, fast time display of the trip resulting in high interest by not only travelers, but also children and teenagers that enjoy video games.

Virtual trips were requested just for fun. Thus, kiosk accessibility became a major issue.


A typical information kiosk

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TimelineFor an unfamiliar traveler approaching a kiosk, the fol-lowing will be typical events and times:

• Read Instructions: 30 sec.• Enter in and verify origin, destination and times and

verify: 40 sec.• Kiosk transmits request to 511 Center and requester

gets a response: 20 sec.• Traveler views information and makes notes: 60 sec.• Traveler requests additional graphics and or video:

20 sec.• Traveler receives additional request, reviews and

makes notes: 60 sec.• Traveler logs off and leaves; next person accesses:

30 sec.• Total time: 4 mins 20 sec.Assuming that the kiosk was installed at a major sports

stadium with the 90,000 attendance leaving at the end of the game, the people want to get home as soon as pos-sible. If only 10 per cent wanted to acquire traveler information via the kiosk, it would take 725 hours of kiosk terminal use to service these visitors.

Assuming 100 kiosk terminals (deployment cost of approximately US$2.5m) were deployed in the stadium, then it would take approximately 7.3 hours for all travel-ers to get their information. Obviously the traveler will use his cell phone to call the 511 center to get needed

traveler information. Thus not only is the benefit/cost of a kiosk terminal questionable, but also is its functional-ity in a location with a large number of visitors.

Summary Jurisdictions should consider the competitive traveler information access devices. Rapid growth of digital cel-lular and laptop computers with wireless interconnects with Internet are examples of competitive devices. With the majority of the traveling public having these devices that require no wait time to access, they make them more attractive for use compared with kiosks.

In fact, deploying kiosk at a major special event loca-tion services only a few based on unacceptable queue lengths and wait times, even with the deployment of a large number of kiosks. VII continues to be pushed as a major ITS initiative. When deployed, this provides trave-lers with another means of accessing traveler informa-tion. Users of OnStar™ technology and services already are experiencing some of the benefits of VII. When one examines deployment and support cost of a kiosk and travelers’ alternatives, perhaps the best investment is improving the regional 511 centers. TH

Bruce Abernethy is President of Vector Alpha Systems Inc, based in Dallas, TX. He can be contacted via email at

[email protected]

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ROBERT GORDON considers some concepts and ideas for improved incident management. Your life might depend on it

Incident Management


Responseand

responsibility


Improvement in incident response time is the single most significant contribution that intelligent trans-portation systems have made to the reduction of motorist delay.

Figure 1 shows a typical breakdown of delay benefits for common ITS functions for a typical suburban free-way. The importance of improved incident response and clearance time is apparent. Models of freeway delay resulting from incidents that reduce freeway capacity show that improvements of up to twice the per-centage of total delay may be achieved for each per cent of incident clearance time saved.

The actual improvement in delay depends upon the reduction in capacity resulting from the incident and the traffic volume on the freeway upstream of the incident. Figure 2 (also overleaf) shows examples of the potential saving in motorist delay for a single incident resulting from a reduction in incident clearance time.

Expediting the processIncidents are removed more quickly when they are detected and confirmed more quickly - and when the appropriate emergency responders arrive at the scene more quickly. Traffic incidents may be detected by ITS technologies or may be detected by motorists or others reporting to the Public Service Access Point (PSAP), typ-ically a 911 call center. The traffic management center (TMC) may or may not receive this information from the PSAP. Typical ITS services to improve incident clear-ance time include the following:

• Incidents may be detected by means of CCTV, traffic detectors, motorist service patrols and police services that may be collocated with the TMC. The TMC confirms and classifies incidents.

Incident Management

Figure 1: Example of benefits

• The TMC provides assistance to emergency service providers in describing traffic conditions, and incident scene conditions.

• The TMC assists emergency responders by identify-ing the end of the queue for on-scene traffic manage-ment purposes.

• The TMC may assist in identifying the incident response equipment and emergency responders required.

• The TMC provides information to motorists concern-ing the incident. Motorist diversion will shorten the queue and assist in traffic management. Traffic informa-tion also assists in the reduction of secondary acci-dents.

Incidents that block lanes are typically cleared in 25 to 50 minutes, and the measures described above typi-cally shorten the clearance time by five minutes.

Reducing incident clearance timeIncident clearance times may be further reduced by reducing the travel time for emergency response vehi-cles by means of the following operational measures:

Provision of travel speed, travel time or routing for emer-gency vehicles

If this type of information for the freeways and major surface streets is provided by TMCs to emergency serv-ice providers, they often have the capability to alter their access routes to the incident, or to use vehicles located more favorably with respect to congestion patterns. Relatively few emergency response dispatch centers currently have this information.

This type of information is best provided in the form of speed or congestion maps, or by instructions depicting the quickest route. Updated traffic information may be

Incident Management


TABLE 1: TECHNOLOGIES FOR TRAVEL TIME DETERMINATION

Freeways Surface Streets

Mature Point detectors (intensively deployed) Point detectors associated with adaptive traffic signal Technologies control systems Detection based on electronic toll collection technology

Emerging GPS probe based traffic surveillance GPS probe based traffic surveillanceTechnologies Cellular telephone based probe traffic surveillance Cellular telephone based probe traffic surveillance Probe techniques based on Vehicle Probe techniques based on Vehicle Infrastructure Initiative (VII) Technology Infrastructure Initiative (VII) Technology Analysis models used in conjunction with point detector measurements

provided to drivers of emergency response vehicles by means of in-vehicle displays.

Provision of this capability requires knowledge of travel times on the freeway and on the alternate routes that may be used to access the incident. Table 1 identi-fies the mature and emerging technologies that may be used to obtain this information.

Establishment of priorities for maintenance operations that benefit emergency response vehicles

Lane closures or other capacity reducing maintenance

Figure 2: Reduction in vehicle delay

activities along routes commonly used by emergency responders may increase travel time on these routes. Planning maintenance activities so that lane closure time is minimized, and coordinating maintenance and construction so that alternate routes used by emergency vehicles are not simultaneously impacted is an impor-tant step to improving emergency vehicle access. Simi-larly, providing priority treatment for snow and ice removal along these routes will improve response time. Input from emergency service responders can assist in


Incident Management

identifying specific locations for priority treatment.

Integration of communications and incident manage-ment information among traffic management centers and incident responders

The inability to effectively communicate among responding agencies has led to inefficiencies in inci-dent clearance. The IEEE 1512 family of standards is a set of incident management related message sets and communication standards. The use of common message sets facilitates the exchange of information between the agencies involved in the incident response process. IEEE Standard 1512.1 – 2003, Traffic Incident Manage-ment Sets for Use by Emergency Management Centers focuses primarily on the coordination and exchange of information supporting real-time traffic incident management. The five types of traffic messages sup-ported by the standard are:

• Traffic-related information;• Current and predicted traffic conditions;• The need for cleanup, repair, and replacement of

damaged infrastructure;• Plans for traffic- and evacuation management, and

infrastructure cleanup, repair, and replacement;• Asset management information. (Figure 3 is an example of a display requested by an

emergency response vehicle. )

Welcome advancesA number of advanced systems to provide interagency incident management communication have been devel-oped. One of the most comprehensive is New York City’s Integrated Incident Management System (IIMS). The

IIMS system includes the following features that enhance incident response:

• Real-time incident data shared among field units and multiple centers/agencies using both wireless and wireline communications;

• Shared data including pictures, incident location, and incident reports and scene status;

• Field collection system including integrated GPS location and GIS data and digital images from digital cameras;

• Coordination of traffic calming plans with emer-gency vehicle routes.

Traffic calming treatments often have an adverse effect on the speed and accessibility of emergency service vehicles. It is important for the agencies involved in developing traffic calming plans to coordinate with emergency service providers. Portland, Oregon, for examole, has classified a number of streets as emer-gency response streets. Traffic pre-emption devices are emphasized and traffic-slowing devices are avoided on thesestreets.

SummaryReduction in incident response and clearance time is a key methodology for reducing motorist delay. While traditional ITS treatments have provided consid-erable improvement, techniques such as those described above may provide significant additional improvement. TH

Robert Gordon, P.E. He is Vice President for ITS Technology with Dunn Engineering Associates is a

recognized expert in ITS with more than 35 years of experience. email: [email protected]

Figure 3: Sample of IIMS in-vehicle display

47Thinking Highways Vol x No xwww.h3bmedia.com

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[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


AMG Systems is one of the world’s leading provid-ers of fibre optic transmission equipment for CCTV surveillance operations in the transportation and security sectors.

Since it was founded 17 years ago, the company has undergone dramatic changes in order to address the dynamic and very competitive market for CCTV trans-mission.

The company is now in the process of taking its

market-leading products to the US and in so doing, bring its vast experience of providing CCTV solutions for the transport sector.

Having supplied real-time uncompressed CCTV transmission systems for motorways, tunnels, rail tracks and airports over the past 15 years, this article will intro-duce the company and some of their most groundbreak-ing projects, which, in many cases have formed the platform for new product development.

Business Matters

British steel

Hayes’ purple patchDr. Alan Hayes is Managing Director and founder of AMG Systems, and he explains the background for the company’s US go-to-market strategy.

“Over recent years we have made 2 interesting find-ings. First of all, as a company, we have seen a general increase in the demand for uncompressed transmission of video, and it would seem that a number of end-users, particularly in the transport sector, after having initially

looked at - and tried out - IP solutions have concluded that the technology is still not at a performance level which is satisfactory for observation critical applica-tions such as highways systems. Secondly we have also conducted a large number of meetings with end-users, and it is apparent from these discussions that one of the reasons for going down the IP route in the first place is, that they do not know that high camera count, drop and insert, dual redundant ring architectures are now avail-able without compressing the video”.

However, let us take a step back and look at how AMG Systems has gained its expertise and experience in uncompressed CCTV transmission solutions.

Fibre providerIn the early 1990s, there was a big push from the UK Gov-ernment to implement town centre surveillance sys-tems. This required products capable of transmitting uncompressed CCTV over distances of more than a few hundred metres. AMG undertook to design and develop a series of plug ‘n play products which were brought to market under the brand name Vision™2000. During those days most of the projects were single channel point-to-point using one or two fibres per camera and AMG developed versions both for single fibre and dual fibre applications.

According to Dr. Hayes, “We quickly discovered that the UK market for security and surveillance was one of the largest in the world, with a multitude of systems needed to cover everything from train stations, shop-ping centres, and football stadiums to conference venues and hotels”.

Working with systems integrators across the country, the company set about making a lasting impression and carving out a viable market share - and succeeded. High profile projects, such as in London’s West End, at Stam-ford Bridge, home of Chelsea Football Club, numerous town centres and a large number of universities and prisons, all use the Vision series for their current CCTV transmission.

Having successfully established itself in the market for Vision products, AMG ‘took to the road’ to talk to Sys-

Business Matters


Continuing Thinking Highways’ regular focus on European companies’ attempts to make a mark in the US, VIBEKE ULMANN talks to ALAN HAYES of UK-based AMG Systems about how and why the firm is embarking upon its TransAtlantic adventure

The infamous “Spaghetti Junction” on the outskirts of Birmingham, UK, forms part of the so-called Birmingham Box motorway network that encircles England’s second city


tems Integrators to find out where the CCTV transmis-sion market was going and to find out what were the shortfalls in functionality of the products that were avail-able at the time.

“We identified requirements in the transport sector”, explains Dr. Hayes “particularly areas looking to implement CCTV surveil-lance along roads, railways and large airport perimeters. The principles also applied to any large area CCTV system. “

In this sector, transmission systems covered huge areas, over many 100’s of km and the technology at the time used for the collection of the CCTV signals was analogue transmission. This had the limitation that a signal could only be repeated a few times before the video quality reduced significantly and thus the CCTV signals could only be transmitted to a local control room. Com-munication between control rooms was not possible. This is where AMG saw a gap in the market. The way to generate a true wide area network was to transmit the video signal in a digital format where it could be repeated effectively indefinitely. The other benefit of the digital approach was that at each repeat location, signals could be added to the fibre or dropped off from

the fibre. In this way a network could be put together that would not only collect all the video on the minimum number of fibres but could distribute these to any con-trol room on the network.

It was important though that any new technology did not reduce the quality of the video image and to this end the video was transmitted in an uncompressed dig-ital format, not throwing any of the video information away.

Dr Hayes says: “The UK market has always been ahead of the rest of the world when it comes to CCTV, and the specific requirements for the transport sector has been the main driver behind much of our product development.

“ITS and the introduction of traffic surveillance and traffic management systems in the US is a relatively new activity, and the users will have the advantage of the best possible technology made avail-able to them, as most of the teething problems have been solved. So from our point of view this is the right time to introduce our technology into the market.”

Unlimited distance and manageabilityThe first product AMG developed for transport applica-tions was the revolutionary Guardian 2800 series. This

Business Matters

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was the first product aimed at the CCTV transmission market to transmit the video in a digital format and incorporate all the functionality, such as drop and insert, unlimited distance and managability, now available because of the digital format. With this product range the system was able to replicate many of the benefits of a high integrity SDH network, but without having to com-press the video.

The Guardian technology was first tested in 2000 on the M25 orbital Motorway around London and it intro-duced the ability to drop-and-insert camera signals anywhere along the system. It also eliminated video quality degradation with distance because, as long as the repeater could detect if a bit was a 0 or a 1, it could re-create and forward a picture identical in every respect to the one taken out of the back of the camera.

It was the first time that the UK’s Highways Agency had been able to transmit video signals all the way around the M25. This gave the police the ability to look at any cameras from any location - a very significant step forward for the police at the time. Today the system is installed and regularly updated on the “Birmingham Box” – the motorways encircling the second largest city in the UK. It routes signals from many hundreds of cam-eras to many control centres from as far away as Exeter in the South West, well over 200km from Birmingham.

It also carries an Ethernet channel that allows the con-trol centres to view any DVR recorded images simulta-neously with the live images. It even operates with dual redundancy, as the images can be switched to a second

fibre in case of catastrophic fibre breakage. The system is totally dynamic and flexible. Camera signals can be dynamically routed through the Guardian transmission system to any location on the network, interfacing with third party control systems.

As the first of its kind, one could argue that Guardian solution offered true ‘anywhere to anywhere’ CCTV transmission.

Transmit more signals on one fibreIn 2003 AMG introduced the Guardian-Lite system – again this was a revolutionary design and it allowed the user to collect video signals on a single fibre, daisy chaining between each camera.

The savings to the user were enormous for large area systems - no longer did eight individually located cam-eras require eight fibres. Signals from all eight could now be transmitted on just one fibre routed between each camera.

Guardian-Lite also introduced full optical dual redun-dancy with built-in detection of a missing signal prompt-ing an automatic switchover to transmission in the other direction if installed in a ring or daisy chain configura-tion. According to Dr. Hayes, “The technology we applied meant that we could offer virtual guarantee of system integrity 24-7. We were gratified to see the market response, which included the Traffic Management Sys-tem in connection with the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004.

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Business Matters


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Business Matters

2005 when they proudly picked up the Security Excel-lence Award for Best International Achievement. Another project worth mentioning is the Channel Tun-nel Rail Link (CTRL) - the UK end of the high speed rail system for the Euro Tunnel. Phase 1 of the CTRL project applied transmission of compressed video. However, it was found that the reduction in quality and the latency caused by the compression was causing concern. The main reason for implementing CCTV surveillance on CTRL is to deter terror attacks i.e. to the points, which could have catastrophic consequences when trains travel at high speed. Latency in the transmitted picture means that you could not be absolutely sure of what you saw, and for Phase 2 it was decided to implement a solu-tion which could transmit uncompressed video.

Increased camera signalsThe last few of years have seen the global market move towards increased use of ‘IP’ for transmission of CCTV images, using different compression technologies. The reason for this are associated with taking advantage of the benefits of a single Ethernet transmission network. The compression of the video is the compromise which needs to be made to go down this route. Dr. Hayes agrees that Video over IP is a good solution for some applica-tions but has reservations about its universal appeal, especially for obser-vation critical applications like High-ways. “CCTV is an invaluable tool in managing highway systems. Whether the cameras are used for incident detection and management, for number plate monitoring, or for any of the many other applications, it is clear that the number of cameras at the road-side will continue to increase.

This raises the challenge of getting increased numbers of camera signals from the roadside to a point where they can be used or processed. However, if you compress the video signal to raise capacity, information within the video signal is discarded which cannot later be recov-ered. With the increasing use of video processing soft-ware, which benefits from the maximum amount of video content information, the process of compressing a video signal, just to make it more convenient for the transmis-sion system, starts to limit the future usefulness of the delivered video signal itself.”

“It is important to bear in mind that on a highway IP system you still have to collect the camera signals from the roadside using fibre. AMG Systems is proposing that this is done using an uncompressed dual redundant, drop and insert - daisy chain transmission system. The camera signals are then compressed at the collection point rather than at the camera and then put onto the SDH or Ethernet network. This has the advantages of lower cost collection and as compression technology moves on, the encoders can easily be replaced at the cluster point rather than at the roadside camera. This approach significantly helps to future proof the system” Dr. Hayes explains.

This point of view has lead to the latest AMG product development - the AMG 3700 series - which was launched at IFSEC in 2006. It is the first technology in the world to integrate Ethernet, Low Speed Data and Uncom-pressed Real-Time Video on a Fibre Optic CCTV Trans-mission System.

“Our latest products eliminate the need for separate IP, voice or data networks and enable significant savings in infrastructure to be achieved,” says Dr. Hayes “In a highway situation, for instance, surveillance can be car-ried out on high quality, uncompressed, real-time video images while the Ethernet carries IP traffic for variable message signs, phones, ANPR cameras and wireless systems. This approach is also beneficial in perimeter security situations, again enabling high quality video images to be relayed to the control room while allowing the access control system to be carried alongside. In every situation, it is a truly cost-effective alternative to the installation of separate Ethernet and low speed data networks.”

National prideHayes’ standpoint was substantiated when Alcatel selected the 3700 series for NRTS - a single national approach to the future communications network on Eng-

land’s motorway and trunk network which is managed and maintained by the Highways Agency.

“We were extremely proud to be selected as it proves that our product development philosophy is right. Our scope is to deliver the 3700 for collect-ing one video and distributing Ether-net at each location, with a single fibre daisy chaining between each camera. Initially the contract covers over 1000 cameras, but includes the option to expand the network to up to 7000 cam-era locations over the next 10 years”.

“Our market research shows that many cities in the US have started to implement new fibre optic rings in order to support real-time visibility of the video signal and hence support real-time control of the associated data – for example for changing position of PTZ cameras. There is an emerging understanding that deployment of ITS applications in particular are rather demanding from a networking and routing point of view, and using fibre not only provides the means for large capacity transmission of uncompressed video, it is also a cheaper solution to implement from an infrastructure point of view “, Alan Hayes concludes.

In the past year the 3700 series has been selected for numerous European projects – Dublin City Council selected the series for their ongoing expansion of the city centre and motorway surveillance in and around Dublin City, trials are on-going in France on the motor-way system around Lyon, Toll Roads in India will be using the 3700 and the company is of the opinion that the focus on ITS in the US which is currently ongoing will present a number of opportunities where AMG’s tech-nology is highly applicable. TH

“Our market research shows that many cities in the US

have started to implement new fibre

optic rings to support real-time signal visibility”


While the private market is racing to deploy and uti-lize traffic data in metropolitan areas, a project con-ducted by Wisconsin DOT, the University of Wisconsin, Short, Elliot, and Hendrickson (SEH), and INRIX is demonstrating that similar intercity information is available and cost-effective.

Through the life of the project WisDOT hopes to deter-mine just how useful this data is to support their operations. Through a process that began in summer 2006, the SEH/INRIX team is under contract to provide traffic data along the two primary routes between Milwaukee and Green Bay and a short but impor-tant connector road between those routes in Green Bay.

Key steps in the process were:• July 2006 – WisDOT/UW-Madison releases a Request

for Information seeking input on non-traditional approaches to real-time intercity traffic data collection.

• September 2006 – WisDOT releases a Request for Proposal seeking firms to deliver data along one or more key intercity corridors with no equipment on the right of way.

• November 2006 – WisDOT selects two firms to deliver

data along two separate corridors, with the SEH/INRIX team selected for the Milwaukee to Green Bay corridor.

• January 2007 – Project Mobilization and Kick-off.• June 2007 – Real-time INRIX data feeds provided to

WisDOT; acceptance testing begins.• August 2007 – Acceptance testing successfully com-

pleted, project begins operational phase.• Fall 2007 – INRIX data feed being

integrated in WisDOT’s Traffic Opera-tions Center software.

The contract calls for the SEH/INRIX team to deliver real-time data for two years, with three additional one-year option periods possible. The RFP also required submittal of pricing for pos-sible expansion of coverage, giving

WisDOT the ability to seek additional coverage at a known price through the term of the contract.

Intercity coverage areaFor those unfamiliar with Wisconsin, the area between Milwaukee and Green Bay may seem an odd place to monitor traffic flow. But those in the know will tell you that there are several reasons that this area merits more operational control than has been possible until now.


Perfect partners Judging by experience in a project underway in America’s heartland, it is with great pleasure that we can report that the future of reliable, timely and accurate traffic data in the United States has never been brighter… and that future is now, as RICK SCHUMAN explains

“The RFP also required submittal

of pricing for possible expansion

of coverage”

INRIX Traffic Operations Center

• US41 connects several sizeable cities around the western side of Lake Winnebago, one of the nation’s largest fresh water lakes, as it goes between Green Bay and Milwaukee. Fond du Lac, Oshkosh, and Appleton all generate local and through traffic along the route, with sizeable commercial vehicle traffic throughout. Oshkosh is home to the one of the world’s largest air shows, the EAA AirVenture Oshkosh, for one week each summer. The entire portion of the US41 being monitored for this project – from Mile Marker 48 to Mile Marker 171 – is limited access. With traffic volumes higher than many interstates, and growing at clips well above the national average, WisDOT and local officials are considering seeking interstate designation for the corridor.

• I-43 runs near the Lake Michigan coast connecting several smaller cit-ies – Port Washington, Sheboygan, and Manitowoc – as it routes from Milwau-kee to Green Bay. I-43 is the gateway to Door County, a unique peninsula with a thriving arts, recreation and tourist economy and near Sheboygan provides access to the Midwest’s only AAA five-star resort – the Ameri-can Club in Kohler. While traffic on I-43 along the por-tion being monitored by this project – from Mile Marker 82 to Mile Marker 192 – is usually less dense than along US41, it is subject to peak demands due to events, week-ends, etc.

• WI 172 is a six-mile limited access road that connects US41 and I-43 in the southern part of Green Bay. By mon-

itoring this facility – a requested addition WisDOT made during project development that we were able to accom-modate – the entire limited access network in the Green Bay area is being monitored in this project.

Relevant for all these roads are of course Green Bay Packer games, where for 10 times a year (and more if the Packers make the play-offs) fans from around the state use these roads to get to and from Lambeau Field.

What data is provided? How is it generated?For the road coverage described above, WisDOT accesses three different types of files from the INRIX Partner Portal: traffic speeds by road segment (using

TMC location codes – more on these later); over 30 key route travel times, between locations designated by WisDOT; and congestion alerts that can be easily integrated into Wis-DOT’s future 511 service. The files are created by leveraging the INRIX Smart Dust Network and Traffic Fusion Engine. The Smart Dust Net-

work is the nationwide system that gathers and normal-izes data from more than 250 public and private sources, including the world’s largest network of GPS-enabled probe vehicles.

The Traffic Fusion Engine uses advanced, proprietary statistical analysis to aggregate, blend and enhance the data incoming from the Smart Dust Network, ensuring highly accurate road speeds and the broadest market and road coverage available, generating real-time and


Public Private Partnerships

“The entire limited access network in

the Green Bay area is being monitored in

this project”


www.h3bmedia.com

predictive files for over 100 markets and more than 50,000 miles of roadway nationally. This project relies heavily on GPS probe vehicle data and the real-time results from the Traffic Fusion Engine.

How will the data be used?WisDOT entered into this project with the expressed aim of understanding three things:

• Can private sourced, probe-based data reliably measure conditions along intercity corridors?

• How cost effective are such approaches as compared to extend-ing traditional sensor-based approaches?

• What is the utility of this data in terms of WisDOT operations? (See the insert for the specific objectives of the project from the RFP)

With system acceptance in August 2007 after lengthy and detailed acceptance testing, WisDOT has deter-mined that this data provided by the SEH/INRIX team meets the requirements necessary (the first question) to fully explore the remaining two questions during the next two years.

Project innovationsWe are proud of several milestones and innovations that delivering this project has achieved.

This is the first project to provide operational, vehicle probe-based traffic data to a government agency. With dozens of other commercial customers also gaining

access to this data, WisDOT is not the only user of the data. This contrasts with all other similar projects to date in the US where the development has been funded by an agency primarily for agency usage, with the hope that the private partner may be able to “sell” the data to other private par-ties. This project turned the previous model on its head – almost no Wis-DOT funding went into the project in the pre-operational stage and Wis-DOT will now become an INRIX data

customer just like firms such as Microsoft, TomTom, Tel-eNav, etc.

This is the first government project that leverages the emerging private practice of utilizing TMC location codes to define road segments. Previously, the seem-ingly trivial element of defining what a road segment is and where it starts and ends has been largely done ad

“This is the first government project that leverages the emerging private

practice of utilizing TMC location codes

to define road segments”

Vol 2 No 3 Thinking Highways64

Figure 3: The Milwaukee market was expanded for the project

hoc, making expansions difficult and data sharing between parties complex to impossible.

By utilizing the same location codes that private indus-try is using and that are designed for easy integration with commercial maps from Tele Atlas and Navteq, maintenance and expansion of the road network being monitored becomes highly scalable.

Using TMC location codes – the same codes that define road segments in applications using traffic data as diverse as a navigation system in BMWs to map data dis-played on Virtual Earth-based web sites – is a practice that could help agencies overall in using private data, as well as sharing their own data with the private sector.

National networkFinally, while this project has significance within Wis-consin, it also has national implications. The Federal Highway Administration is presently developing rule-making as required by SAFETEA-LU for “Section 1201” or the Real-time System Management Information pro-gram. This program directs FHWA to work with States to create a program “to provide, in all States, the capability to monitor, in real-time, the traffic and travel conditions of the major highways of the United States...”

In May 2006, the FHWA released proposed guidance that included “monitoring” congestion along the entire National Highway System. This project can serve as the nation’s first laboratory demonstrating the potential of monitoring intercity elements of the NHS using probe vehicle methods, helping FHWA and the states deter-



mine what is needed and possible.After years of discussions and modest exploration of

probe-based traffic monitoring, in 2005 several state DOT’s, as part of the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) pooled funding to conduct a study titled Private-Sector Provision of Congestion Data.

Completed in early 2007, its authors, led by Brian Smith of the University of Virginia and Michael Fontaine of Old Dominion University, provide both an overview of work to date and straw requirements for agencies con-sidering pursing projects such as WisDOT has. It is highly recommended reading for those interested in this subject. In the study’s executive summary section focused on business models, the authors state, when referring to firms such as INRIX:

“To date, these firms have been primarily in the tech-nology and business development stages. Nearly all projects with public sector clients have been demon-stration or research efforts – few have actually been “true” data service provision agreements. Essentially, these projects may be considered as “venture capital” – providing funds to explore and develop this new means of acquiring traffic data.”

WisDOT, UW-Madison, SEH and INRIX have worked closely and successfully on the nation’s first project changing this paradigm. TH

For more information visit www.inrix.com or email Rick Schuman at [email protected]

Volume 2 • Issue 3 • September/October 2007

THINKINGHIGHWAYS

NORTH AMERICAN EDITION

Advanced transportation management policy • strategy • technology

finance • innovation • implementation integration • interoperability

the

INTELLIGENTchoice

EDUCATING RITAShelley Row: “The ITS program is at a point where we can rethink how to move forward”

ADVANCING SLOWLYPhil Tarnoff’s dismay at the

publlc sector’s technology take-up

WATCHING THE DETECTORSCCTV for ITS comes under

the scrutiny of Bruce Abernethy

COMMON RAILAmy Zuckerman on the

rise of the autotrain

CAUSE FOR THOUGHTInside the mind of Russ Shields

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THINKING HIGHWAYS

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WHEREVER YOU ARE, DON’T MISS OUT!

Everybody thinks that Ygomi and its companies are totally focused on high technology, but much of our technology supports people doing jobs that nobody would think of as being high-tech. For example, one of our companies takes orders remotely for drive-through lanes at McDonald’s. Burgers and shakes aren’t high-tech. You may think you’re talking with the restau-rant, but if our agent is taking your order, you may be talking with someone in a farmhouse in rural North Dakota. When we do our job right, you won’t be able to tell the difference, except that the line moves faster, the order is more accurate, and the manager is managing the restaurant instead of taking orders.

Being able to do that effectively did require a lot of technology behind the scenes. We built a whole telephony platform to support work-at-home customer service agents which provides high-quality voice com-munications over the Internet. In the process, we basi-cally created “light-weight”, fully-functional call centers that we can create very quickly wherever we can hook up a PC or two to a high-speed internet connection.

Technology we developed for non-ITS purposes ended up being thoroughly applicable to telematics. Our telematics company, Connexis LLC, is one of the major sponsors of the ITS World Congresses in Beijing this year and New York in 2008. The call center technol-ogy we built for McDonald’s order-taking turns out to be a very effective foundation for delivering next genera-tion telematics, and Connexis is putting it to good use. Cost-justifying the telephony platform development just for telematics would have been very hard. The market at this point just isn’t big enough. But because the platform was built in response to an enormous McDonald’s opportunity, we could justify the necessary US$30m-plus investment.

T Russell ShieldsFounder and Chairman, Ygomi LLC, Oak Brook, IL

The Thought Process


This technology transfer is a bit of serendipity for telematics. Telematics, of course, is a very different application, supporting vehicle manufacturers in serv-ing their customers – updating maps, putting destina-tions into navigation systems, telling you where the closest pharmacy is, providing detailed directions, etc. The customer service agents need a different skill set and different training than for taking food orders.

But, the technology underpinnings have translated extremely well. Using light-weight call centers, we can locate telematics agents in the same area as the telemat-ics customers. That means that a caller is more likely to get an agent who has local knowledge about destina-tions, directions, restaurant recommendations and other location-sensitive services. As the customer base grows, so does the likelihood of getting locally knowledgeable support.

Delivering high-quality service at a modest cost is something of an art, but it isn’t rocket science. We have the advantage, I think, of coming to telematics and ITS from a software and systems background. It gives us a particular perspective on how software can leverage the power of devices and of people.

For example, one of our approaches, called People-Assisted Computer Systems (PACS) helps us deliver call center services inexpensively using speech recog-nition at a quality level higher than ordinarily comes only from using dedicated live agents. If the PACS speech recognition engine understands the user’s spo-ken request at a high confidence level, it just responds appropriately.

If the threshold confidence level is not reached, the system presents a live agent with a compressed version of the user’s voice request and the system’s best inter-pretations of the request. If one of the interpretations is right, the agent just clicks it and lets the automated sys-

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

information and management”

“Unless there are so many negatives associated with VII, then there is little

reason to change the name. If someone can think of real negatives, please tell”

tem proceed uninterrupted. If not, the agent can enter the conversation seamlessly without making the user wait. We’ve made this approach available to several major vehicle manufacturers already.

We are also thinking hard about the future. When telematics first came onto the scene, mobile phones were not yet in everyone’s pockets and the Internet was just starting to emerge. The business models for current telematics operations are mostly still stuck in that era. For example, it’s been clear to us for several years that subscription-based telematics has limitations. In some situations, subscriptions can be hazardous to your health.

People want many of the serv-ices only once in a while - like when they are on vacation. They are happy to pay for usage then. But that may be three years after they bought their car and they do not want to pay a subscription for services that they do not use often.

Similarly, for services like remote door unlock, a modest per-use fee, say in the region of US$25, charged only when the service is needed, seems much more sensible to me than a subscription, especially for careful people who don’t expect to lose their keys.

In the future I hope to see greater road safety through connected vehicles. It’s one of the reasons that Ygomi spends almost as much time working with wireless communications as we do on the rest of ITS. Ygomi main-tains a strong presence at the Telecommunications Industry Association and in efforts like the EU-funded

CVIS and SafeSpot projects. I have chaired ISO/TC204’s working group 16 on long-range communications for ITS for almost 15 years. The most significant ISO ITS project is CALM, a set of umbrella protocols that will make it easier for vehicles to transparently use a variety of communications technologies and to keep connected as the technologies evolve. CALM is already being used in the CVIS project.

A big future item for Ygomi and for me personally is getting probe processing to work well. The concept is to gather sensor readings from many vehicles and to

merge that data, along with data from other sources, into a near-real-time picture of the driving environment that’s better than any vehicle can create on its own. By sending that picture back to the vehicles, their on-board safety systems will be able to perform better. I’ve been thinking about probe processing since the early 1990s and, with others, gently try-ing to nudge the industry in its direction.

The technology to make safety-oriented probe processing feasi-

ble and economic is here now. With Bluetooth to make the connection between the vehicle’s systems and the driver’s mobile phone, warnings for hazardous condi-tions, like the bridge ahead is becoming very slippery, are ready for rollout in new vehicles soon.

The next few years are going to be very interesting and, I hope, very rewarding for everyone. TH

Interview by Kevin Borras

“It’s been clear to us for several years that

subscription-based telematics has

limitations. In some situations, subscriptions

can be hazardous to your health”


The Thought Process



Something in the air

the basic location method (triangulation and statistics- based on cell tower position) which can’t provide relia-ble data. Coming from a totally different angle, Cellint’s TrafficSense doesn’t require cell tower location, but uses cellular signaling signature over the road to generate its information.

Added valueAs a result of its different method, TrafficSense provides comprehensive traffic data in highly dense urban areas while differentiating between neighboring roads, even if these are down to 20 yards apart.

TrafficSense also addresses the needs and challenges of traffic agencies and road operators to find a reliable solution for ubiquitous traffic data collection, delivering accurate and relevant data in real time for much lower cost, while maintaining the accuracy to support road management activities as well as traveler information systems.

Cellint’s application allows for real-time incident detection with a delay of only a few minutes. This also ensures highly accurate travel times to be delivered

Recent studies show that US cell phone penetration rate has already reached more than 80 per cent and in only six years it is about to surge past 100 per cent, as has already happened in many other countries worldwide.

The founders of Cellint Traffic Solutions thought that using cellular floating car data (CFCD) for traffic man-agement and traveler information could solve the inher-ent problems related to the traditional technologies for monitoring traffic, such as high cost, problematic road construction, slow deployment, etc. After few years of extensive R&D work, Cellint has developed an innova-tive and unique method to extract traffic speeds and incident alerts (i.e. slow-down detection) similar to road sensors, as well as highly accurate travel time, by ana-lyzing signals of anonymous mobile phones traveling on the roads.

Many technologies have been tested in the US over the past 10 years, trying to provide good CFCD. All of them repeatedly failed at independent evaluation and their data was found to be partially accurate or not accu-rate at all. The main reason for all these failures lies in

Floating Car Data


MICHAL ESHKOL looks at how cellular floating car data is starting to make waves

based on short link measurements and aggregation (250 yards in urban areas). For the first time, it is possi-ble to manage a full metro area and not only specific hotspot locations (as provided by sensors), including highways, arterials and major surface streets, with one system. Deployment of a full metro area can be provided in only a few months and can upgrade the capability of commuters to plan their schedule and respond in real time to changes in traffic conditions.

TrafficSense can be easily deployed and doesn’t require any disruptive roadworks, construction zones or diversions in order to be activated. This provides Depart-ments of Transportation and road management compa-nies a tremendous return on investment, while mitigating congestion and increasing road efficiency. During the past year, Cellint’s systems have been deployed over thousands of miles in the USA, Europe and Israel.

Georgia on my mindCellint’s project along the GA-400 and adjacent arteri-als in Atlanta, GA is one example which demonstrates TrafficSense’s capability to be quickly deployed and

activated (in only few months) and to deliver high qual-ity traffic data which is used both for traffic management and for traveler information. This project was initiated when the incumbent sensor system on the GA-400 was partially disabled due to a large construction project. Therefore there was an urgent need to provide travel information on this important corridor, to mitigate traffic jams and to manage the alternative routes.

The data is integrated with the central control system of the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) in order to be displayed on Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) and on the NAVIGATOR - the official web site of Georgia DOT at http://www.georgia-navigator.com/maps/atlanta.

As part of this project, GDOT was assisted by an inde-pendent consultancy firm that validated the perform-ance of TrafficSense by comparing Cellint’s traffic data (based on anonymous data generated from the cellular network) in real-time to the road detectors’ data for dif-ferent speed ranges. This independent report which was published in May 2007 determined that TrafficSense data matched the sensors’ data very closely (less than 5

Floating Car Data


per cent average difference) during congested and free-flow times, for all speed ranges.

This independent report is a historical footstep for the ITS industry worldwide since it is the first time, after more than 10 years of disappointment from other tech-nologies, that an independent evaluation report has validated a cellular FCD system as a reliable solution for road management and traveler information in all speed ranges.

Cellint’s data was also validated at another US project, namely the Kansas Department of Transportation (KDOT) in Kansas City. In this project, road traffic data generated by the TrafficSense system was compared with the existing road sensor data of the SCOUT system. This project proved again Cellint’s TrafficSense capa-bility to deliver accurate travel times and quick alerts on slowdowns (of less than 6 minutes delay in detecting slowdowns). Several other similar pilots in Europe and the Middle East demonstrated even better results due to a better penetration rate of the cellular systems.

“This technological breakthrough is expected to dra-matically change the way we manage our roadways and serve our commuters”, says Ofer Avni, Cellint’s CEO. “We expect hundreds of thousands of miles to be deployed in the next few years. It will not be just nice colors on the map that don’t reflect the current traffic status, like some companies are offering today, but rather a highly accurate traffic mapping solution pro-vided in real time”.

Proper performanceOne on the major hurdles in choosing FCD systems is how to make sure you are getting proper data that accu-

rately represents the traffic situation. Averaging speed over an entire day will always show good results, since most of the time traffic is flowing freely and any slow-down detection error will disappear under long enough statistics.

Most of the current FCD solutions, including GPS aggregators and licence plate readers that are deployed far apart will take hours to detect slowdowns. Even pre-vious cellular-based solutions demonstrated 40-50 minute delays in detecting speed changes over major urban highways. This issue, as one of the most important tasks of any traffic data collection system, is not easy to test, since a test drive will rarely reach the point on the road at exactly the time when slowdown starts.

Probably the only way to measure accurately speed changes in real time is to look at road sensors data, which reflects immediately a slowdown that occurs at their exact location. Then you can compare it to the FCD reports at that location, and compare the dramatic speed reductions in both systems. Although the sensors pro-vide point speed, which is different than link speed pro-vided by FCD solution, this difference will not be significant when only relative speed drops are being considered.

A few minutes delay in detecting slowdowns and less than 5 miles per hour error in average speed, in every speed range, are acceptable performance that should be insisted upon when using good floating car data solutions.

Limitations of wireless FCDWhen planning on using wireless-based floating vehi-cle data systems there are some limitations that should be kept in mind, in order to make an informed decision.

Long delays in detecting slowdowns late at night, due to low usage, is one of the major limitations. However, since less than 1 per cent of the congestion will occur at these hours, such a compromise will usually make sense.

Another limitation is measuring volume. This can be done by a wireless-based floating vehicle system only on a sampling basis and not as an accurate count, since active cell phones are only a small part of the phones which travel on the road. Due to this same reason, if only a few vehicles are traveling over a road per hour (e.g. less than 500 vehicles per hour), a wireless system will not have enough sample rate to provide accurate data. However, as soon as an incident occurs the density of vehicles on the specific road section will increase, and proper data can be provided.

Other planning features, such as lane by lane resolu-tion, are also not possible with such a system. However, origin destination information and other similar bene-fits can compensate for this.

Cellular-based traffic data collection has become a mature technology after many years of failure and broken promises. How it will change the industry in the next few years, though, remains to be seen! TH

For more information on Cellint please visit the website at www.cellint.com

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Funding and Finance


Recently the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) in District 5 contracted Telvent Farradyne Inc to provide design/build services for the north-ern expansion of the Daytona Area Smart Highways (DASH) intelligent transportation system.

The expansion covers Interstate I-95 from US 1 in Volusia County to US 1 in St. Johns County. This eight-month project is valued at US$2.434m.

FDOT District 5 is the fastest growing district in the state, covering nine counties and nearly 9,000 square miles. It includes the major cities of Daytona Beach, DeLand, Melbourne, Merritt Island, Ocala, Orlando, and Titusville. District 5’s 3.1m residents help log its 55.6m vehicle miles traveled daily.

DASH provides traffic surveillance, incident manage-ment, and traveler information along I-4 and I-95 district-wide. FDOT’s District 5 maintains and operates DASH from the Orlando Regional Traffic Management Center, while the secondary control center is located at the City of Daytona Beach. The Florida Patrol (FHP) is


Biggerbetter faster more!

collocated at the TMC, and uses incident information collected by DASH dispatch response vehicles along the Interstates. District 5 headquarters in DeLand has a dial-up connection to review data and can control the variable message signs (VMS) and closed-circuit televi-sion (CCTV) cameras.

The proposed northern expansion of the ITS DASH system (DASH IV) will add to the already impressive systems completed by FDOT under DASH I and II, and most significantly the DASH III system, well underway. The DASH northern expansion project consists of design and installation of two types of vehicle detection, closed circuit television cameras, and dynamic message signs using new fiber optic communications infrastructure with a gigabit Ethernet system, and integrated with existing components and an advanced traffic manage-ment system.

Telvent will incorporate the new master hubs into existing microwave towers for an extra layer of redun-dancy through the microwave system in the future. In

addition, an IP network will be setup and the cameras will use multicasting, allowing all the agencies in Cen-tral Florida to share the video. This will also decrease the amount of bandwidth required by the system. This ITS expansion will provide incident management and traveler information to motorists, warning them of sig-nificant congestion and delay.

And the winner is...FDOT awarded the DASH expansion project to Telvent Farradyne (Telvent), a company owned by Telvent G.I.T. SA (Nasdaq: TLVT), a Global RealTime IT Company spe-cializing in high value-added products, services and integrated solutions for the Energy, Transportation, Environment and Public Administration industry seg-ments, as well as Global IT Services.

Telvent led the design and construction oversight of the original DASH system to providing Construction Engineering and Inspection Services for the ambitious DASH I, II, and III projects. Telvent, headquartered in


BECKY BOUWMAN reports from Florida as the Sunshine State expands the Daytona Smart Highway

Smart Highways

Smart Highways


Maryland, has four offices in Florida that enable it to serve FDOT by providing local support overseeing a wide variety of transportation projects. Other Telvent team members include the companies o Atlas, Tenn-Comm, ACS and Nordarse Associates.The three major ITS subsystems required include:

1) the driver information system through the use of Dynamic Messaging Signs (DMS);

2) the surveillance system through the use of CCTV cameras and

3) traffic monitoring through the use of Vehicle Detec-tor Systems (VDS). These systems are to be integrated using a fiber optic backbone and communications end equipment for control from the Orlando RTMC.

The DMS subsystem will disseminate roadway trave-ler information, corridor traffic conditions, and special alerts such as Amber Alerts to motorists along the cor-ridor in advance of interchanges. It will also consist of electronically controlled display elements and sign intensity controls, lighting modules, field controllers, end communications equipment, and cabling between the sign controller, cabinet, and the DMS sign face. Two large walk-in mainline DMS to be designed as part of this project will be full matrix LED type.

The CCTV subsystem will include the camera, zoom lens, environmental enclosure, pan/tilt unit, control/receiver, and all miscellaneous hardware, and inciden-tal components required to deliver a completely opera-tional CCTV subsystem. The CCTV cameras will also provide a 360º field-of-view. A vehicle detection sub-system will be installed to monitor, collect, and process real-time traffic data including volume, speed, and lane occupancy.

Traffic data gathered from the detection subsystem is used to detect congestion, monitor traffic conditions, and identify incidents. The data is also used for assess-ing traffic conditions, disseminating pertinent informa-tion to travelers, sharing information with other agencies, data archiving, transportation planning, and historical data analysis.

Manuel Sánchez, Telvent G.I.T.’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, said “We are highly satisfied to help the FDOT improve their highways and infrastructure. The FDOT has turned to design/build to expedite project delivery, and Telvent is very happy to be able to help them achieve this important goal.”

The estimated completion date of the project is August 2008. TH

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T-Focus

Vol 2 No 3 Thinking Highways76

Let’s say you’re the Executive Director of a toll authority using a brand-new Electronic Toll Collec-tion (ETC) system that’s working just fine. What would you care about whether the software was open design or not? Quite honestly, you probably won’t give it much thought. But there are four conditions when the question becomes important to the point of critical.

1) What if the vendor who developed the software goes out of business?

2) What if the maintenance of the software becomes unwieldy, either in its frequency or cost, or both?

3) What if you want to bring the maintenance in house?

4) What if you want to bid out expansions, enhance-ments or upgrades?

Open design avoids vendor lock-inIn our industry, it is common for software development to be proprietary to the vendor. In other words, vendors develop ETC software with their own unique program-ming, and they own it when it’s completed. That’s a closed design. And while a copy of the software may exist in escrow somewhere, under what conditions will it be released to you, if at all? Will it be the latest, updated

Open to question

version? Will it run on your platform? Will other pro-grammers be able to work with it?

The real question is this: “Am I simply locked in to the vendor who built my system?” With open design the answer is no. And if the vendor hands you the source code upon completion of the system, your future is wide open. You are free to expand, enhance, or extend in any way you like.

Standards aren’t likely soon, thoughThere has been a great deal of discussion about requir-ing the use of open systems standards and custom soft-ware documentation. Such requirements may be helpful, but they would not be sufficient to ensure that a different system integrator can work efficiently on your system when you want to make upgrades or enhancements. And it doesn’t make sense to wait for standard interfaces to be agreed upon by toll agencies and vendors, since the process would take years.

Using a truly open design, however, will not only open up your future, it will cleanly separate your subsystems in the present. This modularity, characterized by loose coupling and low cohesion is the hallmark of good, reli-able object-oriented design. In the development proc-ess, open design also gives careful consideration to

So just how crucial to the success of your ETC system is open design software? CHARLIE MITCHELL puts a very convincing case forward for “extremely”...

where agency-specific business rules are implemented and creates simple, extensible interfaces between the subsystems. Open design, which fully implements strict and complete modular design coupled with well-defined interfaces, can create an open-ended system where competing suppliers can reasonably furnish dif-ferent parts, thereby maintaining a competitive pro-curement environment.

With technology lock-in removed, multiple vendors can bid on extensions to existing systems as well as upgrades. The end result is that toll authorities get better pricing on toll systems and enjoy more options in the future.

Faulty Software Leads To a Closed SystemSpecifying and building open designs is not complex, and designers, as a rule, do not intentionally create sys-tems that are difficult to understand. They don’t have to. Without careful, systematic planning, software quickly becomes convoluted and mysterious. But rather than going back and refactoring , too many software devel-opers simply pile new code on top of old, and before you know it, no one but the author can understand or modify the software. Examples include:

1) interfaces which are based on invalid assumptions about the business rules and behavior of the system;

2) code which is cut and pasted rather than drawn from a common library;

3) data format transformation where text strings are converted first to numbers, then to text, then back to numbers;

4) large complex main functions; 5) dead code left in place.

T-Focus

77Thinking Highways Vol 2 No 3

Any time minor changes cause unexpected failures (sometimes in remote parts of the software) or require extensive re-testing of the entire application, poor design is in place. Other examples of typical mistakes include proprietary data flow, data structures not designed for expansion, obscure programming tech-niques, storing partially processed data and processing data multiple times.

The open approachImplemented correctly, open design yields a clean architecture with a simple data flow, data structures designed for growth, business logic localized by design, and data that is handled and stored as few times and in as few places as possible.

Let’s take a database design example where a cus-tomer account is represented by a row in an account table. A developer with limited vision might decide that an account can have up to four cars with four tags and that each account can be stored in a single row of the table.

It is quick and easy, but it does not support future non-toll EPS. With a small incremental effort, standard Entity-Relationship design will separate the master account from the individual humans who will also be separated from the tags and the vehicles.

Is this exact design the only right one? No, that’s not the point. The point is to have a simple (i.e., conven-tional, not with proprietary concepts) entity relationship that does not limit what future developers can do. The result is that the design can now be extended to new applications without changing the database schema. Besides, it is simply the right way to implement good

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database optimization (normalization).The key is that while the immediate functional require-

ments may be loudly presenting themselves, system designers need to plan for an unknown future. Open design allows for this kind of flexibility.

More about standardsAre there standards that guarantee designs which are easily understood by others? Unfortunately, no. No rel-evant standards exist. But attention can be paid to bring-ing similar sets of standards together. For example, the New Hampshire Department of Transportation took a step in the right direction when they requested that the interface between their toll system Customer Service Center be designed like the E-ZPass Inter-Agency Group interface for reciprocity between peer-to-peer Customer Service Centers.

This gave the interface developers a common frame of reference. Ideally, all agencies should make an effort to collaborate like this, and to develop standards for inter-

faces between system components at all levels.In addition, for an open system, commercial products

are now better choices than proprietary solutions. For example, message queues like IBM’s MQ Series or Microsoft’s Message Queue are preferable to custom-written solutions, because other developers can more readily use and support them since their capabilities are well known.

Short-term costsObviously, long-term costs can be reduced by an open-design approach, but what about short-term costs? Will it drive up initial procurement costs? The answer is no, it should not. In fact, it should lower vendor development costs, because it requires them to define interfaces and data structures carefully in advance.

This method has been proven to be cost-effective in many cases. And though it is possible that there could be some artificial repercussion on prices set by vendors who were counting on lock-in for future revenue, real

costs should be lower.As mentioned above, some day you may decide you’d

like to maintain and/or extend your system using inter-nal resources. If a vendor is unwilling to provide you with source code and licenses to allow you to modify the software yourself, chances are they are hoping to lock you in to their services. In an open design, your system and your license provide you with the ability to bring your maintenance in house or bid it out to other vendors.

Open design procurementIf you’re looking to acquire a low-cost system that will serve you well in the short term and open your options for the future, make sure that you require the vendor to:

• Bid on the original work with the understanding that open design is a key requirement. Make maintainability and extendibility part of the proposal evaluation proc-ess and criteria.

• Explain how modularity is implemented prior to contract award and at all design reviews.

• Implement strict object-oriented design (not a pro-cedural design in an object-oriented language.)

• Design for future expansion. Future capabilities need to be specified with the same level of detail as cur-rent capabilities, when the system is being built.

• Use current, standard coding languages and meth-ods like Java and C-sharp, and real object-oriented

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design and database normalization.• Apply industry standards, even if they are not perfect

fits. An interface derived from a standard is better than a proprietary one.

• Thoroughly document interfaces between sub-sys-tems with interface control documents.

• Include design document revision as part of any soft-ware maintenance contract.

Growing forwardAs toll agencies look to future opportunities such as sell-ing their facilities to private operators, an open-design system that can be modified by a variety of vendors to meet a new set of requirements should be much easier to sell. To be viewed as an exceptional asset, a toll sys-tem needs to be viewed as readily extensible, and have the documentation to prove it.

An open design can enhance that perception, as well as increasing the overall value of the system itself. But even if you’re not contemplating a sale, open design helps your agency grow forward keeping all its options open for expansion or change. Open design eliminates vendor lock-in and puts you in a situation where you’re doing business with the vendors you want to work with, not the ones you have to. TH

Charlie Mitchell is Senior Vice President at TRMI Systems Integration


Installing fiber beside a motorway can be a bit like trying to do maintenance work on a moving car - it can be done, but only with great difficulty and lots of interruptions.

Now, of course, we know that intelligent transport sys-tems are invaluable in the alleviation of traffic conges-tion. Each year, we see the development of information technologies that can help reduce travel times, pollu-tion and fuel consumption, while enhancing the relevant authorities’ ability both to anticipate (and avoid) prob-lems and to achieve faster response times when emer-gencies arise.

Traditional installation = traditional delaysAs an end in themselves, intelligent transport systems are, therefore, hard to argue against. The best means to achieving that end are somewhat less clear-cut. Tradi-

tionally, the installation of fiber beside a motorway has required at least the hard shoulder and often the first lane to be coned off. Why? Because trenches need to be dug, ducting has to be brought on site and installed, soil has to be backfilled and finally (if you’re lucky) ducts have to be covered up with as-dug materials.

Such invasive work simply replicates the very prob-lems that it is meant to eliminate: clogged lanes and haz-ardous conditions. It could be argued that such inconveniences are temporary. This is true, up to a point. That is, up to the point when the network needs to be expanded, upgraded or maintained, in which case the whole process has to be done all over again, the inter-ruptions repeating, the costs mounting.

So, traditional fiber installation beside motorways requires a lot of time, armies of technicians and a fleet of heavy equipment. Then there’s the increased safety

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A blow-by-blow account of how to keep the traffic flowing during fiber installation

Up in a down world

hazards - not least to the people doing the installation work. And of course, there are the associated costs: not cheap. This all adds up to a situation where intelligent transport systems (extremely desirable) can be imple-mented only through considerable disruption over a considerable amount of time (not so desirable).

It needn’t be that wayGiven all this, no one could be blamed for asking if there’s a better way to do all this. With that in mind, let’s try to imagine a more attractive scenario. It would involve fewer workers (reducing dangers and costs), lighter equipment (reducing time and costs) and quicker instal-lation and modification (reducing costs and downtime).

Unrealistic? Not at all. There is, in fact, a faster, more efficient way to install fiber beside motorways, a method that makes life a lot easier in terms of manpower and equipment, and which can be done in a fraction of the time needed by traditional methods.

In addition, it has the crucial benefit of allowing the network to be expanded, upgraded and maintained without the need for further digging: once the core ducts have been dug in and filled over, the ground need not be worked again.

Blown fiber - the intelligent alternativeThe technology in question is called blown fiber. It’s been around a while now, and is used around the world. “The idea behind blown fiber is fairly straightforward,” says Tibor van Melsem Kocsis, Commercial Director at Emtelle, a pioneer in blown fiber production and development.

“Instead of being pulled through tubes, fiber is blown through them. This has several advantages over tradi-tional methods, but the ones most relevant to motorway applications are that it’s quicker, involves lighter equip-ment, requires less personnel and is relatively simple. Once the ducts are in place, the fiber can be blown in and out with ease from a central blowing point. This min-imises the initial investment in the network (no need for lots of costly redundant fiber that might never be used). It also ensures that any future investment in the network can be done only when justified by requirements (think of it as pay-as-you-grow).”

Blown fiber reduces the total cost of ownership of a network. Day-one capital expenses are kept to a mini-mum thanks to reduced manpower/equipment costs and the elimination of surplus fiber. Ongoing operating

expenses are also reduced: when the network needs to be modified or repaired, there’s no need for extensive, expensive civil engineering work. The upshot: maxi-mum uptime.

Furthermore, the flexibility of blown fiber makes it the ideal candidate for a wide range of ITS services: change-able message signs, dynamic route navigation, toll sys-tems, vehicle positioning systems, telematics services, etc. And as van Melsem Kocsis points out, “The owner of the network might not provide all of these services, but can lease the infrastructure out to other companies. What all this means is that blown fiber can both reduce costs and increase revenues. “

Faster, easier, saferWith blown fiber technology, tube bundles can be installed at speeds of up to 2km a day, using just a few technicians. In addition, up to 8km of four-fiber can be blown in per day. These installation rates are signifi-cantly faster than traditional fiber-laying methods. In addition, blowing distances are up to 1km.

If fiber is blown from a centre point, splicing needs to be done only every 2km. Should an application involve distances shorter than this (any many applications do), then no splicing at all would be needed. This beats con-ventional technologies hands down - less splicing means less work and less risk of damage. Also, with blown fiber installation methods, fiber is introduced only after the tubes have been installed, which minimises the danger of fiber being damaged during installation.

Unsurprisingly, van Melsem Kocsis believes that Emtelle leads the way when it comes to blown fiber, offering more in terms of experience, innovation, prod-


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SIDEBAR - CONVENTIONAL VS FIBREFLOWTM

Conventional techniques Emtelle’s fibreflow• Elevated traffic management requirements • Reduced traffic management requirements• Significant traffic flow disruption during all procedures • Minimal traffic flow disruption (none during cable installation)• High reliance on heavy equipment • Compact, lightweight equipment• Labour-intensive • Low manpower requirements• Time-consuming procedures • Time-saving procedures• Multiple splice points, involving more work and greater risk • Long blowing distances from a centre point• Risk of damaged fibre during combined tube/fibre installation • No risk of fiber damage during tube bundle installation

Amey M8 blowing through an A609 pillar in Scotland


uct development and employee expertise. Its fibreflowtm blown fiber technology has been deployed in many projects around the world, including several intelligent transport systems (see sidebar for example). “Our com-pany has a profound understanding of the many issues that arise in such applications, and we’ll apply all our resources to design solutions that best meet the particu-lar requirements of specific projects.”

Figure 1 above shows the products that might be used to install an intelligent transport system beside a motor-way. Emtelle’s comprehensive range of products is pro-duced to the most stringent specifications and forms a streamlined, completely integrated system that can be modified at a snap.

This ensures maximum design flexibility and opera-tional efficiency, while offering customers greater peace of mind in the knowledge that their needs will be met promptly and precisely.

The best way aheadIt makes sense that a system designed to reduce traffic congestion should cause as little traffic congestion as possible when being installed. Blown fiber does that. It’s less intrusive than traditional methods, and can be up and running more quickly. And once an infrastructure is installed, any future changes to it can be completed as unobtrusively as possible.

Finally, customers rightly want to be sure that the com-pany providing their blown fiber solution offers com-prehensive, manageable, high-performance solutions based on world-class products and the highest levels of expertise. “And that,“ according to van Melsem Kocsis, “is where Emtelle and its fibreflow technology really come into their own, optimizing the flow of motorway information and the flow of motorway traffic.” TH

SIDEBAR - M8 PROJECT

M8 motorway, Scotland

The M8 is one of the busiest motorways in Scotland, connecting the country’s two largest cities, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Having been approached by its long-term customer C-Plan about installing fiber for traffic matrix signs, Emtelle deployed a range of fibreflow sub ducts for mole ploughing applications (in which cables are installed underground with the minimum amount of disturbance to the terrain). Emtelle has been manufacturing a range of these sub ducts for a number of years with great success in rural areas throughout the UK and Ireland.

Because of the speed of installation, major cost savings were achieved, with tube bundles being installed up to 2km per day with a small team. Fibre was installed at a rate of 8km per day for four-fiber. In all, 22km of fibre was installed in a matter of days. Blowing distances achieved in the tube bundles reached 1000m for four-fibre bundles. Fibers were blown from a centre point, enabling splice points every 2km. Using Emtelle’s pre-fleeted fiber pans rather than cumbersome cable drums meant that a centre blow took only 5 minutes more than 2 x 1000m blows. In this project, more than 10km of tube bundle was installed by C-Plan with no issues.

Figure 1: How to install a motorway ITS system, the Emtelle way

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Driving LifeLeading the world in technology solutions for safety and mobility

All too often we communicate with other drivers only by flashing lights, sounding

horns, making brief eye contact, and with short gestures. But for the most part, we

remain unaware of interesting and important information from other road users.

Volkswagen is using new communication technologies that actually enable

vehicles to communicate with each other and with the infrastructure. The result

is a qualified exchange of information that ensures greater safety, efficiency,

comfort and driving enjoyment.

For example, vehicle-to-vehicle communication can warn of traffic hold-ups like

the end of a traffic jam just around the curve ahead. Communicating road signs

can actively inform drivers of potential hazard zones and make those data

available in the vehicle.

We predict that direct communication and conversations between vehicles will

be considered completely normal in the not-too-distant future.



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With traffic congestion increasing throughout major American cities, government authorities, busi-nesses and consumers are all looking to real-time traffic data providers to deliver valuable solutions to traffic management issues.

This increased demand for data is driving the techno-logical advances in the ITS market. As a result, with sig-nificant advances in technologies, coupled with continually increasing congestion in urban and intercity roadways, the market opportunity across the United States continues to grow.

In addition, ABI Research estimates that by 2012 there could be up to 12.5m users of traffic data in North Amer-ica alone.

WiSE versus everything else When it comes to providing the most relevant and useful traffic information, Wireless Signal Extraction (WiSE) Technology leads the way. As opposed to traditional sensors and predictive and GPS-based approaches, WiSE Technology (referred to as cell phone probes or floating car data in the past) covers far more roadways with more accurate and reliable traffic information.

In an effort to capitalize on the effectiveness of WiSE Technology, Atlanta-based AirSage has secured a part-nership with a major US wireless carrier. This relation-ship, which is one of a kind in the United States, allows AirSage access to the signalling data from more than 51m anonymous cell phones.

Unconven wisdomWiSE Technology is poised to lead the market in real-time traffic information, says TOM BOUWER


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tional

WiSE Technology allows for true, real-time data that is available 24/7. Using select algorithms, the software extracts and aggregates anonymous wireless network data to provide true real-time traffic information to a broad cross-section of customers affected by traffic flow, incidents and congestion. The resulting traffic informa-tion is accurate, timely, and reliable on an unprece-dented scale. In comparison to WiSE Technology, traditional hardware-based solutions for traffic man-agement (eg, sensors and cameras) cover a small per-centage of the road networks, suffer breakdown rates of up to 40 per cent and are expensive to install and main-tain. They also require long deployment lead-times and work zones during implementation.


The combination of predictive models and GPS is another perceived way to provide real-time traffic infor-mation, but it too comes with significant drawbacks. More than 55 per cent of congestion is non-recurring, and therefore cannot be predicted. Additionally, many vehicles with GPS do not mimic normal driving patterns (eg, trucks that drive at night, taxis that patrol specific areas). While the number of vehicles equipped with GPS is increasing, the volume of units and the reporting fre-quency offer little to no value to traffic flow information. Vehicles equipped with GPS represent less than 0.003 percent of all vehicles on the road, some reporting only once an hour.

What’s in it for me?Better data allows drivers and commer-cial vehicle operators to make better informed decisions on which route to take and the best times to drive, thus saving time on daily commutes and routine routes. Transportation profes-sionals can also make smarter deci-sions in terms of congestion mitigation, load balancing and transportation planning. For the navigation market and the public, this level of traffic infor-mation is invaluable. By having access to this previously unavailable data, drivers will be able to get complete traffic flow informa-tion either through a navigation device, mobile device or the Internet. This will provide commuters with the information they need to make better decisions about their commute: when to leave, which roads to take, when to take an alternative and when to just stay in traffic and “wait it out.” All of this will save people time and help reduce congestion. The benefit to the economy is a reduction in lost time, improved productivity and reduced pollution caused by cars sitting in congestion.

For transportation professionals, real-time data will influence several major planning categories: emer-gency and evacuation planning, work zones, large event traffic management and transportation planning.

To help local, regional and federal agencies better manage unexpected traffic issues during times of civil emergencies (eg, natural disasters, terrorist attacks), up-to-the-minute, real-time traffic data will enable real-time decision making for efficient evacuation and emer-

gency response management. This data provides insight into the most efficient comings and goings of first responders and other essential personnel.

Better information also means better management of work zone issues such as congestion, speed enforce-ment, contractor performance and worker and driver safety. WiSE Technology allows planners a before, dur-ing and after snapshot of traffic through the work zone. Real-time information would also be available for arte-rial roads, illustrating potential congestion buildup on secondary roadways.

So what if you’re planning a large scale event? Con-certs, sporting events, conventions, etc, all draw large crowds to one location, a recipe for a traffic nightmare. Real-time traffic information helps event coordinators manage traffic flow in and around event areas. Up-to-the-minute travel times also help event attendees plan to arrive at their destination with time to spare.

Traditionally, traffic planners were required to make a sizable investment in time and money to gain any mean-ingful insight into the volume, flow and patterns of local and regional traffic. Now, with WiSE Technology, ITS planners are able to utilize a more efficient approach. Real-time traffic data provides accurate volume move-ment information within and between Transportation Analysis Zones, allowing for more effective planning.

The data gathered is not only to be used in traditional planning methods. Traffic flow information will also be extremely useful in the development of congestion pric-

ing. A New York Times editorial recently stated that congestion pricing is the “biggest green initiative” on the hori-zon. Charging people for the right to drive into a downtown area, already a reality in Europe and Asia, has yet to make it to North America, but pending funding, it is just around the corner.

Once it does make it to our shores, real-time traffic providers will be set to supply invaluable data for the development of pricing structure and route selection.

The bottom lineCompanies like AirSage, which has seen a 500 per cent increase in its market coverage in just the past year, are poised to be on the front line to offer the technology and materials necessary to make cities more livable, com-mutes more tolerable and traffic more manageable. Real-time traffic data providers that rely on cell phone signalling data and WiSE Technology will be the ones to watch. TH

Tom Bouwer has over18 years of domestic and interna-tional sales and marketing experience in both the public

and private sectors. He has also worked with govern-ments in both the US and the Middle East, including

assisting the State of Qatar in the development of its Supreme Council of Information &

Communications Technology. He is now vice president of sales and marketing at AirSage. For more information,

e-mail [email protected] or visit www.airsage.com

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“Better information also

means better management of work zone issues

such as congestion and speed

enforcement”

• Uses Radio Frequency Identification technology

• Allows for automatic detection and screening of vehicles for

compliance with federal, state and municipal regulations

• Automates enforcement actions and improves violation

processing for non-compliant vehicles

• Increases law enforcement’s ability to locate and recover

vehicles reported stolen or involved in other serious crimes

• Enabled Applications: vehicle inspection efficiencies, automated

registration compliance, parking management, eTolling, speed

enforcement, security access control, commercial vehicle

monitoring, border crossing security and public transportation

compliance management

For additional information on 3M™ Electronic Vehicle Registration,

please contact Terry Griffith, International Marketing Manager at

651-737-3553, email [email protected] or visit our website

3m.com/tss/evr.

©3M

200

7. A

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Res

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Electronic Vehicle Registration

• Mobility • Safety • Security Solutions Enabling:

OSI Laserscan .............. inside front coverPBS&J .........................................................17RedSpeed International .........................11Samaritania .................outside back coverSatellic Traffi c Management .................. 09Sodi Scientifi ca.........................................61TranspoQuip 08 ......................................47Transportation Innovations ..................88Transurban ...............................................07TRMI ..........................................................41Vitronic .....................................................17Volkswagen North America ..................83

For more information on advertisers in this issue ofThinking Highways

go to www.h3bmedia.com and click on READER ENQUIRIES

Advertisers’ Index

3M ..............................................................87Applanix ....................................................75EIS ..............................................................13Gatsometer .............................................29H3B Media/UMass Climate Change Think Tank ..............................................61H3B Media TransPortal ..........................88IFS ...................................inside back coverImage Sensing Systems ...........................05Iteris ..........................................................33Jupiter Systems ........................................02Kimley-Horn & Associates ....................79

Creating Solutions Through Innovation

Transportation Innovations, Inc. is a consor-tium of professionals in the toll and ITS industry whose mission is embedded in our name, Innova-tion. Available skill sets include marketing strat-egy, ETC, toll operations, ITS applications, concession/public-private partnerships and acquisition/merger assistance.

We have provided corporate strategic planning services, marketing plans and corporate affi lia-tion services for a range of private enterprises and we have assisted several public agencies with consulting services.

Contact us at [email protected] or call us at 407-366-1096

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CARE, COMPASSIONAND CONCERN ON THE FREEWAY

Some of the differences between Samaritania Incorporated’s service patrol programs and others:

01 Our patrol vehicle operators have state and national public safety certifications.02 We provide a complete turnkey program at not cost to motorists.03 Provide Internet based Fleet Management Systems.04 Provide public safety grade AVL/GPS incident recording/reporting systems.05 Personnel, vehicles, equipment, AVL/GPS, patrol dispatch centers, and public relation programs.06 The most experienced provider. Over 27 years providing service patrol programs throughout the U.S.

07 Provide the widest variety of quick clearance, motorist, and public safety assistance.08 Provide a variety of different custom service patrol vehicles with and without tow capabilities.09 Endorsed by Departments of Transportation and State Governments.10 Endorsed by State Police, Fire/Rescue, and other public safety agencies.11 National award winning programs.12 Consistent media recognition.13 Rural, remote area, and urban program applications.

14 All program service costs included in single patrol hourly billing rate.15 Operators adhere to detailed conduct policies16 Standard Operation Procedure Development17 Local office and project management18 Provide Complete Indemnification and hold harmless agreements.19 Provide audited financial resources.20 Operators have perfect no-fault safety records. Zero fatalities.21 Private Sector funding available to offset costs.

Samaritania Incorporated,10 Riverside Drive, Lakeville, MA 02347, USATel: +1-508-947-3700Fax: +1-508-947-5544www.freewayservicepatrol.cominfo@freewayservicepatrol.com

thinking highways north america september 2007

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