Intelligent transportation system

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The term intelligent transportation system (ITS) refers to efforts to add information and communications technology to transport infrastructure and vehicles in an effort to manage factors that typically are at odds with each other, such as vehicles, loads, and routes to improve safety and reduce vehicle wear, transportation times, and fuel consumption.

[edit] Background

Interest in ITS comes from the problems caused by traffic congestion and a synergy of new information technology for simulation, real-time control, and communications networks. Traffic congestion has been increasing worldwide as a result of increased motorization, urbanization, population growth, and changes in population density. Congestion reduces efficiency of transportation infrastructure and increases travel time, air pollution, and fuel consumption.

The United States, for example, saw large increases in both motorization and urbanization starting in the 1920s that led to migration of the population from the sparsely populated rural areas and the densely packed urban areas into suburbs. The industrial economy replaced the agricultural economy, leading the population to move from rural locations into urban centers. At the same time, motorization was causing cities to expand because motorized transportation could not support the population density that the existing mass transit systems could. Suburbs provided a reasonable compromise between population density and access to a wide variety of employment, goods, and services that were available in the more densely populated urban centers. Further, suburban infrastructure could be built quickly, supporting a rapid transition from a rural/agricultural economy to an industrial/urban economy.^{[citation needed]}

Recent governmental activity in the area of ITS – specifically in the United States – is further motivated by the perceived need for homeland security. Many of the proposed ITS systems also involve surveillance of the roadways, which is a priority of homeland security.^[1] Funding of many systems comes either directly through homeland security organizations or with their approval. Further, ITS can play a role in the rapid mass evacuation of people in urban centers after large casualty events such as a result of a natural disaster or threat. Much of the infrastructure and planning involved with ITS parallels the need for homeland security systems.

In the developing world, the migration of people from rural to urbanized habitats has progressed differently. Many areas of the developing world have urbanized without significant motorization and the formation of suburbs. In areas like Santiago, Chile, a high population density is supported by a multimodal system of walking, bicycle transportation, motorcycles, buses, and trains. A small portion of the population can afford automobiles, but the automobiles greatly increase the congestion in these multimodal transportation systems. They also produce a considerable amount of air pollution, pose a significant safety risk, and exacerbate feelings of inequities in the society.

Other parts of the developing world, such as China, remain largely rural but are rapidly urbanizing and industrializing. In these areas a motorized infrastructure is being developed alongside motorization of the population. Great disparity of wealth means that only a fraction of the population can motorize, and therefore the highly dense multimodal transportation system for the poor is cross-cut by the highly motorized transportation system for the rich. The urban infrastructure is being rapidly developed, providing an opportunity to build new systems that incorporate ITS at early stages.

[edit] Intelligent transportation technologies

Intelligent transportation systems vary in technologies applied, from basic management systems such as car navigation; traffic signal control systems; container management systems; variable message signs; automatic number plate recognition or speed cameras to monitoring applications, such as security CCTV systems; and to more advanced applications that integrate live data and feedback from a number of other sources, such as parking guidance and information systems; weather information; bridge deicing systems; and the like. Additionally, predictive techniques are being developed in order to allow advanced modeling and comparison with historical baseline data. Some of the constituent technologies typically implemented in ITS are described in the following sections.

[edit] Wireless communications

Various forms of wireless communications technologies have been proposed for intelligent transportation systems. Short-range communications (less than 500 yards) can be accomplished using IEEE 802.11 protocols, specifically WAVE or the Dedicated Short Range Communications standard being promoted by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America and the United States Department of Transportation. Theoretically, the range of these protocols can be extended using Mobile ad-hoc networks or Mesh networking.

Longer range communications have been proposed using infrastructure networks such as WiMAX (IEEE 802.16), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), or 3G. Long-range communications using these methods are well established, but, unlike the short-range protocols, these methods require extensive and very expensive infrastructure deployment. There is lack of consensus as to what business model should support this infrastructure.

[edit] Computational technologies

Recent advances in vehicle electronics have led to a move toward fewer, more capable computer processors on a vehicle. A typical vehicle in the early 2000s would have between 20 and 100 individual networked microcontroller/Programmable logic controller modules with non-real-time operating systems. The current trend is toward fewer, more costly microprocessor modules with hardware memory management and Real-Time Operating Systems. The new embedded system platforms allow for more sophisticated software applications to be implemented, including model-based process control, artificial intelligence, and ubiquitous computing. Perhaps the most important of these for Intelligent Transportation Systems is artificial intelligence.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Floating car data/floating cellular data

Main article: Floating car data

Virtually every car contains one or more mobile phones. These mobile phones routinely transmit their location information to the network – even when no voice connection is established. This allows them to be used as anonymous traffic probes. As the car moves, so does the signal of the mobile phone. By measuring and analyzing triangulation network data – in an anonymous format – the data is converted into accurate traffic flow information. With more congestion, there are more cars, more phones, and thus, more probes. In metropolitan areas, the distance between antennas is shorter and, thus, accuracy increases. No infrastructure needs to be built along the road; only the mobile phone network is leveraged. Floating car data technology provides great advantages over existing methods of traffic measurement:

much less expensive than sensors or cameras
more coverage: all locations and streets
faster to set up (no work zones) and less maintenance
works in all weather conditions, including heavy rain

[edit] Sensing technologies

Technological advances in telecommunications and information technology coupled with state-of-the-art microchip, RFID, and inexpensive intelligent beacon sensing technologies have enhanced the technical capabilities that will facilitate motorist safety benefits for Intelligent transportation systems globally. Sensing systems for ITS are vehicle and infrastructure based networked systems, e.g., Intelligent vehicle technologies. Infrastructure sensors are indestructible (such as in-road reflectors) devices that are installed or embedded on the road, or surrounding the road (buildings, posts, and signs for example) as required and may be manually disseminated during preventive road construction maintenance or by sensor injection machinery for rapid deployment of the embedded radio frequency powered (or RFID) in-ground road sensors. Vehicle-sensing systems include deployment of infrastructure-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure electronic beacons for identification communications and may also employ the benefits of CCTV automatic number plate recognition technology at desired intervals in order to increase sustained monitoring of suspect vehicles operating in critical zones.

[edit] Inductive loop detection

Inductive loops can be placed in a roadbed to detect vehicles as they pass over the loop by measuring the vehicle's magnetic field. The simplest detectors simply count the number of vehicles during a unit of time (typically 60 seconds in the United States) that pass over the loop, while more sophisticated sensors estimate the speed, length, and weight of vehicles and the distance between them. Loops can be placed in a single lane or across multiple lanes, and they work with very slow or stopped vehicles as well as vehicles moving at high-speed.

[edit] Video vehicle detection

Traffic flow measurement and automatic incident detection using video cameras is another form of vehicle detection. Since video detection systems such as those used in automatic number plate recognition do not involve installing any components directly into the road surface or roadbed, this type of system is known as a "non-intrusive" method of traffic detection. Video from black-and-white or color cameras is fed into processors that analyze the changing characteristics of the video image as vehicles pass. The cameras are typically mounted on poles or structures above or adjacent to the roadway. Most video detection systems require some initial configuration to "teach" the processor the baseline background image. This usually involves inputting known measurements such as the distance between lane lines or the height of the camera above the roadway. A single video detection processor can detect traffic simultaneously from one to eight cameras, depending on the brand and model. The typical output from a video detection system is lane-by-lane vehicle speeds, counts, and lane occupancy readings. Some systems provide additional outputs including gap, headway, stopped-vehicle detection, and wrong-way vehicle alarms.

[edit] Intelligent transportation applications

[edit] Electronic toll collection

Electronic toll collection at "Costanera Norte" Freeway, downtown Santiago, Chile

Main article: Electronic toll collection

Electronic toll collection (ETC) makes it possible for vehicles to drive through toll gates at traffic speed, reducing congestion at toll plazas and automating toll collection. Originally ETC systems were used to automate toll collection, but more recent innovations have used ETC to enforce congestion pricing through cordon zones in city centers and ETC lanes.

Until recent years, most ETC systems were based on using radio devices in vehicles that would use proprietary protocols to identify a vehicle as it passed under a gantry over the roadway. More recently there has been a move to standardize ETC protocols around the Dedicated Short Range Communications protocol that has been promoted for vehicle safety by the Intelligent Transportation Society of America, ERTICO and ITS Japan.

While communication frequencies and standards do differ around the world, there has been a broad push toward vehicle infrastructure integration around the 5.9 GHz frequency (802.11.x WAVE).

Via its National Electronic Tolling Committee representing all jurisdictions and toll road operators, ITS Australia also facilitated interoperability of toll tags in Australia for the multi-lane free flow tolls roads.

Other systems that have been used include barcode stickers, license plate recognition, infrared communication systems, and Radio Frequency Identification Tags (see M6 Toll tag).

[edit] Emergency vehicle notification systems

The in-vehicle eCall is an emergency call generated either manually by the vehicle occupants or automatically via activation of in-vehicle sensors after an accident. When activated, the in-vehicle eCall device will establish an emergency call carrying both voice and data directly to the nearest emergency point (normally the nearest E1-1-2 Public-safety answering point, PSAP). The voice call enables the vehicle occupant to communicate with the trained eCall operator. At the same time, a minimum set of data will be sent to the eCall operator receiving the voice call.

The minimum set of data contains information about the incident, including time, precise location, the direction the vehicle was traveling, and vehicle identification. The pan-European eCall aims to be operative for all new type-approved vehicles as a standard option. Depending on the manufacturer of the eCall system, it could be mobile phone based (Bluetooth connection to an in-vehicle interface), an integrated eCall device, or a functionality of a broader system like navigation, Telematics device, or tolling device. eCall is expected to be offered, at earliest, by the end of 2010, pending standardization by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute and commitment from large EU member states such as France and the United Kingdom.

Congestion pricing gantry at North Bridge Road, Singapore.

[edit] Cordon zones with congestion pricing

Main article: Congestion pricing

Cordon zones have been implemented in Singapore, Stockholm, and London, where a congestion charge or fee is collected from vehicles entering a congested city center. This fee or toll is charged automatically using electronic toll collection or automatic number plate recognition, since stopping the users at conventional toll booths would cause long queues, long delays, and even gridlock. The main objective of this charge is to reduce traffic congestion within the cordon area.

[edit] Automatic road enforcement

Main article: Traffic enforcement camera

Automatic speed enforcement gantry or "Lombada Eletrônica" with ground sensors at Brasilia, D.F.

A traffic enforcement camera system, consisting of a camera and a vehicle-monitoring device, is used to detect and identify vehicles disobeying a speed limit or some other road legal requirement and automatically ticket offenders based on the license plate number. Traffic tickets are sent by mail. Applications include:

Speed cameras that identify vehicles traveling over the legal speed limit. Many such devices use radar to detect a vehicle's speed or electromagnetic loops buried in each lane of the road.
Red light cameras that detect vehicles that cross a stop line or designated stopping place while a red traffic light is showing.
Bus lane cameras that identify vehicles traveling in lanes reserved for buses. In some jurisdictions, bus lanes can also be used by taxis or vehicles engaged in car pooling.
Level crossing cameras that identify vehicles crossing railways at grade illegally.
Double white line cameras that identify vehicles crossing these lines.
High-occupancy vehicle lane cameras for that identify vehicles violating HOV requirements.
Turn cameras at intersections where specific turns are prohibited on red. This type of camera is mostly used in cities or heavy populated areas.

[edit] Collision avoidance systems

Japan has installed sensors on its highways to notify motorists that a car is stalled ahead.^[2]

[edit] Cooperative systems on the road

Communication cooperation on the road includes car-to-car, car-to-infrastructure, and vice versa. Data available from vehicles is acquired and transmitted to a server for central fusion and processing. This data can be used to detect events such as rain (wiper activity) and congestion (frequent braking activities). The server processes a driving recommendation dedicated to a single or a specific group of drivers and transmits it wirelessly to vehicles. The goal of cooperative systems is to use and plan communication and sensor infrastructure in order to increase road safety. The definition of cooperative systems in road traffic is according to the European Commission:^[3]

"Road operators, infrastructure, vehicles, their drivers and other road users will cooperate to deliver the most efficient, safe, secure and comfortable journey. The vehicle-vehicle and vehicle-infrastructure co-operative systems will contribute to these objectives beyond the improvements achievable with stand-alone systems."

[edit] See also

[edit] References

^ Monahan, Torin. 2007. "War Rooms" of the Street: Surveillance Practices in Transportation Control Centers. The Communication Review 10 (4): 367-389.
^ Trend in Road Accidents, Japan
^ 3rd eSafety Forum, 25 March 2004

[edit] External links

[edit] Societies

[edit] Government

[edit] News and information

[edit] Education

[edit] Related journals and magazines

[0] Monahan, Torin. 2007. "War Rooms" of the Street: Surveillance Practices in Transportation Control Centers. The Communication Review 10 (4): 367-389.

[1] Trend in Road Accidents, Japan

[2] 3rd eSafety Forum, 25 March 2004

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