eNews 16 September 2009
eNews: September 2009
About eNews
The ITS Radar International project provides an intelligence service for the Highways Agency (HA) on ITS developments in Europe and around the world. It summarises key information for decision-makers and practitioners on activities related to Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and covers specific areas of key interest to the HA. This is carried out by TRL and AECOM on behalf of the HA.
Regular newsletters are being produced, covering information which is in the public domain. For more information about the project and the services provided, the web site can be reached at: www.highways.gov.uk/itsradar.
To contact us, please email us at: ITSRadarInternational@trl.co.uk.
Your chance to comment on ITS Radar International
Following suggestions you made in our survey last year, we have made several improvements to the ITS Radar International service, which we'd now like your views on. We are also seeking your suggestions for possible further enhancements and would welcome your comments on the service as well as future topics to be covered in Fact Sheets. The survey can be completed on-line here or is available in Microsoft Word format here which can be completed off-line and then emailed or posted.
The survey will take no longer than 5 minutes to complete. All responses received by 30th September will be included in our next review of the ITS Radar International service.
Our project sponsor, Emma Lunnon, says:
"As a customer of ITS Radar International, you are already aware of our service, alerting you to new developments on the ITS scene. I hope that the innovations and knowledge we provide you with, helps you to contribute to the improved management of our roads. We have taken on board suggestions received in previous surveys in designing the service as it is now but the project continues to evolve. I would like to invite you to participate in this evolution. I welcome your views on how we can improve even further, to ensure our service better suits your needs."
New features on the ITS Radar International web site
Have you explored the ITS Info page of the new web site? It includes a directory of international ITS web sites, which has been provided in response to suggestions from users in our previous review of the service. Also on this page you will find an ITS glossary, which is updated each month.
New Fact Sheet available
The project has compiled a Fact Sheet on Cooperative Vehicle Highway Systems. It covers technological challenges, European activities and projects, projects in the US and Japan, standards activities, and HA involvement. The Fact Sheet is available on the web site here.
Index
European Policy
eSafety Awards 2009
The 2009 eSafety Award Ceremony on 22 September 2009 at the ITS World Congress in Copenhagen will recognise individual achievements, industry initiatives and public administrations in facilitating and accelerating the deployment of eSafety systems in Europe.
Opportunity to respond to EC Consultation on the future of transport
The European Commission is inviting contributions to a consultation on its Communication ‘A sustainable future for transport - Towards an integrated, technology-led and user friendly system’. The responses will contribute to the development of the next Transport White Paper and should be submitted by 30th September 2009.
Opportunity to attend 12th eSafety Forum Plenary Meeting
The eCall Summit on 29 October 2009 in Brussels will discuss the work of the European eCall Implementation Platform, the recent eCall impact assessment study, practical implementation issues and a new eCall Communication. Demonstrations of eCall will also take place.
Reducing road deaths in the EU
The European Transport Safety Council recently announced the results of its analysis of EU and national performance in road safety for 2008. The number of deaths on EU roads decreased by 8.5% compared with 2007, the best year-on-year reduction since 2001. However the EU27 are unlikely to meet the 2010 target of halving the number of road deaths compared with 2001.
Concern about ITS contravening data protection in Europe
The European Data Protection Supervisor recently responded to the European Commission’s ITS Action Plan with recommendations for addressing concerns over data protection and privacy; the recommendations cover responsibilities for data protection, safeguards for the use of location technologies and designing privacy into systems from the outset.
eCall: last call to implement car safety system voluntarily
The European Commission has issued a final warning to the automotive industry and governments across Europe that it intends to mandate the fitment of eCall to all new vehicle models by 2014 at the latest. The warning comes in the latest European Commission Communication on eCall, published on 21st August.
The new Transport Committee’s first meeting
The European Parliament’s new Transport Committee held its first meeting in July and discussed the European Commission’s Communications on a sustainable future for transport and a report on the implementation of Global Navigation Satellite System programmes.
Road Traffic and Congestion in Great Britain: Quarter 2 2009
The latest statistics from DfT show a 1.3% reduction in overall traffic levels, a 1% fall in motorway traffic and a reduction in congestion.
Single-minded
In an article in ITS International, the General Secretary of ASECAP (the European association of tolled motorway operators), makes the case for a lightly regulated, staged progression towards a pan-European cooperative infrastructure environment.
European Research
SIMBA II Workshop
SIMBA II aims to increase road safety, mobility and transport efficiency through the exchange of technological know-how and best practices between Europe and China. The next SIMBA II workshop will involve ITS stakeholders from Europe and China discussing the requirements for cooperation between Europe and China in Research and Development of ITS technologies and services.
Opportunity to attend FP7 Information Days for Transport
The European Commission is holding Information Days in Brussels about the latest call for proposals in the Seventh Framework Programme. On 28th September the focus will be on proposals for work in the area of sustainable surface transport and will provide an opportunity for potential participants to present ideas and search for project partners.
EC’s FP7 Call for Research Proposals
On 30th July, the European Commission published its latest call for proposals for research in the 7th Framework Programme. Some of the topics are of potential interest to the HA, including work on intelligent vehicle systems, improvements in energy and efficiency of transport modes and field operational tests of cooperative systems. The deadline for submission of proposals is 26 October 2009.
Lamp posts help to improve traffic management
Researchers at Cambridge University have designed a lamp post that is able to count passing vehicles for traffic monitoring purposes. It uses a line of sight Wi-Fi™ link but other possibilities for data transmission include networks such as 3G or 4G mobile technologies, as well as creating an ad-hoc wireless network using multiple lamp posts.
Bus lane enforcement system gains VCA approval
A new, fully automated bus lane enforcement system has been approved by the Vehicle Certification Agency. The system uses high resolution Automatic Number Plate Recognition cameras and interfaces with the existing Enforcement back office facilities and is on trial in Essex.
Congestion Free Hessen 2015 initiative
The German state of Hessen’s “Congestion Free Hessen 2015” which was launched in 2003 includes temporary use of hard shoulder as an extra lane during peak times, a database and a traffic model which is used to plan the timing of roadworks to minimise traffic disruption. The reduction in congestion since 2003 has been disproportionately high.
SAFESPOT summary
SAFESPOT is an EU funded project which aims to develop a Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communication system that integrates the use of telecommunications and information for vehicles to communicate safety-related information. The system will give warnings and important safety-related information to drivers, either via roadside signals or directly to the on-board unit.
Safe Passage
An article about the ACTIV project in Germany describes how it is maximising the use of existing road infrastructure, particularly during road works. Cooperative communication systems are being installed to inform drivers about traffic conditions and restrictions on the road ahead.
Pilots
Positive feedback for HA technology
The Highways Agency was recognised for outstanding performance of its traffic-related ITS applications. The Agency is planning to launch a set of trials aimed at visualisation of a Datex II feed in traffic control centres.
Freight sat-nav plan back on the cards
Problems of incorrect satellite navigation guidance are being discussed by the Freight Transport Association and the Location and Timing Knowledge Transfer Network. Freight operators and technology companies are working together on the development of a national advised freight route network.
DRUM that is hard to beat
Dynamic Roadspace Utilisation Manager (DRUM) is a complex system used for identification of an appropriate length of time for overnight roadworks involving lane closures. DRUM has become more and more popular since its effectiveness was proven during the M25 Dartford widening project.
The bright side of sitting in traffic: ‘Crowdsourcing’ road congestion data
More informed driving and road planning decisions can be made thanks to a trial using Google Maps and GPS technology. Many GPS enabled mobile phones transmit their locations back to a central server where congestion is spotted and the information is shared between all the users.
Clean break
Manual enforcement of an environmental zone in Amsterdam is being replaced by the ANPR technology. The new system is aimed at keeping highly polluting goods vehicles out of the environmental zone in the city centre.
Technologies
Opportunity to explore ITS in daily life in Stockholm
The 16th ITS World Congress will take place in Stockholm on 21-25 September 2009. The IBEC pre-congress workshop, organised by the International Benefits, Evaluation and Costs Working Group will be held on 20th September.
Integrated working is key theme at York conference
The 2009 ITS (UK) Summer Conference took place in York on 4 June 2009. The theme of the conference was “Better Transport through Technology”.
An improved view
The Highways Agency is investigating ways to optimise the use of CCTV cameras to show those with the highest probability of displaying an accident at any given time. This increases the likelihood of incidents being identified quickly.
Building system optimality into route guidance systems
Route guidance systems should be aimed at a cooperative way of functioning instead of a competitive one. More predictable and reliable journey times could be a step forward in improving those systems.
County urged to set strict conditions over TIF bid
A Commission set up by Cambridgeshire County Council has recommended that Cambridgeshire should make a bid to the Government’s Transport Innovation Fund (TIF) on condition that congestion charging will be introduced only if other transport improvements fail and the level of congestion exceeds a predetermined level.
Enforcing the switch
This article discusses the merits of using GPS technology to calculate mileage-based user fees (MBUF) for tolling schemes, compared with using Radio Frequency Identification Device transponder-based technologies.
Managing data from traffic cameras
Lack of universal standards makes it difficult to share raw data from traffic camera networks among organisations. Therefore, the potential of real-time image sharing should be further investigated.
It’s the same data, just a different message
Data manipulation techniques evolve and more parameters are being measured. The same set of data can be used in a number of different ways depending on an understanding of the user function.
New concept in mobile telematics
South Korea’s SK Telecom is launching a Mobile In Vehicle (MIV) telematics service. This technology enables users to communicate with their vehicles and monitor them remotely via a mobile phone.
Saving fuel with vehicle tracking
Comprehensive vehicle tracking systems are now being used for route planning, real-time fuel monitoring and reducing idling time. They can be very effective in influencing drivers’ behaviour in order to reduce fuel consumption and associated costs.
Smart routing
Third-generation routing systems are capable of predicting future traffic conditions. The system described provides real-time traffic information taking into account weather conditions, road closures and events.
Why car park signs should lie
In view of increasing complexity of car park guidance signs, the use of simple messages in the form of “full”/”free” lights or illumination of the direction which should be followed is advised.
Standards
EC’s FP7 Call for Research Proposals – Call for Cooperative Systems Standardisation Support
A new EC call for research proposals includes projects supporting standards development in relation to Information and Communication Technologies for Safety and Energy Efficiency in Mobility.
Initial release of DATEX II Version 2.0 data exchange specifications; CEN standardisation progressing
The initial release of DATEX II Version 2.0, the “reference for all applications requiring access to dynamic traffic and travel related information in Europe”, was published in June 2009. This now forms the basis of a current submission to CEN for formal standardisation of the principal elements of DATEX II. Following feedback from the CEN process, a further release is to be published by “mid-2010”.
New DATEX II newsletter service and re-launch of website
The DATEX II website has recently been re-launched with a full range of new user support features. The new setup enables users to actively participate in the DATEX II maintenance process.
Dynamic Location Referencing ‘AGORA-C’ licenses now available to the public upon request
Via Licensing, the patent agent for the ‘AGORA-C’ location referencing technique, has announced the availability of a joint licensing programme or ‘patent pool’ for patents essential to the AGORA-C Standard.
New INSPIRE website
The INSPIRE Directive, which stands for INfrastructure for SPatial InfoRmation in the European community, has a new website with simplified navigation and improved search functions. A new EC call for research proposals includes projects supporting standards development in relation to Information and Communication Technologies for Safety and Energy Efficiency in Mobility.
Call for Support to Galileo Standardisation – now closed
The European Commission recently issued a call for “Support to Galileo Standardisation”, with the aim of continuing the standardisation process for EGNOS and Galileo in key application areas.
Call for experts on electronic fee collection – now closed
CEN/TC 278 has recently been recruiting paid experts for two project teams in the field of electronic fee collection.
ITS Radar International Standards Tracking Spreadsheet updated
The ‘ITS Standards Spreadsheet’ that is maintained by ITS Radar International has been updated and can be downloaded here. Topics of published standards since June 2009 include system architecture, electronic fee collection and co-operative vehicles.
Article: Progress of co-operative safety communication standards IEEE 802.11p and CALM
A recent article in Traffic Technology International’s safety publication, “Vision Zero”, discusses the various standards under development to enable vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communication.
Article: New ‘MPEG’ H.264 video compression standard to improve video quality for traffic management centres
A recent article in Traffic Technology discusses the latest generation of ‘MPEG’ standards for real-time video compression and streaming.
Two models recently updated on the HA’s ITS Registry
The Technology Performance Management System model and the DATEX II model have been updated on the HA ITS Registry.
Location Positioning
DGON/ITE: 2009 Symposium Gyro Technology
A symposium on 22-23 September will discuss the latest developments in inertial technologies and their applications. Gyro technology could be used in conjunction with GNSS-based navigation systems to provide additional data input when a GNSS signal is not available.
International Loran Conference 2009
A conference on 13-15 October 2009 in the USA will discuss the latest developments in specifications and standards for the US Long Range Aids to Navigation system as well as developments in eLORAN and interface with Global Navigation Satellite Systems.
Source of technical problems for new GPS satellite identified
The source of recent technical difficulties with the new GPS IIR-20(M) satellite appears to heave been identified and the US Air Force is now working on a possible adjustment to the signal-in-space to minimise the effect of the problem on the GPS-signal receivers on Earth.
The last GPS IIR(M) satellite was successfully launched
GPS IIR-21(M), the 8th and last of the modernised IIR-M series of GPS satellites and the last in the GPS II series, was successfully launched on 17th August 2009 from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Block IIR-M series includes features that enhance operations and navigation signal performance for military and civilian GPS users around the globe.
U.S. report challenges Galileo to fulfil level-field commitments
The US Trade Representative has raised concerns over access to the Galileo programme and markets by the US equipment industry. The European Commission maintains that it continues to provide commercial licenses world wide on a non-discriminatory basis.
EGNOS nearing safety-of-life clearance
The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is being prepared for safety-of–life operations scheduled for 2010. A new satellite is expected to be ready for use by the end of 2009.
Two new augmentation services for GLONASS
New augmentation services are being prepared for the Russian GLObal NAvigation Satellite System, improving its integrity, accuracy and reliability and making it more compatible with other Global Navigation Satellite Systems. By 2010 the system is expected to be at full operational capacity.
China updates Compass signal plan
China recently announced that it intends to move towards ensuring interoperability between its Compass system and other Global Navigation Satellite Systems such and Galileo and GPS.
GINA developments
The GNSS for INnovative road Applications project is assessing the suitability of using GNSS in Road User Charging (RUC) applications and determine the benefits involved. The project will carry out trials later in 2009 which will aim to show that using EGNOS, an acceptably low level of overcharging can be guaranteed. The trials will feed into the development of the Dutch road pricing scheme.
