Cross-cutting Issues

The United States Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) conducted a workshop in September 2010 to exchange information and discuss ideas on ways to advance the state of the practice of evaluation in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). The workshop provided an opportunity for ITS stakeholders to explore how advanced technology can be integrated with evaluation to support national and local ITS projects, and how evaluation can support sustainability and livability goals. Addressing the state of the practice of ITS evaluation at this time is particularly important in view of the rapidly changing context in which ITS research and deployment occur. For example, an increasingly urgent policy emphasis on deploying sustainable transportation solutions may influence the ITS investment decision-making by state and local government agencies. Similarly, advances in technology may open the door for the development of new ITS applications. This paper summarizes the workshop and presents participant observations and contributions.

Authors: Kathryn Wochinger, Ph.D., James Pol, PE, PMP, Maricia Pincus, Cheryl Lowrance, James Bunch

Presented at the 18th World Congress on ITS, October 2011, Orlando, Florida

The U.S. Government and the automotive industry have been developing prototype systems to evaluate the effectiveness of using Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) to support vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) safety applications. Many V2V safety applications rely on each vehicle periodically broadcasting a Basic Safety Message (BSM) at a sufficient interval to provide an accurate representation to surrounding vehicles about the transmitter’s current position, speed, heading, and other critical information. Unfortunately, as the number of vehicles in communication range increases, the ability for each vehicle to reliably receive messages decreases due to packet collisions on the wireless medium. This paper describes an algorithm to dynamically adapt the BSM message transmission rate based on the wireless congestion level. Simulation and test results using real DSRC radios are provided showing the benefits of the algorithm.

Authors Aaron Weinfield, John B. Kenney, Gaurav Bansal

Presented at the 18th World Congress on ITS, October 2011, Orlando, Florida

The rapid development of wireless communication and information technologies has
increased the research interests in VANET. But there is little research on application of
VANET in public transportation systems, such as taxi systems. In this paper, we use the
packet delivery fraction and average end-to-end delay as the criteria to evaluate the VANET
performance in taxi systems. After briefly introduce the vehicles mobility model and the
simulation platform based on network simulator 2, we emphasize the combination of vehicle
mobility generation and vehicular networks simulation. We implement some scenarios on
partial Manhattan map with discussing the influence of different packet sending rate, max
connectivity number and the number of vehicles. Through the performance analysis, we
discuss the feasibility of VANET in taxi systems and give some suggestions for implementing
it.

Authors: Wei Lu, Lee Han, Christopher Cherry

Presented at the 18th World Congress on ITS, October 2011, Orlando, Florida

The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) authority provides a variety of transit services throughout Hillsborough County, FL (Tampa Bay).  These services include local fixed route and express buses, paratransit, vanpools, and in-town trolleys.  HART plans to expand their transit services by 2012 to include Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).  The first phase of their BRT program (called MetroRapid) is currently under final design and will include transit signal priority (TSP).  TSP is a means to give transit vehicles an extended green or reduced red at signalized intersections under certain pre-defined conditions (e.g., late arriving buses only). This allows for reduced but more reliable travel times and improved schedule adherence.  HART is preparing for the operation of TSP by performing a pilot project and has selected Kittelson & Associates, Inc. as their lead consultant for this project.   This paper presents a summary of the pilot project.

Authors: Cad Braud, P.E., PTOE

Presented at the 18th World Congress on ITS, October 2011, Orlando, Florida

NYC ITS infrastructure modernization project is the largest scale and most cost effective worldwide. It entails upgrading thousands of City traffic signal controllers, deploying a citywide cellular based wireless communication network and upgrading of the central transportation systems to handle applications such as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Transit Signal Priority (TSP) and adaptive traffic control. All systems comply with US national ITS standards. This modernization affects million of NYC multimodal travelers daily - reducing delays, vehicles emission and improving the environmental quality of life. The federally funded project brings NYC to the current state of the art in transportation technologies.

Author: Mohamad Talas, PhD, PE., PTOE.

Presented at the 18th World Congress on ITS, October 2011, Orlando, Florida