Architecture of intelligent transport systems on the example of US DoT ITS

Introduction

Fashionable now the word ITS (Intelligent Transport Systems), which a variety of knowledgeable and not very people are scattered to the right and left, means little to an IT professional. The maximum that the imagination is enough for is the notorious smart traffic lights and the hopeless fight against traffic jams in our cities. In regions where there are no traffic jams, ITS remains just a curious theory.

Anyway, it would be nice to understand what ITS are and what they are for. Omit the transport and political components and focus on IT. Let's analyze the ITS architecture at the highest level and briefly go over its main blocks. At the same time, system architects will be curious to find out how the architecture of systems of national scale is built.

Immediately it is worth making a reservation that within the framework of ITS we will consider only the road transport sector and will not talk about rail, air and sea transport. This is a separate big topic, in which, probably, there are specialists.

ITS objectives

There is only one comprehensive ITS architecture in the world. This is an initiative proposed by the US Department of Transportation to create a unified information space that unites automobiles, road equipment, control rooms, and data centers throughout the country. The Europeans have long tried to create something like this, but they did not advance far in this matter, wallowing in technical details. According to rumors, they are currently developing something based on this standard.
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Creating a unified ITS architecture allows you to control three main areas:

• Safety The main goal is to reduce accidents on the roads. This also includes the monitoring of natural and man-made disasters.
• Mobility . Collecting information about traffic jams from cars moving in a stream and informing road users.
• Environmental protection . Reducing damage to the environment from road transport by monitoring the situation in real time and making timely decisions.

Standard structure

The standard is a set of guidelines, which together should provide the user with comprehensive information about the standard and the steps for its implementation. Here are briefly the main areas that have been identified during the study of the standard:

• The logical and physical description of the ITS architecture.
• The method of application ("landing") approaches ITS to a specific city or region. As a result, a primary project plan appears and the main functional requirements for the TOR
• Methods of finding investors for the project. Step by step instructions to whom to go and what to say. A complete list of stakeholders with addresses and phone numbers.
• Database in MS Access format and GUI program for Windows, allowing to obtain the necessary descriptions and documents

Of course, everything is tied to the specifics of US government customers. In terms of project organization and identification of interested parties, it is required to alter the standard almost completely if we decided to implement it in Russia. In terms of architecture, it will also be necessary to work closely in terms of organizing interaction with federal services. In our country, the functions of federal services are distributed differently, they are more closed and more isolated from each other. Very many systems overlap, and no one is going to change this in the near future.

At the same time, there are things that can be used with little or no modifications. This is all that relates to traffic management with the help of modern equipment. The Americans did a tremendous job, many architectural solutions were tested, as they say, in battles. A “combat” architecture differs from a spherical architecture in a vacuum in that it is simpler and more understandable, as well as filled with important details and nuances that emerge during a long practical run-in.

ITS architecture levels

The beauty of the decision of the Americans lies in the fact that their architecture with a graceful approach catches both the physical, “iron” component we love and the process component, which is not always obvious to our system architects. The following is a picture from the book " National ITS Architecture. Physical Architecture ". There you can see the picture in detail.

The upper level (not in terms of domination, but in order) is the level of network infrastructure, which in itself is quite complex, as it contains high-speed communication channels between dispatch centers and data centers, air communication channels between remote controllers, communication channels through cellular communication providers , dedicated communication channels with redundancy for maintenance of traffic lights, digital signs, etc.

The middle level is a functional architecture familiar to us, where the squares represent subsystems, and the connections between the squares represent information that runs between the subsystems.

The bottom level is the level of business entities (not only business processes). It lists the organizations that define the transport strategy, information flows between these organizations, which impose reporting requirements, analytics, and information systems in general.

It must be said that the problem of collecting and formalizing functional requirements for ITS elements was decided by the Americans once and for all, gathering all possible functional requirements into one big mega-table, providing each requirement with various additional attributes to make it easier to arrange them into heaps.

Moreover, it is possible to move from general requirements without problems to private requirements for solution providers and service providers through special structures within the framework of the ITS architecture. These connections will be described in detail in the next publication, where I will analyze one of the subsystems directly related to the automation of road traffic.

For now, let's go over the subsystems of the ITS standard to understand what we are dealing with.

ITS subsystems

In total, the ITS standard identifies 22 subsystems, which constitute the functional content of the standard. The following is not a translation, but my adaptation of the names of the subsystems and brief comments on each subsystem. Americans divide the subsystem into central and mobile. In order not to lose the general idea, they are not divided in the following list.

1. Archival Information Management System. Provides centralized archiving of information within the framework of ITS with its subsequent distribution.
2. The system of administration of commercial vehicles. Provides recording of events on the route, management of taxes and licenses, organization of information exchange between crews.
3. The control system of commercial vehicles. Provides escort vehicles (TS) throughout the route, including border crossings, assessment of cargo weight, environmental parameters during the transport of dangerous goods, etc.
4. The management system of commercial vehicles. Provides registration of accidents, cargo security, driver authentication, etc. Combines the onboard systems of commercial vehicles.
5. Control system for special transport (central part). It provides special transport by means of communication, information systems for effective emergency response (ES), ensures the safety of crews in emergency areas, etc.
6. Control system for special transport (mobile part). Combines onboard special transport systems (routing, informing, decision support, etc.)
7. Emission control system. Collects emission data and manages this data.
8. Logistics and transport management. Provides freight management.
9. System providing integration with information portals and media. Provides road users with necessary route and other information, and also provides the necessary information interfaces to the Internet. It provides interaction with onboard devices (GPS tracking, etc.)
10. Road construction and repair management system. Provides infrastructure monitoring, repair planning and timely response to natural disasters and other emergencies.
11. The fleet management system of construction and specialized road equipment. Provides exchange management teams with repair and construction equipment.
12. System of access to personal information. Provides personalized service to travelers, including tracking routes, taking into account route preferences and developing personalized recommendations for travelers.
13. Parking management system. Provides management of paid and free parking, the establishment of tariffs, the distribution of vehicles in parking lots and informing about the availability of free spaces.
14. Transport routing system. It provides the routing of the vehicle on a macro-regional scale, taking into account the current and projected situation.
15. System of information support for road users. Provides road users with the necessary information upon request or at the initiative of the center (for example, in the case of natural disasters)
16. Security system Ensures the safety of customs warehouses, tunnels, bridges, equipment for ASTM, etc.
17. Road toll management system. Toll Road Infrastructure Processing Center
18. Road toll collection system (SVP). Hardware and software tolls.
19. Traffic management system (ASUDD). Provides traffic management within the region.
20. Transit transport management system (central part). Provides transit transport routing, transit transport traffic planning, provision of agreed service level (for example, travel time)
21. Transit transport management system (mobile part). Combines the airborne equipment necessary to control the transit transport, as well as the necessary communications
22. Boron equipment control. Combines a variety of personal services for road users who work both online and autonomously: Warnings about important incidents, control of speed and traffic safety, personal cartography, determination of travel time, etc.

If you have read this text and still have not lost interest in the topic, I hasten to announce the next article on ITS. In the framework of the standard, I plan to consider the automated traffic control subsystem, as well as to show how the Americans managed to collect functions, market solutions providers and operating business processes in their standard.

Yes, I almost forgot about the links.

www.iteris.com/itsarch/index.htm Website of the standard, where you can download manuals and tools, as well as read the history of its development.

www.its.dot.gov Official website of the United States Transportation Department

I would be glad to put up links in Russian, but I couldn’t find anything besides idle talk at numerous seminars and press conferences.