Intelligent Transport Systems - Telenor

Steinar Hidle Andresen (59) is
Professor at the Department of
Telematics, the Norwegian University
of Science and Technology,
Trondheim. His research
interests include Network and
service aspects of Mobile/Cellular
systems and Wireless LANs,
Communication services for
emergency services, Architecture
and protocols within the
Intelligent Transportation Systems,
Network Intelligence and
Mobility Management. Andresen
has broad system knowledge
within the above areas, plus
specialist’s knowledge in some
of the fields: switching networks,
communication protocols, electronic
localisation techniques
and some formal description
techniques (e.g. ASN.1).
steinar.andresen@item.ntnu.no
Knut Evensen (42) obtained his
MSc in Telematics from the Norwegian
Univ. of Science and
Technology (NTNU) in 1981. In
1985 he joined Micro Design
R&D department in Trondheim.
He became involved in ITS international
R&D projects and standardization
efforts in 1988, and
is currently the section manager
responsible for this field in
Q-Free. Knut Evensen holds
several formal positions in ISO
and CEN related to development
of advanced ITS communication
standards.
knut.evensen@q-free.com
Telektronikk 1.2003
Standardisation and Trends
– Why is Standardisation of ITS Needed?
STEINAR H ANDRESEN AND KNUT EVENSEN
1 Introduction
The human demand for transport has influenced
both our ingenuity and our environment. The
demand for water transport in early times
resulted in impressing aquaducts, and since
Roman times roads have influenced the landscape.
In modern times railroads and roads for
motor vehicles have had a profound impact on
our environment. Bridges and tunnels allow constructions
of carriageways never thought possible,
resulting in efficient and impressive traffic
arterials. But is there not also a downside? Sure,
the motorized movement (and even the parking)
of cars and big lorries has caused increasing congestion,
pollution, and a sheer demand for space
not compatible with medieval villages and
towns.
This has resulted in excessive land use and in
many countries and urban “sprawl”; housing and
urban settlements invading the countryside fostering
more traffic.
Then enters ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems)
also called Transport Telematics, what is
it? Can it have any impact? It will and already
today, like it or not, most new cars have many
computers and literally hundreds of motors and
actuators. Modern cars come with a wiring corresponding
to a local area network. Combine this
with technology from cellular and wireless networks,
navigation means like GPS and the signal
processing capacity of modern circuitry; then
you will see that a revolution is bound to happen.
What would be the impact? Well, that is
difficult to say, but the sheer volume of the traffic
in question makes even small improvements
favourable. If a modern navigation system can
save 7 % of mileage (a number obtained more
than 6 years ago in London) this will have an
instant impact on the bottom line for the distribution
firm in question. So far we have mostly
seen incremental improvements on “traditional”
transport means, but the future may also foster
widespread use of more revolutionary systems
as depicted in the PRT (Private Rapid Transport)
systems reported elsewhere in this issue.
In this article we will focus on on-road traffic,
both for personal mobility and goods transport.
This kind of traffic has perhaps more than any
other thing influenced our environment and
landscape (construction of roads, interchanges,
bridges, tunnels, car parks).
2 Why Standardisation is
Needed
The aim of ITS is to make transport
1 More efficient, both in terms of its influence
on energy usage and environmental impact,
as well as the money and time budget;
2 Safer, reducing the number of accidents in
transport especially reducing the number and
degree of serious damage to individuals.
Recent developments have shown the need
for anti-terrorist usage;
3 More user friendly and enjoyable.
When trying to implement the ITS means it is
worth mentioning the different views held by the
car makers on the one side and the authorities
and the general public on the other: Both sides
may subscribe to the aims given above, but the
car makers tend to concentrate on the characteristics
and equipment of their own cars, more
than on the infrastructure and general picture.
Standardisation is an old remedy used to facilitate
widespread introduction of an intended
practice. As can be deduced from the comment
above, it is a process more likely to be driven by
authorities and public interest groups. Within
this field the general business landscape is somewhat
confusing as legacy car producers team up
with Microsoft and cellular communication
operators or equipment makers to launch new
services and features. This is known as ad-hoc
or industrial standards.
However on a regional scale standardisation efforts
was started in the late 80s and formalised within
the ISO standardisation framework in the 90s.
For automotive traffic, this work is structured
within the auspices of ISO Technical Committee
TC 204 “Transport Information & Control Systems”
which draws participant members from
the following 22 countries: Australia, Austria,
Canada, China, Czech Republic, Denmark, France,
Germany, India, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan,
Korea, Malaysia, The Netherlands, Norway, The
Russian Federation, Sweden, United Kingdom
and USA and observing membership from about
26 more nations (among them Finland).
The TC 204 is responsible for standardization of
information, communication and control systems
in the field of urban and rural surface transporta-
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