USDOT ITS Program Releases Seven New Standards Fact Sheets

December 28, 2005

The U.S. Department of Transportation's (USDOT) ITS Standards Program released seven new standards facts sheets. Fact Sheets are now available for:

• IEEE 1570-2002 - Standard for the Interface Between the Rail Subsystem and the Highway Subsystem at a Highway Rail Intersection, specifies the communications protocols and commands, responses and information necessary for the exchange of information across the interface between the rail and highway systems at a highway rail intersection. Previous standards addressed analog interfaces between these systems; this IEEE 1570-2002 standard extends that information to include digital data communications.

  This standard defines the messages and data used to exchange information between the wayside and traffic controller equipment about the operational state of the rail crossing (train presence, entrance and exit gate status, warning system activated), approaching trains (train classification, time of arrival and departure, train length, direction of travel), wayside and traffic controller equipment status and obstacles in the roadway where it crosses the railroad tracks.

• NTCIP 1203 - National Transportation Communications for ITS Protocol (NTCIP) - Object Definitions for Dynamic Message Signs, provides the vocabulary - commands, responses, and information - necessary for traffic management and operations personnel to advise and inform the vehicle operators of current highway conditions by using dynamic message signs. A dynamic message sign is any sign that can change the message presented to the viewer. Since dynamic message signs require multiple objects to operate (information object, paging object, flashing object, etc.), this standard also includes a message syntax, called MULTI (Mark-Up Language for Transportation Information), that allows objects to be grouped into a message object. The message object is analogous to a sentence in that both the message object and a sentence require a syntax, or ordering of the information objects (words), to be understood.

  This standard contains object definitions to support the functionality of DMSs used for transportation and traffic control applications. The objects include commands to the signs, messages for display, and responses from the signs to the transportation management center, as well as "free text" objects that allow an operator to have stored or newly created messages displayed by the sign.

• NTCIP 1204 - National Transportation Communications for ITS Protocol (NTCIP) - Object Definitions for Environmental Sensor Stations, provides the vocabulary for the management of environmental sensor stations, including road weather information systems (RWIS), air quality monitoring systems, and pavement treatment systems (PTS).

  This standard defines those objects used to describe ambient conditions (including air pressure, wind, temperature, humidity, precipitation, solar radiation, visibility, water level and air quality) and pavement conditions (including surface and subsurface temperature, icing, moisture, treatment, etc.), and to manage pavement treatment systems (e.g., anti-icing or de-icing).

• NTCIP 1207 - National Transportation Communications for ITS Protocol (NTCIP) - Object Definitions for Ramp Meter Control (RMC) Units, provides the vocabulary for traffic management and operations personnel to configure and control ramp meter control units by which vehicle access to the freeway is controlled. Operation of the ramp meter control unit requires multiple objects such as configuration objects, control objects, scheduler objects and input/output objects.

  This standard contains object definitions to support the functionality of ramp meter control used for transportation and traffic control applications. The standard includes conformance group requirements and conformance statements to support compliance with the standard. This standard also defines objects that allow an operator at a TMS to configure, control and monitor status of the ramp meter device and its associated metered lanes either independently or dependent on detectors placed on the ramp and on the main line.

  If the sensors are not directly wired into the ramp meter control unit, the communication between the ramp meter control unit and the mainline or ramp sensors is standardized in NTCIP 1209, NTCIP - Data Element Definitions for Transportation Sensor Systems.

• SAE J2266 - Location Referencing Message Specification (LRMS), describes seventeen LRMS profiles. Profiles are defined for commonly cited location referencing methods and for particular application communities that have unique requirements. For example, the Grid profile contains a built-in compression scheme, and thus provides an efficient mechanism for transmission of location information over bandwidth-constrained media. An ITS location reference may use a single profile, or several profiles.

• SAE J2354 - Message Set for Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS), provides two basic types of ATIS, based on whether or not the traveler (data consumer) interacts with the traveler information provider (data provider). One-way communication of traveler information includes predefined information broadcast to travelers, such as radio and TV broadcasts and some web pages. Two-way, transactional traveler information includes all means whereby the traveler makes specific, personalized requests and receives customized information.

  The messages defined in this standard are divided into seven major groupings of ATIS applications; message sequencing for each type of message (dialogs) is also included:

  • Traveler Information - traffic, incidents, events, weather, environmental conditions, public transit schedules.
  • Trip Guidance - route plan to a specific destination, including the mode of transportation, points of interest, etc.
  • Directory Services - electronic "Yellow Pages", possibly location-based.
  • Parking - parking lot and space availability.
  • Settings - traveler’s personal preferences for format and content of traveler information.
  • Mayday - emergency information, including requests for assistance and vehicle information.
  • Reduced Bandwidth - streamlined version of certain data elements to accommodate bandwidth-restricted media.

• IEEE 1512 - Family of Standards for Incident Management Message Sets, supports the exchange of incident-related data between transportation, public safety, and other responding agencies. The IEEE 1512 family consists of a base (or common) standard and several subject-area standards:
  • IEEE Std 1512-2000, Common Incident Management Message Sets for Use by Emergency Management Centers is the base standard that defines basic information - such as a description of the incident - that is exchanged for any incident.
  • IEEE Std 1512.1-2003, Traffic Incident Management Message Sets for Use by Emergency Management Centers defines messages needed to respond to traffic-related incidents, including information about traffic flow, traffic control equipment, and coordination of cleanup and repair.
  • IEEE Std 1512.2-2004, Public Safety Incident Management Message Sets for Use by Emergency Management Centers supports coordination among public safety agencies including warning information, situation awareness, plan dissemination, and interagency asset management.
  • IEEE Std 1512.3-2002, Hazardous Material Incident Management Message Sets for Use by Emergency Management Centers includes messages needed by responders to hazmat spills and other incidents related to commercial vehicles and homeland security.
  • IEEE Std P1512.4 - Standard for Common Traffic Incident Management Message Sets for Use in Entities External to Centers addresses the exchange of incident management information between centers and mobile data terminals.

  The subject area standards (1512.1 through 1512.4) are often referred to as "companion volumes" and must be used in conjunction with the base standard. Each standard defines messages and includes a data dictionary that defines the data elements that each message contains. Each message is defined in Abstract Syntax Notation One (ASN.1) and in eXtensible Markup Language (XML). A Guide for the IEEE 1512 Family of Standards provides a more detailed introduction to each of the standards and their use to facilitate coordinated response to traffic incidents. The ITS Standards Forum includes several forums for IEEE 1512.

Source: ITS Standards.