AASHTO, ITE, NEMA Release Five New NTCIP Profile Standards

July 24, 2006

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) jointly released five new National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation Systems Protocols (NTCIP). The NTCIP is a family of communication protocols for traffic management devices.

NTCIP 2102:2003 - Point to Multi-Point Protocol Using FSK Modem Subnetwork Profile - is a subnetwork profile that applies to the data link and physical layers of a communications stack. The purpose of this standard is to provide the information necessary to establish a connection using the Point to Multi-Point Protocol (PMPP) via a 1200 bps frequency shift keying (FSK) modem interface.

NTCIP 2103:2005 - Point-to-Point Protocol over RS-232 Subnetwork Profile - is a subnetwork profile that applies to the data link and physical layers of a communications stack. This standard specifies the use of an RS-232 interface at the physical layer. The RS-232 (now referred to as EIA/TIA 232) interface can serve as the interconnect method directly or act as an interface to other technologies. The direct interface is applicable where the transportation device is relatively close to the management station. Alternatively, the EIA/TIA 232 interface can serve as the interface to external modems.

NTCIP 2104:2005 - Ethernet Subnetwork Profile - is a subnetwork profile that applies to the data link and physical layers of a communications stack. The purpose of the Ethernet Subnetwork Profile is to define a set of requirements for implementing the lower two layers of a communication stack that operates in a peer-to-peer network. This type of network has traditionally been associated with local area networks (LANs). The profile provides a subset of the functions and services used in modern transportation control cabinets for roadside devices. Ethernet is now a viable subnetwork profile for high-speed exchange of information in roadside networks.

NTCIP 2201:2003 - Transportation Transport Profile - is a transport profile that specifies a set of protocols and standards applicable to the transport and network layers of the ISO OSI Basic Reference Model. This profile standard can provide connectionless transport service over a connectionless network service. The profile provides message transport and delivery services between transportation devices and a management station. NTCIP 2201 applies to transportation related devices that do not need network routing capabilities, but the profile includes a multiplexing scheme to handle multiple end-applications. The connectionless transport service is based upon the Internet User Datagram Protocol (UDP).

NTCIP 2304:2002 - Application Profile for DATEX-ASN - is an application profile that applies to the session, presentation and application layers of a communications stack. The standard defines an application profile for communications between management systems, which includes the requirements and optional and conditional clauses applicable to specific deployment environments. For the application layer, the NTCIP 2304 makes normative reference to ISO 14827-2, Transport Information and Control Systems – Data Exchanges between Traffic Management and Information Centres – Part 2: DATEX-ASN.

Source: National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).