Resources for Students and Instructors
ITE Student Chapter Series
The ITE Student Chapter series provides current ITS information to students at the undergraduate and graduate level within civil engineering/transportation programs. These presentations demonstrate to students the interdisciplinary nature of highways, transit, infrastructure, and other multimodal requirements within roadway systems.
Presentation 2
ITS Technologies: How Do I Prepare For a Career?
Note: The content on this page is a 508-compliant version of the PowerPoint presentation. The PowerPoint file and a PDF of the PowerPoint presentation are available for download to the right.
Slide 1: ITS Technologies: How Do I Prepare For a Career?
(Extended Text Description: Image of Slide 1 of this presentation. Across the top is a blue graphic header bar with the ITE Institute of Transportation Engineers logo on the left and a textbox on the right which reads, A Community of Transportation Professionals - Your source for expertise, knowledge and ideas. In the main body of the slide is the text: Developed for the ITS Joint Program Office - ITS Technologies: How Do I Prepare For a Career? ITE Student Chapter Series.)
Developed for the ITS Joint Program Office
ITE Student Chapter Series
Slide 2: Technology is the Enabler
- Advanced Technology provides the Intelligence in ITS
- Technologies working together in a System provides the transformative power of ITS
- The aim is managing and operating the system in new ways to achieve unprecedented levels of efficiency and safety
Image Source: ThinkStock/USDOT
Slide 3: Core Disciplines Provide the Foundation
- Traffic Engineering
- Transportation Planning
- System Design and Integration
- System Management and Operation…All working together
To deliver a transportation system with increasingly seamless integration across all modes
Image Source: ThinkStock/USDOT
Slide 4: Important ITS Elements
- Interoperability and Innovation
- It is challenging yet vitally important to keep these in balance
- Key Resources
- ITS Architecture
- ITS Standards
- Systems Engineering provides the framework
- Innovation to provide continually improved solutions
- Guided by the National Architecture
- Providing interoperability through standards compliance
(Extended Text Description: Graphic of the "Sausage Diagram" diagram of the National ITS Architecture, which shows a high level interconnect diagram of the 22 subsystems of the National ITS Architecture. The diagram is divided into four main sections, with a series of connecting communications formats. In the upper left corner, the Travelers section (yellow background) has two sub-boxes within it: Remote Traveler Support (top, connected by a line to Fixed Point – Fixed Point Communications) and Personal Information Access (bottom, connected by a line to Wide Area Wireless (Mobile) Communications underneath and Fixed Point – Fixed Point Communications underneath and to the right). At the top right, the larger Centers section (green background) has two rows of sub-boxes within it. Top row, left to right: Traffic Management, Emergency Management, Payment Administration, Commercial Vehicle Administration, and Maintenance & Construction Management. Bottom row, left to right: Information Service Provider, Emissions Management, Transit Management, Fleet and Freight Management, and Archived Data Management. Every one of these sub-boxes under Centers is connected by a line to the Fixed Point – Fixed Point Communications box underneath the Centers section and to the right of the Wide Area Wireless (Mobile) Communications box (under Travelers section). To the lower left there is a Vehicles section (blue background) with a set of diagonally ascending sub-boxes within it (start lower left to the upper right of the box): Maintenance & Construction Vehicle, Transit Vehicle, Commercial Vehicle, Emergency Vehicle, and Vehicle. Each of these sub-boxes is connected by a line to the Wide Area Wireless (Mobile) Communications box above it, and to the vertically-running Vehicle-Vehicle Communications box to the left of the Vehicles section. To the lower right, there is a Field section (orange background) with a set of diagonally descending sub-boxes within it (from upper left to lower right): Roadway, Security Monitoring, Roadway Payment, Parking Management, and Commercial Vehicle Check. Each sub-box is connected by a line to the Fixed Point – Fixed Point Communications box above it, and to the vertically-running Field – Vehicle Communications box to the left (in between the Vehicles and Field sections). See Author Notes below for more information.)
Image Source: National ITS Arch Web site http://local.iteris.com/arc-it/
Image Source: ITS
JPO
Standards https://www.standards.its.dot.gov/
(Extended Text Description: This slide contains a graphic that illustrates the Systems Life Cycle in the form of the standard Vee diagram. The life-cycle steps include the following: Regional Architectures, Feasibility Study / Concept Exploration, Concept of Operations, System Requirements, High-level Design, Detailed Design, Software / Hardware Development Field Installation, Unit Device Testing, Subsystem Verification, System Verification & Deployment, System Validation, Operations and Maintenance, Changes and Upgrades, Retirement / Replacement. An arrow runs down the bottom left of the Vee and is labeled "Decomposition and Definition". The bottom of the Vee has a label that says "Implementation" and a timeline arrow running from left to right is labeled "Development Process". Another arrow runs up the right underside of the Vee and is labeled "Integration and Recomposition".)
Image Source: Systems Engineering Guidebook for ITS https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/cadiv/segb/
Slide 5: Important ITS Elements
- Secure Communications
- Fiber networks for field devices
- Wireless communications for mobile devices
- Connected vehicles will bring an explosion in data
- 4G LTE and Dedicated Short-Range Communications (DSRC) will both have a role
- Data Security
- Preventing System Attacks
- Protecting Data Privacy
Image Source: ThinkStock/USDOT
Slide 6: The Key Components of Intelligent Transportation Systems
- ITS requires many complex subsystems working together as one
- Intelligent Transportation Systems combine -
Sensing
Communications
Information Processing
to achieve the goal of optimal efficiency and improved safety
Image Source: ThinkStock/USDOT
Slide 7: Going a Little Deeper
- Sensing
- Field Devices
- Vehicle Systems
- Communications
- Information Processing
- Computing Hardware
- Software Development
- Network Modeling and Optimization
- All Aimed at Optimally Managing and Operating the Transportation System
Image Source: Stadt Nurnberg - Copyright Free Image Source: USDOT
Image Source: ThinkStock/USDOT
Image Source: USDOT
Slide 8: Field Devices
- Increasingly sophisticated
- Will ultimately be integrated with connected vehicles
- Large Company Example
- Daktronics - www.daktronics.com/en-us
- Leader in ITS dynamic displays
- Started by Electrical Engineering professors
- First product was electronic voting systems
- Small Company Example
- DigiWest
- Provider of cutting edge Bluetooth data collection
- Started as an networking and video conferencing services provider
- Over 350 BlueMAC units deployed in Abu Dabi
Image Source: www.daktronics.com/en-us
Image Source: www.mybluemac.com
Slide 9: Vehicle Systems
- Original Equipment Manufacturer - Increasing scope and complexity
- Third party equipment - Fills interim gaps, i.e. aftermarket external cameras
- USDOT/NHSTA
- Vehicle to vehicle communication - Federal rulemaking in 2016
- Rear visibility systems will be required on all new vehicles beginning May 2018
- Congressional action to require crash avoidance system information to be included in NHTSA 5 star safety rating system
- Connected Vehicles
- Third party services like DASH are already providing vehicle to server connectivity for personal driver performance feedback
- Navigant Research predicts that DSRC
OEM
connectivity will begin to increase rapidly in 2016
- V2X - Includes vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), vehicle-to-cyclist (V2C), etc. is part of ultimate vision
Slide 10: Communications
- Field Devices
- Fiber will rule for -
- Surveillance Cameras
- Dynamic Message Signs (will these become obsolete?)
- Infrastructure-based traffic detection
- Networked Regional Traffic Management Centers
- Connected Vehicles
- DSRC will be the workhorse for V2X
- 4G LTE
- Definite - Personal connectivity and communication for systems such as OnStar
- Possible - Some of the load envisioned for DSRC
- Data and System Security will be Paramount
- How vulnerable will wireless communications be?
- "Hacking of Connected Vehicles Shifts From Theory to Very Scary" (July 24, 2015 - Paul Eisenstein) NBC Business
Image Source: ThinkStock/USDOT
Slide 11: Computing Hardware
- There may not be a need for special ITS computing systems
- However, there will be specialized unit server and client-server network designs
- IT departments have burgeoned in state departments of transportation
Image Source: ThinkStock/USDOT
Slide 12: Software Development
- Excellent opportunities to help deliver the complex software that will be needed to -
- Manage truly Big Data streams
- Data analytics and data fusion
- Integrate data and management systems across regions and modes
- ITS market has been lead to date by specialty software/system integrator firms
- …However, major software and systems market players such as IBM, Cisco, and SAS are beginning to join the game
Image Source: ThinkStock/USDOT
Slide 13: Network Modeling and Optimization
- Traffic engineering
- grounded in traffic flow theory
- Modeling and optimizing transportation networks
Image Source: USDOT
- Multi-level modeling will be essential, i.e. micro, meso, and macro-scale
(Extended Text Description: These figures are example images representing competing goals of how accuracy and computational speed will be managed through multi-level modeling frameworks, in which modeling resolution and complexity increase as we "zoom in" to small subareas and decrease as we move up toward larger, regional networks. The images are examples from PTV Group multi-level modeling tools through their PTV Vision Traffic Suite. One image shows Visem Rubberbanding. The next shows a map analysis tool. The next shows a 3D view of a highway with various vehicles in traffic each direction. For example only.)
Image Source: company.ptvgroup.com/
- Example PTV Group
- German company begun in 1979
- First software was for planning
- Now a global leader in transportation modeling from planning (Visum), traffic analysis (Vistro), and microsimulation (Vissim)
- https://www.ptvgroup.com/en/
- Vissim demo video
Slide 14: Do You Feel Prepared?
- What was the primary aim of the traditional civil/transportation curriculum?
- Build and maintain the Interstate Highway System
- The new reality is about efficient and safe management and operation of an increasingly integrated system in a data rich environment
- Curricula are evolving to include ITS and supporting disciplines of systems engineering and database and network fundamentals
Image Source: ThinkStock/USDOT
Slide 15: Important Research on the ITS Workforce
-
NCHRP
20-77 Transportation Operations Framework (completed 2009)
- Defined required competencies for employees at all levels
- Cataloged training resources
- Identified gaps in training
(Extended Text Description: Please note the relevant information of this figure is to show the National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) project 20-77 defined required competencies for ITS employees at all levels from technician to senior management. Core Functions are listed on the left of this table and the Position Levels are listed on the top of this table. The title of this table is NCHRP 20-77 Operations Framework. The Core Functions on the left include Policy and Strategic Considerations, Program Planning, Systems Development, Project Management, Real-time Operations. The Position Levels on the top of the table include Senior Management, Mid-level, Technician.)
Slide 16: Important Research on the ITS Workforce
- NCHRP 20-86 Attracting, Recruiting, and Retaining Skilled Staff for Transportation System Operations and Management (completed 2011)
- Provided strategies and resources
- All 50 states surveyed
- "Network systems and data communications analysts" category consistently had the highest growth in number of jobs across all states and regions
(Extended Text Description: Please note author's intent for this figure is to show that the category "Network system and data communications analysts" was top in all regions. The full table data is not relevant. The only important info is that the IT-related category was the consensus #1 across the US. The other categories listed are of no relevance to the theme of the presentation.)
Slide 17: Resources Available to You
- ITS ePrimer
- Talking Technology and Transportation (T3) Webinars
- Consortium for ITS Training and Education (CITE)
- For fee with some free introductory modules
- Certificate training
- Modules are free for university students at CITE partner institutions
- See https://www.citeconsortium.org/
- National Highways Institute (NHI)
- Info on these and other resources are available at - ITS Courses and Training - https://www.pcb.its.dot.gov/itscourses/default.aspx
Slide 18: Case Study 1
- Translōc - Advanced Technology for Transit
- Started in 2002 as an entrepreneurial leap by NC State University computer science grads
- Original focus was rider service to provide real-time bus location
- Services have expanded to cutting-edge fleet and system operations management support
(Extended Text Description: Graphic image showing the logo for the White House with the following text: Champions of Change - Winning the Future Across America. We are excited to announce that TransLoc has been selected by the White House as a Champion of Change for Transportation Technology. Next to the text is a photo of a computer showing a TransLoc screen with a map.)
Image Source: https://transloc.com Used with permission
Slide 19: Case Study 2
- Rhythm Engineering's InSync Adaptive Signal Control System
- For several decades adoption of adaptive signal control systems had been very slow with largely negative experience
- The InSync System rolled out in 2007
- A 2009 study of adaptive control systems had to be revised in 2010 because of InSync's rapid growth
(Extended Text Description: This figure contains a bar chart entitled: Systems Still in Operation, and is labeled Figure 16: Many of the systems included in the survey have since been abandoned. The y axis is labeled Number of Systems. The x axis is labeled
ACS-Lite,
OPAC,
RHODES,
SCOOT,
SCATS. The chart contains the following data, from left to right. Surveyed Systems: 3, 5, 8, 10. Remaining Systems: 1, 2, 1, 3, 8.)
Source: Matt Selinger et al., Adaptive Traffic Control Systems in the United States, September 2009
| System Name |
Installations |
| InSync |
92 |
| SCATS |
29 |
| ACS-Lite |
14 |
| Centracs |
14 |
| SCOOT |
13 |
Source: Laboratory for Adaptive Traffic Operations and Management
http://latom.eng.fau.edu- content is no longer available.
(Extended Text Description: This figure contains a bar chart entitled Hingsight Question, and is labeled Figure 18: A majority of the respondents would install the same system again if they had the opportunity. The y axis is labeled Percent Respondents Answering Yes. The x axis is labeled ACS-List, InSync, SCATS. The chart contains the following approximate data, from left to right, 66%, 99%, 69%.)
Source: Matt Selinger et al., Adaptive Traffic Control Systems in the United States: Updated Summary and Comparison, September 2010
Slide 20: Case Study 3
-
SANRAL
Design-Build-Operate-Maintain ITS Project
- Nationwide effort to rapidly deliver a comprehensive, state of the art ITS system for South Africa
- Innovative contracting mechanism
- Design, Build, Operate, and Maintain (DBOM)
- Cary, NC Firm Kimley Horn and Associates is leading the DBOM team a: SANRAL's representative
- Truly a full featured system, including -
- Video surveillance
- Electronic tolling
- Ramp metering
- Traveler information
- Etc.
Image Source: Kimley-Horn and Assoc., Inc. Used with permission
Slide 21: Your ITS Career
- The job opportunities are huge and growing
- Formal curricula and training are evolving
- You will need to take charge of your career preparation
- Long term success will require that you be a lifelong learner
Image Source: ThinkStock/USDOT
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