Traffis Signal Systems

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
TRANSPORTATION RESEARCH BOARD
210 Constitution Avenue Washington, D.C. 20418

COMMITTEE CORRESPONDENCE
A3A18

MEETING MINUTES

for the

1999 Annual Meeting of TRB Committee A3A18
Traffic Signal Systems

January 11, 1999

Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
Washington, DC

PRIVILEGED INFORMATION

Minutes of all TRB Meetings are regarded as privileged and not for public release without prior approval of the Executive Director.

TRB A3A18 Annual Meeting

January 11, 1999

1. Attendance

Committee Members: 19
Friends of the Committee: 72
TRB Staff: 1
Total Attending: 94

2. Agenda (Attachment 1)

3. General Items for the Record

Dr. Tom Urbanik opened the meeting at 2:02 p.m. Dr. Urbanik reiterated that in the interest of time and fairness all presentation should be direct, based only upon the facts, be within the time allotment, and not be commercial in nature.

Dr. Urbanik reinforces that this committee is a volunteer organization. And nothing will get done without assistance from the committee (members and friends). Participation on behalf of the members is important to the survival of the committee itself.

The members in attendance were queried on distribution of materials produced by this committee. It was agreed by the committee that electronic format (committee web site and direct email) is the preferred medium. Distribution of materials of materials via hard copy will not be used unless specifically requested by a member or friend of the committee.

4. Introductions. Self-introductions were made by all individuals in attendance at the committee meeting.

The meeting agenda was distributed for both sessions. (Attachment 1). Urbanik announced the 10^th International Conference and exhibition on Road Transport Information and Control in London, UK on April 4 - 6, 2000. (Attachment 2).

5. Approval of mid-year minutes. Dr. Urbanik asked for approval of the mid-year committee meeting minutes. Don Dey made motion to approve minutes. Al Kosik second the motion. Motion was carried unanimously.

6. TRB Report. Richard Cunard, TRB Staff Representative. Among the key points noted by Mr. Cunard were:

Next TRB meeting is January 9, 1999.
The pre-print room has been replaced by the CD-ROM, which contains 912 papers accepted for presentation.
TRIS will become available on-line free of change on the Internet starting around June/July 1999.
Cunard announced that Tom Urbanik would become the official Committee Chair starting February 1, 1999 pending no upset by the executive board.
TRB committees are requested to submit topics that would be appropriate for the development of Synthesis projects. Deadline for these submittals is February 1st.

Dr. Upchurch made Section A report.

7. Committee Membership Update. Urbanik announced that there would be a turnover in approximately 1/3^rd of the committee membership. Urbanik invited individuals to become active in committee business, whether on subcommittees or task force roles. Again, the only way the committee can produce anything good is for active participation by all individuals.

8. FHWA Report. Raj Ghaman.

TSIS 4.3 to be released in the Spring 99.
TSIS 5.0 to be released later. (Attachment 4)
FHWA identified new structure of Federal Highways (Attachment #3).

9. NTCIP/TMDD/IEEE Data Dictionary. Ed Seymour (Attachment 5)

Seymour gave presentation about the data dictionary. Seymour stressed that if you are involved in development of software/hardware related to the data dictionary to be sure that you have the latest revision as some approved standards have revisions pending. See www.NTCIP.org for more information. See handout for other important web page addresses.

10. Task Force/Subcommittee Reports

Education Task Force. Urbanik asks committee whether to continue this task force. If it is not needed B get rid of it. Looking for new chair.

Traffic Models Task Force. Dr. Wallace reported on the Traffic Models Object Model.

There are two white papers in development, which are:

Legal and copyright issues.
Testing

Dr. Wallace announced the release of Release 3 of the Highway Capacity Software (HCS-3), which was ready for distribution on November 24, 1998. In addition, Release 8 of TRANSYT-7F has been released. A Windows version of the McT7F interface was developed by Dr. John Leonard and is planned for distribution in January as an automatic update to registered users. (Attachment 6).

Dr. Wallace announced the upcoming traffic models workshop. (Attachment 7). This workshop will be by invitation only. The focus of the workshop will be on future software development. Individuals involved in the research of, development of and users of traffic models are encourage to contact Dr. Wallace.

Strategic Plan. Don Dey reported on the current status of different subcommittee activities.

There are no action items to respond to at this time.

Dey encourage committee chairs to review/revisit and identify what they are going to accomplish in the coming years.

The committee’s strategic plan will need update in coming meetings.

TRB paper review. Larry Head reported that the committee received 27 papers for presentation, which 20 were accepted. Head reported that Poster sessions help increase the number of accepted papers. He stressed that the Poster Sessions are not a second-class presentation. In addition, Head reported that prescreening paper topics (title) by the reviewers helped in match papers with reviewers. Head stressed to the committee that when reviewing papers, it is necessary for the individuals to provide substantive comments related to the worthiness of the paper for presentation, required changes, etc.

ATC Update. Al Kosik reported that the AASHTO/ITE/NEMA Joint Committee on the Advanced Transportation Controller was formed to provide oversight for the development of the ATC. (Attachment 8). Three work groups have been formed, which are: API (Application Programming Interface) Work Group; ITS Cabinet Work Group; and the ATC Controller Work Group.

Raj Ghaman reported that OPAC test results from Virginia were completed in 1998. The next test case of the RT-TRACs adaptive algorithms will be in Chicago, Seattle, and Tucson. The Chicago design work will begin late 1999. In Seattle, they have signed memorandum of understanding. Tucson work is moving forward.

Craig Gardner reported on the Advanced Transportation Controller (ATC) joint committee. The committee is actively pursuing additional participants in the API working Group. The group's goals focus on defining an "open" software interface standard for the ATC platform. The Working Group has finished a draft of its Level 1 & 2 API specifications. Level 1 relates to sharing of basic controller resources like the front panel, field I/O, etc. while Level 2 API's provide higher level functionality for multiple program application on a single ATC.

The API working group is now moving toward a level 3 API. The goal is to develop an ATC platform interface that is independent of the operating system and CPU hardware selection.

Operations and Maintenance. Urbanik spoke for DeSanto who was not present. It was asked by Urbanik whether the committee will continue to host the workshop the Sunday before TRB every year, as has been the case for the last several years. Don Dey stated that the workshops have been very useful and have received positive feedback from those that have attended. Dey suggested that the committee continue to sponsor the workshop until there is a lack of interest. Kent Kacir identified that several panel members provided handouts of their presentations. Further, it was suggested by Kacir for Gary Duncan to place his presentation materials on Y2K on the committee web page. Dave Powell would like to see more quantitative measurement of how well an agency maintains their system. FHWA is evaluating ways to tie funding to historical performance; but there is currently is a lack of a means to measure this. Rick Denney supports the idea about measuring maintenance performance. Urbanik suggested that Bob DeSantos look into this issue and report back to the committee.

Adaptive Traffic Control. Urbanik stated that workshops during the mid-year meeting in Asilomar, California on adaptive signal control were received well by many members/friends in attendance. Urbanik stated that the workshop was good for the committee and the engineering community it raises the floor of common understanding. Don Dey stated that the technical presentations were great and that the committee should look for ways to broaden the audience. It was suggested that these workshops may be good to host the Sunday prior to TRB in conjunction with O&M workshop. There were no motions or action items.

Web page. Lee Han reported that the Listserve function on the A3A18 web page can be used to facilitate discussion related to such subjects as operation and Maintenance. The Listserve function was created for information exchange. The A3A18 web page can be found at: URL www.engr.utk.edu/~signal/. Members and friends, who want to be on the Listserve, make sure HAN has your correct E-mail address.

Han updated web page in November 1998; all members are subscribers to the web page. Han is incorporating an area of the web page to serve as a clearinghouse for traffic signal related documents. Han inquiring about funding from FHWA for maintenance of the web page.

Manuals and publications. Rick Denney reported that the committee produces a traffic signals primer. Denney has not started putting together an outline at this date but intends to get started soon. The objective of the primer would be to provide small to medium size cities a single source of data related to system implementation.

In addition, Denney is looking for additional subcommittee members. At present, Kent Kacir is the only subcommittee member. Alan Clelland volunteered to serve on the subcommittee.

Signal Safety. Bahman Izadmehr reported that he is looking for literature that documents the benefits of signal systems. He stressed that if a committee or friend has any such documents to please contact him. Dave Powell asked to include pedestrians in the literature search. Izadmehr is looking for volunteers to serve on task force.

Signals systems Research Database. Nothing reported.

11. Millennium paper. Urbanik reported that the outline for the millennium paper has been developed; however, writing the text has been slow. Urbanik is looking for help in reviewing and comments. Don Dey volunteered to assist in review and comment. It was agreed that Urbanik and Bullock will distribute the document to committee members for review once it is complete.

12. TRB/ITSA/ITE Committee Liaison Reports.
Representative parties gave a brief update as to what is going on in other related committees.

13. Demonstration on Hardware in the Loop. Presentations were made by the Texas Transportation Institute (Roelof Engelbrecht), Federal Highway Administration (Gene Daigle), and Trafficware/Naztec (David Husch). Presentation materials are attached.

14. Committee member reports. Urbanik restated that the preferred medium to transmit member report was electronically. It was agreed by the committee members that future member reports will be transmitted electronically. Committee member reports will be posted to the web page.

The following committee members gave verbal reports.

Texas. Al Kosik: Attachment 9
Gary Duncan: Lessons Learned: Controllers and system software acquired in two separate contracts. NTCIP was a requirement. The two did not match up. It is important to define what is meant by NTCIP.
Dennis Eyler: Attachment 10
Les Kelman: Attachment 11
Rick Denney: See URL www.DP105.net.
Dave Powell: Attachment 12
Frank Dolan: Attachment 13
Anson Nordby: Attachment 14. Spread Spectrum wireless radio test of Hughes Aircraft hardware, which as configured as a network radio system with second by second command and control capability. The radios worked in concept but due to 902-928 band there was too much noise.
Don Dey.: Attachment 15.

15. Interim Guidance on Conformity with the National ITS Architecture and standards.

Jon Obenberger, FHWA gave a presentation on the consistency of the National ITS Architecture and Standards. (Attachment 16.) The key points of the presentation were:

Under TEA-21 legislation the Secretary of Transportation shall ensure that intelligent transportation system projects carried out using Highway Trust Fund monies shall conform to the national architecture, applicable standards or provisional standards, and protocols.
USDOT has two approaches, Interim guidance and Final Policy.
Policy goals are:

Achieve system integration
Engage stakeholders
Tailor ITS to meet local needs
Enable electronic information sharing among stakeholders
Facilitate future expansion capability
Foster interoperability

The draft policy is under development. The policy is in sync with transportation planning process, including new Operations and Management emphasis in TEA-21.
At the planning stage, metropolitan and statewide planning processes shall include development of an ITS Integration Strategy. The National ITS Architecture should be used as a resource to develop the ITS Integration Strategy.
At the Project stage, project requirements definition shall ensure that project design accommodates electronic information sharing and provides the functionality and operation per the ITS Integration Strategy.
Projects shall use ITS standards adopted by USDOT -- none are currently adopted, although many are written and being tested.

Key dates include:

October 1998: Release of Interim Guidance
Fall 1999: Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
Spring 2000: Final Policy

Further information can be found on web page, which are:

www.its.dot.gov. USDOT=s ITS Website.
www.its.fhwa.dot.gov/cyberdocs/welcome.htm. ITS elect. Doc. Library EDL.
www.nawgits.com/jpo/icdn.html. ITS cooperative deployment network. ICDN.

16. TEA 21 Critical Standards.

Greg Murrill of FHWA reported that the notice on the proposed criteria for establishing critical ITS standards was published in the Federal Register (63 FR 70836) on December 22, 1998. The notice seeks comments on the proposed criteria and resulting draft list of critical standards. A 30-day comment period was established (ending January 21, 1999). For more information, go to web site: http://www.its.dot.gov/standards/criteria.htm

17. Research Problem Statement. Feng-Bor Lin reported that the way we are doing business is not very productive. Dey reflected on the process that the committee undertook during the mid-year meeting seemed to work well. The committee needs to champion a select few of problem statements and get support for funding. The committee was asked to reflect upon Upchurchs statement made earlier in the day that only 2 projects go to NCHRP for funding.

Rick Denney reflected upon Highway Capacity committee 10-year vision towards a single product and how all research feeds into that product. Urbanik reflected upon the fact that the committee needs to know where it’s going, as a committee before we can decide what research we need. Urbanik stated that NCHRP is not the only funding source; state departments can fund research projects if the issue is important enough.

Urbanik motioned to carry this topic to the mid-year meeting. All members in attendance agreed. In the mean time Les Kelman will rectify his document from a few years ago related to needed research and the process. Rick Denney will assist.

18. Traffic Signal Controller Interface. There was not much discussion.

19. Mid-Year meeting. Urbanik made a motion that the mid-year meeting should have common theme. All committee members agreed that that last-years theme worked well. Signal priority was proposed as this years mid year meeting theme. If signal priority is the theme, both bus operations and traffic engineering perspectives must be balanced. Two names mentioned were Ron Atherly and Aaron Isaacs (Metro transit). Task Force members are Jon Crenshaw, Kent Kacir, Larry Head, and Dennis Elyer.

20. ITS Cabinet. Gary Duncan and Craig Gardner reported on the rack mounted two-door cabinet. They reported that either a NEMA TS-2 or an ATC controller can run the cabinet. The cabinet is a serial based cabinet and very modular in nature, designed for the future. Modules are specified; the cabinet architecture is not. A document reporting on the ITS Cabinet will be ready for joint committee review and comment after next meeting in March 1999. Agencies involved in the effort include Caltrans, TxDOT, and Harris County.