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The US Department of Transportation's ITS Joint Program Office has issued a Request for Information for its next five-year plan, which will emphasis the transformative potential of wireless connectivity. Shelley Row, ITS JPO Director, writes. During his confirmation hearing in January, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood emphasised that the US Department of Transportation (USDOT) will remain committed to improving the safety of the country's transportation system under his leadership, and will engage in

Caltrans District 7 is finalising a ConOps document which will detail a plug-and-play to work zone ITS operation. The organisation's Allen Z. Chen elaborates. Before August is out, on current planning, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) District 7 (which covers Los Angeles and Ventura Counties, with a combined population of close to 11 million people) intends to have finalised a Concept of Operations (ConOps) document dealing with Work Zone Transportation Management Systems (WZTMS). The

Bern Grush recently attended the Mileage-Based User Fee Conference in Austin Texas where the fledgling American landscape for Road User Charging is beginning to take shape. When I was a kid I liked to poke sticks into the ants' nests in sidewalk cracks. Ants would scatter in every conceivable direction. They ran in circles, they ran over and through each other. They screamed without logic. I was fascinated.

TransCore's David Sparks writes about the development of 95 Express, Florida Department of Transportation's new high-occupancy tolling facility. High-Occupancy Tolling (HOT) lanes are one of the most compelling uses of existing transportation infrastructure to expand capacity, particularly in major metropolitan areas which have limited right of way but need to relieve congestion. According to the Federal Highway Administration, while vehicle miles travelled have increased over 70 per cent in the past 20 yea

Justin McNew, Chief Technology Officer, Kapsch TrafficCom Inc., USA offers his opinion of where 5.9GHz DSRC technology will head in the coming years. The debate ranges back and forth over the most suitable technological solution for future tolling and charging in the US. However, the coming trend is common cooperative infrastructure: instrumented roads and vehicles with the capacity to communicate with each other over all manner of safety, mobility and traveller applications, many of which will involve fina

Volvo Trucks has developed a new GSM-based system that allows workshops to check a trucks’ condition remotely – a development that promises increased uptime and lower maintenance costs. The system is scheduled for release in Europe in 2013. The new remote services are possible thanks to the latest version of in-truck Telematics Gateway (TGW). This allows the Volvo workshop to monitor the vehicle's wear and condition in addition to reading fault codes remotely, using the GSM network.

Navmii Holdings, a UK headquartered provider of GPS navigation mobile apps, has received £2 million (US$3.13 million) from investors as part of its current funding round. Since launching in late 2009, the company has registered more than 8.2 million users and says it is growing at a rate of more than 550,000 users a month. The Navmii apps (Navmii and Navfee) have achieved the no.1 position on the Apple Apps store in the navigation category in many key markets including the UK, US, Canada, France, Germany, I

Continental is replacing a large part of the hardware in conventional radios with intelligent software. In a test setup Continental is already able to demonstrate the diversity, which is possible through its Global Software Radio (GSR). For example, it can play several radio stations simultaneously. Using loudspeakers and additional headset outlets, car drivers and rear seat passengers can listen to their favourite stations independently of each other. The GSR also allows the driver to listen to a station w

German company G&D has unveiled the first payment sticker to meet the specifications of the German banking industry. When the sticker is attached to a cell phone or smartphone, it enables contactless payment, even if the device itself is not NFC-enabled. The Seccos Mobile payment sticker is certified for the MasterCard contactless payment method PayPass. This allows bank customers worldwide to pay bills at over 350,000 PayPass locations.

American Traffic Solutions (ATS) has commissioned a cost-benefit analysis the results of which it claims show the direct economic savings to communities that result from using red-light safety cameras at dangerous intersections. The analysis was carried out by John Dunham and Associates, an economic research firm specialising in economic and fiscal impact studies.

Michael Schagrin and Raymond Resendes provide an update on the US Department of Transportation's vehicle-to-vehicle programme. The US Department of Transportation's (USDOT's) Vehicle-to- Vehicle (V2V) programme, which is concerned with wireless inter-vehicle communications for safety applications such as crash avoidance/mitigation, is a major safety component of the USDOT IntelliDrive cooperative infrastructure programme.

Mott MacDonald has launched its next generation Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) common database system called Osprey. The company says its extensive experience in UTMC has shaped the Osprey product to meet the challenging demands placed on transport operators in terms of network management. The software is designed to be an end-to-end offering to help local authorities deliver their transport plan objectives. The three main Osprey modules support control room staff in network management, promo

US Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood talks to ITS International about economic stimulus funding and the absolute need to maintain and increase the use of technology in transportation. Of the total of $787 billion of funding announced under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the economic stimulus package which was signed into law by US President Barack Obama on 17 February 2009, $48.1 billion will go to the US Department of Transportation (USDOT). Of that, $27.5 billion is for highway in

STMicroelectronics has introduced a world first - the market’s first 3-axis digital-output gyroscope that meets the industry-standard qualification for automotive integrated circuits (AEC-Q100). ST’s A3G4250D gyroscope newest angular-rate sensor aims to add positioning accuracy and stability to a wide range of automotive applications, including in-dash navigation, telematics and vehicle tolling systems.

Fujifilm has launched a number of new megapixel Varifocal lenses for day/night as well as high-resolution telezoom lenses for long range surveillance applications in high definition. Three new Varifocal lenses offer high resolutions of three megapixel and IR-correction for applications by day and night: YV3x6SR4A (f = 6~18 mm) and YV3.3x15SR4A (f = 15~50 mm) for a maximum sensor size of 1/2.7” and the DV4x12.5SR4A (f = 12.5~50 mm) for 1/1.8” sensors. Locking screws for zoom and focus, metal mounts and Fuji

APT SkiData has further extended the ‘wave and pay’ capabilities of its parking solutions with the new Artema EMV Level 2 contactless payment module as an integral part of its latest payment devices. Sited conveniently below the ‘traditional’ magnetic strip reader, the reader accepts a number of different contactless payment types in unattended environments, including Visa payWave and MasterCard PayPass cards.

Aldis has announced the latest release of the GridSmart solution for video vehicle detection and traffic data collection. One of the most visible new features of the GridSmart 3.2 is the replay feature that allows users to record and playback image data complete with information on zone presence and signal state. Even in the replay mode, users are still able to take advantage of the virtual pan-tilt-zoom feature and other standard GridSmart capabilities. This feature is useful for traffic engineers wishing

In response to market demands for a better way to accurately simulate evacuation, Legion has announced its Evac software product. It can simulate and analyse evacuation scenarios for places where people gather, such as stadiums, transport hubs, office buildings, theatres and concert halls. It enables the user to simulate, test and justify ideas for improving a design before making decisions, implementing changes and spending money. Simulation results can be analysed graphically through 3D animation, colour

The German AKTIV project is researching several cooperative driving applications for use in work zones. PTV's Michael Ortgiese details progress. The steep increases in traffic volumes predicted back in the early 1990s have unfortunately been proven to be more than accurate. In Germany, the AKTIV project continues to look into cooperative technologies' potential to reduce the impact of those increased traffic volumes and keep traffic moving despite limitations in infrastructure capacity.

Mitsubishi Electric Visual Solutions America has continued its commitment to 4K resolution with its new 56P-QF65LCU monitor. This LCD display offers QFHD (quadruple full high-definition) resolution with an 3840 x 2160 pixels, which means that more than eight megapixels are displayed on one 56-inch screen, an enormous amount of visual content on one device. The monitor allows one person to observe a wide range of data on one screen. The new QFHD monitor condenses information from a tiled display wall used