Letter from Bryan Mulligan...
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Nearly halfway through the year and it is time for the ITS America trade show again. Over the past several years, we and other practitioners in the ITS market have the sense that this trade show, and others like it, are shrinking. The vendors are taking smaller booths and the volume of government officials (i.e. “customers”) is shrinking with each passing year. I have devoted one of the articles in the newsletter to this topic, as it is essential that we as an industry find a way to get governmental officials back to the important trade shows.
The NTCIP Joint Committee met via teleconference this month and dealt with two issues of significance. The first was to vote to send NTCIP 1204 Environmental Sensor Station Objects – version3 and NTCIP 1207 Ramp Meter Control – version 2 out to the NTCIP community as a user comment draft. Look out for these documents and be sure to put in your comment. The second (and more vexatious) issue was to find a good way to deal with the shift in US daylight savings time and how to accommodate future requirements if the government changes it again. Also, with NTCIP now becoming internationally adopted on a wider scale, there is a need to accommodate a wide variety of different daylight savings schemes. The working group and the joint committee are spending a good level of effort in reconciling all the different points of view. A solution is expected within the next couple of months.
The South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) is busy in Johannesburg with an initial ITS deployment program on the freeway between Johannesburg and Pretoria, which happens to be the busiest road in Africa. Intelligent Devices is involved through the provision of Central System software (the Intelligent Control suite), and other services. What is particularly interesting is how SANRAL have adopted NTCIP and how successfully it has been deployed. SANRAL and their consultants are also very innovative in their use of ITS devices and so from time to time I’ll be highlighting some of these innovations, for us all to learn from… This month, I’ve highlighted their innovative use of Lane Control Signals, to selectively open a hard shoulder in places to provide an additional travel lane.
Enjoy this copy of Intelligent News. Come see us at ITS America (booth 644) to see our latest innovations. Until next time…
Regards,
Bryan Mulligan
Past Issues:
Intelligent News - March 2007
Intelligent News - April 2007 |
