Abstract

Faced with the challenge of providing adequate transport services with limited resources, cities have, for several decades, been investing in Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). ITS utilize Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to make more efficient use of existing transport infrastructure with the aim of improving transport services and reducing congestion, accidents, and air pollution. In the past two decades, with the rapid advancement of ICT and intensive advocacy from big technology vendors, the concept of ‘smart cities’ has gained great popularity and many cities have started to undertake a more holistic approach to improving urban services using technology in the name of smart city initiatives. Section two introduces these themes, which serve as the analytical framework to understand how smart mobility investments lead to energy savings. The comparison in the search for similarities among the case studies and interviews helped us develop a conceptual model, emphasizing cause and effect and presented in section three, of how ITS deployment and operation in the context of smart cities leads to energy saving benefits. This conceptual model is presented with detailed discussions of institutional, technological, and physical conditions at each step in the model. Section four focuses on energy savings with quantitative evidence of energy saving potential of ITS investments collected from literature and case studies. Section five links the results of this study to the Wuhan Integrated Transport Development Project and how the knowledge has been incorporated into project design. To further explore the energy efficiency potential of Wuhan and to mainstream ITS and smart transport solutions as a source of achieving energy efficiency using results of this study, a TRACE analysis was also completed as part of this research effort. This analysis focused on the passenger transport sector. Finally, policy recommendations on the major conditions under which ITS investments in the context of smart cities achieve energy savings are summarized in Section 6 with specific implications for cities in the developing countries. Document type: Book

Abstract

The increasing need for mobility has brought about significant changes in transportation infrastructures. Inefficiencies cause enormous losses of time, decrease in the level of safety for both vehicles and pedestrians, high pollution, degradation of quality of life, and huge waste of nonrenewable fossil energy.The scope of this article is to introduce novel functionality for providing knowledge to vehicles, thus jointly managing traffic and safety. This will be achieved through the design of the proposed functionality, which, at a high level, will comprise (1) sensor networks formed by vehicles of a certain vicinity that exchange traffic-related information, (2) cognitive management functionality placed inside the vehicles for inferring knowledge and experience, and (3) cognitive management functionality in the overall transportation infrastructure. The goal of the aforementioned three main components shall be to issue directives to the drivers and the overall transportation infrastructure valuable in context handling.

Abstract

[EN] Today, smart cities are presented as a solution to achieve a more sustainable urban development while increasing the quality of life of its citizens through the use of new technologies (Neirotti, 2013). Smart Mobility is based on innovative and sustainable ways to provide transport for the inhabitants of cities, enhancing the use of fuels or vehicle propulsion systems that respect the environment, supported by technological tools and a proactive behaviour of citizenship (Neirotti, 2013). In urban mobility, the purpose of the Smart Cities is to develop flexible systems for real-time information to support decisionmaking in the use and management of different transport modes, generating a positive impact, saving users time and improving efficiency and quality of service. In this context, several solution types are being introduced in the world’s cities. They enable the improvement of the abovementioned factors acting on the demand side resulting in more efficient journeys for individual travelers, and improved satisfaction with the service. (Skelley et Al., 2013) with a lower level of investment than that of infrastructure deployment or an increase in the level of service. One of the most extended solutions is the use of mobile apps for providing the user with contextualized -static and real time- transport information. The study is based on a survey carried out among users of public transport in Madrid under the European OPTICITES project of the 7th Research Framework Programme. The survey contained items on their transportation habits, their level of skills and technological capabilities, and their main expectations about the possibility of using a new application, the main desired capabilities and willingness to pay for use. The study results show the preferences of users of public transport capacity, static, real-time search and in-app services for a multimodal real-time application and willingness to pay for this service, all analyzed by different Slicers users. The results also establish the basis for an estimate of the usefulness of these applications for users of public transport. Velázquez Romera, G.; Monzón, A. (2016). PUBLIC TRANSPORT USERS' PREFERENCES AND WILLINGNESS TO PAY FOR A PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION MOBILE APP IN MADRID. En XII Congreso de ingeniería del transporte. 7, 8 y 9 de Junio, Valencia (España). Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 2248-2266. https://doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2015.3498 OCS 2248 2266

Abstract

One of the most significant urban transport problems is traffic congestion. All major cities both in developed and developing countries are facing the problem due to increasing travel demand caused by increasing urbanization and the attendant economic and population growth. Recognizing the growing burden of traffic congestion, community leaders and transportation planners in Addis Ababa are still actively promoting large-scale road constructions to alleviate traffic congestion. Although Intelligent Transportation Systems(ITS) applications seem to have the potential to improve signalization performance, highly congested intersections in Addis Ababa are still controlled by a timed signal and manual operation. Moreover, these pre-timed signal controls are functioning sub-optimally as they are not being regularly monitored and updated to cope with varying traffic demands. Even though the benefits are well known theoretically, at the time of writing of this thesis, Adaptive Traffic Signal Controllers (ATSC) haven’t been deployed in Ethiopia and no research has been conducted to demonstrate and quantify their effectiveness. This master’s research thesis, therefore, intends to fill the identified gap, by undertaking a microscopic traffic simulation investigation, to evaluate the benefits of adopting a Traffic-responsive Urban Control (TUC) strategy and optimizing traffic signal timings. For the purpose of this study, an oversaturated three-intersection test corridor located in the heart of Addis Ababa city is modeled in VISSIM using real-world traffic data. After validating the calibrated model, the corridor was evaluated with the existing pre-timed, TRANSYT optimized pre-timed plan and TUC strategy. Multiple simulation runs were then made for each scenario alternatives and various measures of effectiveness were considered in the evaluation process. Simulation evaluation has demonstrated an average delay reduction of 24.17% when the existing pre-timed alternative is compared to TRANSYT optimized plan and 35% when compared to the TUC strategy. Overall evaluation results indicate that deploying the TUC strategy and optimizing the aging pre-timed signal plans exhibits a significant flow improvement. It is expected that the result of the thesis work will be an input for future comprehensive policy development processes.

Abstract

Mención Internacional en el título de doctor The technological advances in the Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) are exponentially improving over the last century. The objective is to provide intelligent and innovative services for the different modes of transportation, towards a better, safer, coordinated and smarter transport networks. The Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) focus is divided into two main categories; the first is to improve existing components of the transport networks, while the second is to develop intelligent vehicles which facilitate the transportation process. Different research efforts have been exerted to tackle various aspects in the fields of the automated vehicles. Accordingly, this thesis is addressing the problem of multiple automated vehicles cooperation and coordination. At first, 3DCoAutoSim driving simulator was developed in Unity game engine and connected to Robot Operating System (ROS) framework and Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO). 3DCoAutoSim is an abbreviation for "3D Simulator for Cooperative Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and Automated Vehicles Simulator". 3DCoAutoSim was tested under different circumstances and conditions, afterward, it was validated through carrying-out several controlled experiments and compare the results against their counter reality experiments. The obtained results showed the efficiency of the simulator to handle different situations, emulating real world vehicles. Next is the development of the iCab platforms, which is an abbreviation for "Intelligent Campus Automobile". The platforms are two electric golf-carts that were modified mechanically, electronically and electrically towards the goal of automated driving. Each iCab was equipped with several on-board embedded computers, perception sensors and auxiliary devices, in order to execute the necessary actions for self-driving. Moreover, the platforms are capable of several Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communication schemes, applying three layers of control, utilizing cooperation architecture for platooning, executing localization systems, mapping systems, perception systems, and finally several planning systems. Hundreds of experiments were carried-out for the validation of each system in the iCab platform. Results proved the functionality of the platform to self-drive from one point to another with minimal human intervention. Los avances tecnológicos en Sistemas Inteligentes de Transporte (ITS) han crecido de forma exponencial durante el último siglo. El objetivo de estos avances es el de proveer de sistemas innovadores e inteligentes para ser aplicados a los diferentes medios de transporte, con el fin de conseguir un transporte mas eficiente, seguro, coordinado e inteligente. El foco de los ITS se divide principalmente en dos categorías; la primera es la mejora de los componentes ya existentes en las redes de transporte, mientras que la segunda es la de desarrollar vehículos inteligentes que hagan más fácil y eficiente el transporte. Diferentes esfuerzos de investigación se han llevado a cabo con el fin de solucionar los numerosos aspectos asociados con la conducción autónoma. Esta tesis propone una solución para la cooperación y coordinación de múltiples vehículos. Para ello, en primer lugar se desarrolló un simulador (3DCoAutoSim) de conducción basado en el motor de juegos Unity, conectado al framework Robot Operating System (ROS) y al simulador Simulation of Urban Mobility (SUMO). 3DCoAutoSim ha sido probado en diferentes condiciones y circunstancias, para posteriormente validarlo con resultados a través de varios experimentos reales controlados. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron la eficiencia del simulador para manejar diferentes situaciones, emulando los vehículos en el mundo real. En segundo lugar, se desarrolló la plataforma de investigación Intelligent Campus Automobile (iCab), que consiste en dos carritos eléctricos de golf, que fueron modificados eléctrica, mecánica y electrónicamente para darle capacidades autónomas. Cada iCab se equipó con diferentes computadoras embebidas, sensores de percepción y unidades auxiliares, con la finalidad de transformarlos en vehículos autónomos. Además, se les han dado capacidad de comunicación multimodal (V2X), se les han aplicado tres capas de control, incorporando una arquitectura de cooperación para operación en modo tren, diferentes esquemas de localización, mapeado, percepción y planificación de rutas. Innumerables experimentos han sido realizados para validar cada uno de los diferentes sistemas incorporados. Los resultados prueban la funcionalidad de esta plataforma para realizar conducción autónoma y cooperativa con mínima intervención humana. Programa Oficial de Doctorado en Ingeniería Eléctrica, Electrónica y Automática Presidente: Francisco Javier Otamendi Fernández de la Puebla.- Secretario: Hanno Hildmann.- Vocal: Pietro Cerri

Abstract

With the advent of intelligent transportation systems and their associated more stringent requirements in terms of latency and packet delivery ratio, existing radio access technologies have exhibited a limited performance in specific scenarios that makes their sole operation in isolation unreliable for safety-related applications. In this context, hybrid V2X systems represent the state-of-the-art approach to address such challenge. Under this paradigm, the efficient operation of the system relies on a media selection algorithm, which uses different network parameters for predicting the technology that is foreseen to perform the best in a given scenario. While the network load is here regarded to affect the latency of the communication, no quantitative study has been found in the literature which supports this claim. Furthermore, the inaccessibility to this metric for commercially available off-the-shelf user equipments prevents a straightforward analysis of such parameter and its effects on C-V2X communications. In order to fill that gap, a framework has been designed and implemented over the course of this thesis that non-intrusively gathers information from live LTE networks when traversing them using an ITS-enabled vehicle. Such information has been then post-processed and used to perform a mapping of the deployed frequency bands in both rural and urban environments, as well as for evaluating principally the relationship between the latency experienced in on-road LTE communications with the instantaneous uplink load estimated for the serving eNodeBs traversed in an urban environment, without any assistance of the network. Thus, the overall uplink load has been estimated and in-depth analysis on the load per eNodeB has been carried out; during the tests, however, the uplink load has been estimated to be below 30% for the scenario under analysis and no straightforward correlation with the latency experienced when transmitting messages with different sizes has been identified, which suggests that further measurements need to be taken. On the other side, it was found that the radio resource allocation scheme used for uplink grant assignments by the eNodeBs under analysis is exploitable for reducing the cell load estimation time, which will support the migration of the set-up towards a real-time realization. The developed system therefore constitutes the groundwork for later analysis that will allow a more straightforward characterization of this relationship in different scenarios, which will ultimately serve to improve the media selection algorithm in hybrid V2X networks.

Abstract

Los rápidos avances tecnológicos han permitido una nueva generación de redes denominadas USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network), donde los dispositivos móviles y pequeños sensores están presentes en todas partes y se entremezclan en las actividades cotidianas del ser humano. Esta nueva generación de redes permitirá ofrecer diferentes servicios a usuarios, a través de arquitecturas computacionales que integrarán: nuevas tecnologías, aplicaciones tecnológicas, redes de comunicaciones y otros servicios especializados. Con las redes USN se amplían las posibilidades de desarrollo tecnológico, sobre todo en el diseño de “ciudad inteligente”, y en otros sectores importantes de la economía como el agrícola y de transporte, entre otros. La investigación recoge una mirada a las principales propuestas realizadas en diferentes ámbitos por instituciones referentes - en especial en lo definido por la Unión Internacional de Telecomunicaciones – UIT/ITU, que han intentado estandarizar una arquitectura de referencia para este tipo de redes con el fin de reducir las complejidades de integración, el uso de múltiples tecnologías, la heterogeneidad de los diferentes protocolos existentes y facilitar: la interconexión, la comunicación y futuros desarrollos en este campo. A partir de una revisión sistemática y completa en la investigación, se logró la construcción del Estado del Arte que determinó las necesidades y características que deben ser satisfechas por una arquitectura de referencia para las redes USN, en especial, lo referente a calidad de servicio debido a que estas redes por su gran crecimiento y volumen de datos recolectados, no podrán atender la demanda requerida en los próximos años. La investigación aborda un estudio de la implementación de la calidad de servicio en Redes USN, teniendo en cuenta factores como el tiempo, la pérdida de información, diferenciación de servicios de emergencia y la capacidad de la red. Por ejemplo, en entornos inalámbricos es necesario alcanzar estabilidad y poca variabilidad en el tiempo tanto en la transmisión de los datos como en las peticiones realizadas por los diferentes actores. Además, se incorpora en cada una de las capas definidas de la arquitectura de referencia, la calidad de servicio como un componente esencial para garantizar la capacidad de la red para transmitir datos con los niveles de servicio adecuados de acuerdo con cada servicio definido. En las capa de la arquitectura se definen elementos estructurales que permiten pasar entre cada una los parámetros y métricas definidos, que evitan la pérdida o retraso de paquetes asociados a aplicaciones o servicios determinados previamente como críticos. Para el caso de las Redes USN integradas a los servicios ITS, fue necesario asociar un servicio de emergencia al conductor de un vehículo por estados de somnolencia como un evento súbito tal como se propone en (Garcés, Salgado, Andrés, and Henry, 2015). En este caso, los paquetes se transmiten con una clase de servicio mayor a las demás haciendo que en cada capa, la información/paquete tenga un tratamiento especial y prioritario durante su envío al middleware o en otros casos, a las aplicaciones o servicios finales. Dentro de la investigación, se analizaron los protocolos usados actualmente, revisando los modelos que soportan los volúmenes de datos requeridos por este tipo de redes, determinando aplicar en la capa MAC diferenciación de servicio, asociando clases de servicio sobre los paquetes y haciendo que la transmisión de estos, se sintonicen con las demás capas de la Red y con toda la arquitectura. Establecida la necesidad de contar con un modelo de diferenciación de servicio, se determinaron los requerimientos de calidad de servicio. Con la prueba de concepto se pudo utilizar un modelo continúo (transmisión de datos en intervalos de tiempo periódico) y orientado por consultas en donde los datos son solicitados por un receptor, dando origen a un Modelo Hibrido con datos y peticiones en intervalos de tiempo bien definidos a lo largo de la Red USN y de la Arquitectura en general. Por otro lado, y avanzando en el conocimiento de estas redes, dentro de la investigación se propuso una arquitectura de referencia aplicable a un caso de estudio de orden nacional e internacional, tomando el área de los Sistemas Inteligentes de Transporte SIT/ITS, como un sector fundamental en el desarrollo de las naciones y del cual se tiene pleno conocimiento por parte de los involucrados en la investigación. Abstract. The rapid technological advances have allowed a new generation of networks called USN (Ubiquitous Sensor Network), where the mobile devices and small sensors are present everywhere and are intermingled in the daily activities of the human being. This new generation of networks will allow to offer different services to users, through computational architectures that will integrate: New technologies, technological applications, communications networks and other specialized services. With the USN networks the possibilities of technological development are extended, especially in the design of "smart city", and in other important sectors of the economy as the agricultural and transport, among others. The research takes a look at the main proposals made in different fields by relevant institutions - especially as defined by the International Telecommunication Union, ITU-, which have tried to standardize a reference architecture for this type of networks in order to Reduce the complexity of integration, the use of multiple technologies, the heterogeneity of the different existing protocols and facilitate interconnection, communication and future developments in this field. From a systematic and complete review in the investigation, the State of the Art was achieved, which determined the needs and characteristics that must be satisfied by a reference architecture for the USN networks, especially the quality of service due to the fact that these networks due to their great growth and volume of data collected, will not be able to meet the demand demanded in the coming years. The research addresses a study of the implementation of quality of service in USN Networks, taking into account factors such as time, loss of information, differentiation of emergency services and network capacity. For example, in wireless environments it is necessary to achieve stability and little variability in time both in the transmission of data and in the requests made by different actors. In addition, quality of service is included in each of the defined layers of the reference architecture as an essential component to guarantee the capacity of the network to transmit data with the appropriate levels of service according to each defined service. In the layers of the architecture are defined structural elements that allow to pass between each one the defined parameters and metrics, that avoid the loss or delay of packages associated with applications or services previously determined as critical. In the case of USN networks integrated with the ITS services, it was necessary to associate an emergency service to the driver of a vehicle by states of drowsiness as a sudden event as proposed in (Garcés, Salgado, Andrés, and Henry, 2015). In this case, the packets are transmitted with a higher class of service than the others, causing the information / packet to have special and priority treatment during its delivery to the middleware or in other cases to the final applications or services. In the research, we analyzed the protocols currently used, reviewing the models that support the data volumes required by this type of networks, determining to apply service differentiation in the MAC layer, associating service classes on the packets and making the transmission of these, be tuned with the other layers of the Network and with all the architecture. Establishing the need to have a service differentiation model, the quality of service requirements were determined. With the proof of concept it was possible to use a continuous model (data transmission in periodic time intervals) and oriented by queries where the data are requested by a receiver, giving origin to a Hybrid Model with data and requests in good time intervals defined throughout the USN Network and Architecture in general. On the other hand, and advancing in the knowledge of these networks, the research proposed a reference architecture applicable to a national and international case study, taking the area of Intelligent Transport Systems SIT / ITS, as a Fundamental sector in the development of the nations and of which it is had full knowledge on the part of those involved in the investigation.

Abstract

This paper presents the tools that have been developed in the IST-Anemone project, a large European testbed deployed for testing and validating IPv6 mobility protocols and products. The testbed is available to third parties, which may include research projects and companies seeking to validate IPv6-ready products. "br/"This tested is particularly suitable for ITS experimentation as it includes several private roads and various network access technologies, IPv6 mobility support and a set of tools for testing IPv6 and performing demonstrations. "br/"Several ITS-related experiments have been performed by Anemone partners.

Abstract

Wireless vehicular networks are to be deployed in both Europe and the USA within upcoming years. Such networks introduce a new promising source of information about vehicular environments to be used by cooperative advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS). However, development and evaluation of such cooperative ADAS is still challenging. Hence, we introduce a novel methodology for their development and evaluation processes. It is applied to evaluate the fulfillment of requirements on position accuracy information within exchanged messages. Such requirements are only roughly defined and not sufficiently evaluated in field tests. This holds especially for Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) optimized for maximum integrity of obtained positions. Such configuration is required to increase robustness and reliability of safety critical ADAS. We find that pure GNSS-based positioning cannot fulfill position accuracy requirements of studied ADAS in most test cases.

Abstract

In vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs), successful delivery of GeoUnicast and GeoBroadcast packets depends on scenario-specific aspects like vehicle density, distribution of vehicles on the road and type of the environment (e.g., urban, rural). These aspects can significantly influence the reliability of the connection between communication parties making traditional ITS-G5 based ad hoc networks unreliable. The absence of communication partners in range, long transmission distances, non-line-of-sight (NLOS) conditions are just a few examples that could hinder ITS-G5 transmissions. In this paper, we propose a Hybrid Policy-based Network Selection Algorithm that uses LTE to strengthen and complement ITS-G5 under critical conditions in which successful transmission over the ad hoc network is highly unlikely. The main objective is to use as less LTE transmissions as possible whilst maintaining high Packet Delivery Ratio (PDR) within defined delay constraints. The results, which are derived from extensive simulation campaigns, show a clear advantage of using the hybrid scheme over solely ITS-G5 or LTE. Document type: Conference object