Assistance for the design of interoperable transport in France: ACTIF
ACTIF presentation and user guide documents
Presentation of Functional Area 3
Manage transport infrastructures and their traffic
January 2010
Centre for the study of urban planning,
transport and public facilities
ACTIF presentation and user guide documents – FA3
Certu – 20091
ACTIF presentation and user guide documents – FA3
Contents
Certu – 20091
ACTIF presentation and user guide documents – FA3
1. Introduction...... 4
1.1 About this presentation document ...... 4
1.2 General principles behind the model...... 4
1.3 The aim of the model – a framework for interoperability...... 5
1.4 Introduction to the functional area...... 5
1.5 Document contents...... 6
2. Scope of the functional area "Manage transport infrastructures and their traffic" 7
2.1 Objectives and services...... 7
2.2 The functional scope presented in ACTIF...... 8
2.2.1 Focus on traffic control...... 8
2.2.2 Using traffic data ...... 9
2.2.3 Processing event data ...... 9
2.2.4 Data on environmental conditions...... 9
2.2.5 Managing atypical points...... 9
2.2.6 Managing current and scheduled work sites...... 10
2.2.7 Describing the network and managing reference data...... 10
2.3 The limits of the model’s scope: interfaces with the outside world...... 10
2.3.1 Public Ttransport authorities...... 11
2.3.2 Law enforcement authorities...... 11
2.3.3 Network operators ...... 11
2.3.4 Service providers...... 11
2.3.5 Atmospheric conditions systems...... 12
2.3.6 Intervention teams...... 12
2.3.7 Users...... 12
2.3.8 Field equipment and data collection...... 12
2.3.9 Field camera equipment...... 12
2.3.10 Environmental conditions field equipment...... 13
2.3.11 Information or control equipment...... 13
2.4 Interfaces with the other functional areas of ACTIF...... 14
2.4.1 Provide electronic payment facilities (FA1)...... 14
2.4.2 Manage safety and emergency services (FA2)...... 14
2.4.3 Manage public transport operations (FA4)...... 14
2.4.4 Provide advanced driver assistance systems...... 14
2.4.5 Manage and inform on multimodal transportation (FA6) ...... 15
2.4.6 Enforce regulations (FA7)...... 15
2.4.7 Manage freight and fleet operations (FA8)...... 15
2.4.8 Manage shared data (FA9)...... 15
3. The functional model...... 17
3.1 Functional breakdown...... 17
3.2 Datastores...... 19
3.3 Functions...... 22
3.3.1 Functional sub-area: Produce traffic data...... 22
3.3.2 Functional sub-area: Manage events...... 24
3.3.3 Functional sub-area: Regulate traffic...... 25
3.3.4 Functional sub-area: Provide environmental information...... 27
3.3.5 Functional sub-area: Manage upkeep and maintenance of transport infrastructures 28
3.3.6 Functional sub-area: Manage a network's particular structures and atypical points 30
3.3.7 Functional sub-area: Manage FA3 shared data...... 31
3.4 Data-flow diagrams...... 31
4. Standards and legal requirements...... 37
4.1 Geographical repository...... 38
4.2 RDS-TMC...... 38
4.3 DATEX...... 38
4.4 DSRC...... 38
4.5 LCR...... 38
4.6 MI2/SIREDO...... 38
4.7 TPEG...... 39
4.8 TRIDENT...... 39
Certu – 20091
ACTIF presentation and user guide documents – FA3
1.Introduction
1.1 About this presentation document
Assistance for the design of interoperable transport in France (ACTIF) is a toolkit put in place by MEEDDM, the French ministry for sustainable development, designed to help transport system designers and project managers to make them interoperable, i.e. capable of exchanging information, collaborating and sharing technical solutions. The system is based on:
a method for implementing interoperable transport systems, described in a methodological guide;
a model which provides a representation of transport professions and the interfaces between them;
a set of tools for accessing and using the knowledge described in the model.
This document is part of a set of similar documents, which are designed to present the entire model in an instructive way and which set out the general principles under which the model can be adopted by ACTIF users. Its aim is to present Functional Area 3: Manage transport infrastructures and their traffic.
In order to understand the logic behind the ACTIF model as a whole and the principles that have been adopted to make it more intuitive, comprehensible and user-friendly, please refer to the framework document, which provides details of the entire ACTIF model (including the thinking behind its development and the modelling rules used). The other functional areas of ACTIF are each dealt with in a specific presentation document.
These documents are available for public viewing and download on the following website:
1.2 General principles behind the model
The ACTIF model provides a representation of transport professions, viewed from the perspective of information systems. The activities that it describes are based around functions designed to collect, store, process and disseminate data of increasing complexity.
The basic data comes either from other professions represented within ACTIF, or from external third parties, known as "terminators". In the same way, the information generated by the processing function is disseminated to other professions or to terminators. The word "terminator" refers to entities, individuals or systems for which the internal logic is not represented within ACTIF: field equipment, partner structures and organisations, drivers and users, etc.
For example, infrastructure managers (whose role is described within ACTIF) receive event alerts from field equipment (cameras, loops, etc.), which they then process before disseminating their analysis to the people in charge of implementing a field event management strategy. If traffic control measures are needed, they communicate the relevant information to the infrastructure's users via variable message signs (VMSs) or other types of media (e.g. radio stations). The cameras, loops, VMSs, radio stations and users are all classed as terminators.
Information may also be sent to the relevant public transport operator, which will take the necessary control measures (possible service modifications). These control measures will be communicated to the vehicle (driver) and/or to passengers and other users.
The functional chainsdescribed in the model are logical chains of information collection, storage, processing and dissemination functions, which send information to other collection functions, storage functions, etc. These logical chains must not be considered solely from the viewpoint of the technical and ICT systems required to achieve them. They must be seen rather as functions that are part of a wider transport service arrangement, which includes automation or human intervention (with NICTs then used to assist decision-making).
This may involve closed processes, i.e. which originate from and end with a terminator. It may also involve internally cyclical processes, either as part of cooperation between partners, or where there are plans to assess the processes and strategies implemented.
1.3 The aim of the model – a framework for interoperability
The aim of the model is therefore to represent not only the internal logic of the different transport professions, but also the information flows that may exist between different structures, organisations and systems in the context of a cooperation, collaboration or pooling of resources. Each of the different data functions, datastores and information flows has been linked with the relevant applicable standards and regulations in the various transport professions. The model proposes a generic description of the content and form of each of these objects.
In addition to the proposal for a repository for the transport professions, the aim of this kind of model is for it to be used in the description of existing or planned systems. In order to describe its organisation, operation and interfaces with partners and the outside world, the content of messages and databases and the technical implementation of functions must be specified. The use of knowledge that is already organised means time savings can be made by starting from definitions already contained in the model.
1.4 Introduction to the functional area
In order to make the representation easier to understand and use, the transport professions covered by ACTIF are grouped into functional areas, each of which corresponds to structures, organisations or services found in the real world. The ACTIF model contains nine functional areas. They are segmented and numbered in accordance with the equivalent European framework (FRAME):
FA1: Provide electronic payment facilities;
FA2: Manage safety and emergency services;
FA3: Manage transport infrastructures and their traffic;
FA4: Manage public transport operations;
FA5: Provide advanced driver assistance systems;
FA6: Manage and inform on multimodal transportation;
FA7: Enforce regulations;
FA8: Manage freight and fleet operations;
FA9: Manage shared data.
Each functional area has its own professions and functional sub-areas. The aim of this document is to show the logic used in the representation proposed for FA3: Manage transport infrastructures and their traffic in the model, and the way in which this working basis and reference can be used in practice.
1.5 Document contents
This document is arranged as follows:
presentation of the functional scope:
−objectives and services, functional scope;
−interfaces with the outside world and other functional areas within ACTIF;
presentation of the functional segmentation:
−functional breakdown, datastores and functions;
−data-flow diagram;
associated standards and regulations.
2.Scope of the functional area "Manage transport infrastructures and their traffic"
2.1 Objectives and services
The ACTIF model is derived from the older European KAREN model, and then the FRAME model, which had (and still has) the specificity of being very much geared towards road transport. The corresponding functional area (Functional Area 3) still deals with traffic management, and comprises two separate activities: managing urban traffic and managing interurban traffic.
However, the issues at stake with regard to multimodality very quickly led the team in charge of the ACTIF model to consider the possibility of using the model for non-road-based transport infrastructures. Two parallel activities were undertaken:
The first involved describing the infrastructure management activities that are present in other transport modes.
The second involved checking that, regardless of the contributions or modifications provided by the first activity, the ACTIF model would always respond or correspond to the expectations of road-based transport. In this respect, the level of coherence between the SDIR (Schéma Directeur de l'Information Routière – Road Information Master Plan) and SDER (Schéma Directeur de l'Exploitation Routière – Road Operation Master Plan) approaches was tested, together with the ACTIF model.
Overall, initial observations revealed significant similarities in the logic used to describe professions with links to transport infrastructure management. The key phases are:
describing the network proper(ly?) (in order that reference points on the network and atypical points can be described, so that, subsequently, any point on the network can be designated in a one-to-one, unambiguous fashion);
defining operating policy and strategies, which in turn should generally make it possible to define – in addition to service levels – the resources to be implemented in order to monitor the development of the service and all actions to be implemented to achieve the desired service level;
ensuring the upkeep and maintenance of the network, which means scheduling and managing works, as well as operations associated with each work site;
ensuring real-time operation, including information feedback on traffic conditions and events, and putting in place operating strategies;
managing the resources allocated to upkeep and maintenance.
Although the approaches are similar, there are also some notable differences:
In the way in which traffic is controlled or in which the network’s atypical points are managed. In particular, whereas road traffic management is essentially a matter of managing flows that must be oriented using information and incitements (journey times, recommendations, warning messages) and possibly regulations (limits, restrictions or rules concerning access, speed, overtaking, etc.), in most other cases, traffic management is individualised and brings with it the possibility of direct links between the management centre and the vehicle (air traffic, sea traffic, river traffic, rail traffic, etc.).
In the definition of infrastructures' atypical points, their management, and the impacts on traffic control and the operation of routes upstream and downstream. Managing a tunnel or a bridge as part of operating a road infrastructure is not the same as operating a port or airport for sea or air routes: in the first case, vehicles are delayed or diverted via parallel routes (if a meshed network exists); in the second case, the means of transport are cancelled, delayed or diverted.
The problem for the designers of the model was knowing whether, in a representation of information systems, the logical chains of information collection, processing and dissemination functions may be represented independently of transport modes. In practice, the two cases presented show that:
The traffic manager must be able to envisage direct relations with the vehicle or its driver/pilot/captain, or possibly with a third party, who will send back orders or instructions. This is also a case which could ultimately be envisaged for road traffic management, even if we know that the nature of messages ("time of arrival required"), for example, will not be the same. In this respect, considering the possibility of an information flow is coherent with the intentions of the ACTIF model.
Atypical points such as tunnels or bridges are "inserted" linearly with regard to the transport infrastructure, whereas ports and airports (and certain stations) are points of origin or termini. These atypical points are not necessarily managed by the same bodies that manage the routes that serve them; indeed, this is often the case. All atypical points may be subject to specific operating rules that are different from the rules for the routes taken by the means of transport concerned (because of safety, weather, accidents, etc.). These rules may, where necessary, lead to the closure of an atypical point, have impacts on traffic, usually upstream, but sometimes downstream too: in this case, means of transport must be diverted onto other networks and/or other atypical points. Interconnections must then be envisaged with the services in charge of managing routes (air, sea and river routes, railways, roads), the services in charge of managing fleets, and, where necessary, with the means of transport themselves, either directly or via field equipment. The representation of these potential, theoretical flows in a profession-based model can be envisaged for all modes of transport.
The stand taken in the ACTIF model has therefore been to propose all imaginable information flows so that they are represented either in the context of an operational logic for a single structure or organisation that sends back the necessary information for an integrated "network + atypical point" management, or in the context of different structures that must interact and interoperate.
ACTIF applications (together with the associated OSCAR tool) have enabled both possible cases to be tested.
2.2 The functional scope presented in ACTIF
Because of the history of the ACTIF model, the first versions of which resulted from European framework architectures (KAREN, followed by FRAME), the representation proposed in Functional Area 3, "Manage transport infrastructures and their traffic", has not followed the profession-based structure described above to the letter.
2.2.1Focus on traffic control
First of all, European architectures today are still very much focused on road traffic management. The representation proposed in the ACTIF model will therefore be centred on the traffic control profession.
However, this representation no longer takes into consideration the separation between urban and interurban traffic: on the one hand, there is no need to make this distinctions, as the professions, field equipment are essentially the same and the data comparable; on the other hand, a set of "reflexive flows" (see the model presentation document) makes it possible to take account of information exchanges between the different managers or operators that may be required to work together (these reflexive flows are absent in FRAME); finally, the model is intended to be used for any mode of transport, and therefore any network.
The corresponding functional sub-area of ACTIF takes account of the following at the same time:
real-time monitoring of the situation, and therefore the analysis of measures implemented in the context of current management strategies;
the definition (or redefinition) of these strategies at the request of local transport authorities, calling upon terminators via interfaces, and the deferred analysis of field returns.
This sub-area takes into account many interfaces with other functional areas and partners who could participate in traffic control measures. In particular, this may be other infrastructure management services. The activation of traffic management strategies is triggered by traffic data, planned or unplanned events or environmental data, the processing of which is an integral part of the infrastructure management profession.
2.2.2Using traffic data
In view of the substantial initial bias towards road-based input, the ACTIF model has isolated a sub-area dedicated to the feedback of traffic information. This basic data comes from sensors within the infrastructure, together with other equipment in parallel (toll barriers, car park entrances/exits, etc.).
This data supplies the processing functions that produce count data (with a view to deferred or real-time analysis), traffic forecasts and journey times; or, where necessary, which put event detection functions on alert. In particular, this is the case for video data, which was isolated in this sub-area.
Note: in the context of individual traffic management, the detection of means of transport by field equipment may been seen as either a specific event (if abnormal) or a basic stimulus for traffic control.
2.2.3Processing event data
Event information may come from different sources (vehicles, partner bodies, field equipment, etc.). These events may be unplanned (accidental) or planned (demonstrations or other organised events). They lead to an analysis of the situation, which is passed on to the traffic control or work-site management functions, if managed by the same operator.
The possibility of reflex management is provided for, with the option of activating immediate (alert) information on field equipment. This analysis may be passed on to another partner where management is coordinated between operators, or even multimodal.
2.2.4Data on environmental conditions
Following requests from the structures in charge of road traffic, and in the spirit of the SDIR and SDER, the processing of data relating to weather and environmental conditions is the subject of a specific sub-area. This sub-area may be activated for all transport modes (e.g. dedicated meteorological services at ports and airports).