ITS Professional Capacity Building Program

T3 Webinars

Webinar Overview

Description

This T3 webinar will be a technical presentation about the recent improvements made to the NTCIP 1203 (Dynamic Message Sign) standard, including a discussion of Virginia's experiences in deploying an early version of this standard. NTCIP 1203 is one of the most widely deployed ITS standards and version 2 was recently elevated to Recommended Standard status by the NTCIP Joint Committee — suggesting that it is ready for early deployment. This webinar will discuss the enhancements made to the version 2 standard, the issues that need to be considered when deploying the new standard, and Virginia's experience in deploying the standard.

Intended Audience

The intended audience for this webinar includes state and local agency engineers and technicians and their consultants that are interested in learning about how the new standard simplifies the process of successfully deploying standards-based message signs. This webinar is NOT designed for an audience interested in the policy and institutional application of ITS standards. Rather, it will be an in-depth discussion of the types of problems identified in the version 1 standard, the solutions provided by the version 2 standard, and the implementation experience of an early deployment. The webinar content is most appropriate for those who write DMS or central system procurement specifications, test DMS or central system implementations, or implement products based on NTCIP standards. It may also be appropriate for project managers that have to sign-off on deliverables that are required to conform to NTCIP standards.

Learning Goals and Outcomes

• Familiarity with the challenges involved with the version 1 DMS standard
• Understanding how these challenges have been overcome with the version 2 standard and other supporting tools
• A basic understanding of how to specify the version 2 DMS standard
• A basic understanding of backwards compatibility issues with version 1
• Familiarity with the other resources available to assist in deploying the version 2 standard
• Understanding the practical benefits realized by a real-world deployment

Hosts:

Tom Stout, P.E., Federal Highway Administration, US DOT

Mr. Stout is a Transportation Specialist for Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Office of Operations in Washington, DC. He is responsible for the Intelligent Transportation Systems Standards Deployment Program and ensures delivery of FHWA's ITS Deployment Team's program goals and milestones by providing guidance, technical support, and training in the program areas of standards implementation and systems engineering.

Mr. Stout has over thirty years of experience in the traffic engineering and surface transportation industry with emphasis in developing computerized traffic signal systems and freeway traffic management systems. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from Texas A&M University with a major in Computer Science and a minor in Business Administration.

Presenters:

Ken Vaughn, Trevilon Corporation

Mr. Ken Vaughn is an internationally recognized ITS expert and the founder of Trevilon Corporation. His expertise covers many facets of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) with a special emphasis on design, analysis, and integration of Advanced Transportation Management Systems (ATMS), Incident Management Systems, Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS), and ITS Standards. Ken has successfully managed and/or provided key technical leadership for numerous ITS projects, including:

• Projects deploying ITS standards, including those for Dynamic Message Signs and Environmental Sensor Stations
• The development of the NTCIP Exerciser
• The development of the SpecWizard^™ for NTCIP^™
• The development of NTester^™
• The Northern Virginia ATMS Project

Ashwin Amanna, Senior Research Associate, Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Center for Technology Development

Mr. Ashwin Amanna received a BS in Electrical Engineering from University of California, Davis in 1991 and a MS in Electrical Engineering from Virginia Tech in 1994.

Ashwin began working for the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute upon graduation from Virginia Tech investigating viable communications mediums for Intelligent Transportation Systems.

Since that time, Ashwin has worked in many facets of transportation research with a core focus on applying current technologies to transportation applications. Currently, his projects include wireless applications to transportation such as point-to-point highway wireless backbones and vehicle to roadside communications. In addition, Mr. Amanna has been investigating digital video applications across wireless media, and supporting the NTCIP — Dynamic Message Sign V-2 development.