On March 20, 2013, from 1 to 2:30 p.m., the Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA) Office of Safety R&D is hosting an “Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation (ABMS) 101 Webinar.” The webinar is being held to introduce ABMS to more FHWA and U.S. DOT colleagues and show its potential for wider application in the transportation field for safety, operations, planning, and policy. ABMS is a relatively new approach to modeling systems comprised of autonomous, interacting agents. Applications are growing rapidly in fields ranging from modeling the stock market to predicting the spread of epidemics. Complex adaptive systems, emergent behavior, and self-organization are a few of the notions from ABMS. During the past few years, FHWA’s Exploratory Advanced Research (EAR) Program has awarded several studies that are using ABMS to address various transportation issues. For further information about ABMS Webnair or to register for the Webnair, click on the following link (http://www.regonline.com/builder/site/Default.aspx?EventID=1152037) or contact David Yang, 202-493-3284, david.yang@dot.gov. For more information about the EAR Program, contact David Kuehn, 202-493-3414, david.kuehn@dot.gov.

The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) issued a Broad Agency announcement (BAA) soliciting proposals that address Exploratory Advanced Research topics.  The Broad Agency Announcement (number DTFH61-13-R-00011) is open through March 15, 2013.  The announcement includes the following topics

• Topic 1A, High Performance Vehicle Streams;
• Topic 1B, New Approaches for Testing Connected Highway and Vehicle Systems;
• Topic 1C, Innovative Applications for Emerging Real‐Time Data;
• Topic 1D, Partial Automation for Truck Platooning;
• Topic 2A, Automated Feature Extraction; and
• Topic 2B, Automated Identity Masking.
  
  

For a full description of the topics and proposal requirements, please see the announcement posted at https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=792b797bee5d98c165b9271b9855b152&tab=core&_cview=0.

The National Research Council recommends and makes Research Associateship awards to outstanding scientists and engineers as guest researchers at participating laboratories.  The objectives of the Research Associateship Programs are (1) to provide postdoctoral and senior scientists and engineers of unusual promise and ability opportunities for research on problems, largely of their own choice that are compatible with the interests of the sponsoring laboratories; and (2) to, thereby, contribute to the overall efforts of the laboratories.  For recent doctoral graduates, the Research Associateship Programs provide an opportunity for concentrated research in association with selected members of the permanent professional laboratory staff.   FHWA offers a number of opportunities for research at TFHRC.  For more information, see http://nrc58.nas.edu/RAPLab10/Opportunity/Program.aspx?LabCode=27.

Researchers from EAR Program supported projects participated in a National Science Foundation invitation-only workshop on “Developing Dependable and Secure Automotive Cyber-Physical Systems from Components.” The workshop held in Troy, Michigan on March 17-18 will provide information on how research of cyber-physical systems can improve safety, mobility, and fuel efficiency. Cyber-physical systems integrate in-vehicle, infrastructure-based, and combined vehicle-infrastructure hardware and software component systems. For more information about the workshop, please see http://wwwcf.fhwa.dot.gov/exit.cfm?link=http://varma.ece.cmu.edu/Auto-CPS-2011/Index.html

In 2009, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) hosted a workshop to identify interests and capabilities for nanoscale research that can be applied to highway industry subject matters. The workshop brought together FHWA technical experts with those from University Transportation Centers, Federal laboratories, and other organizations, which are conducting relevant nanoscale research. The information and thoughts shared at the workshop will shape the scope of FHWA's further investment in nanoscale research through an open solicitation, interagency agreement, or other appropriate mechanisms. The workshop supports the development of strategic roadmaps and outlines funding needs for nanoscale work that could lead to enhanced capabilities and longer term partnerships along specific lines of nanoscale investigations relevant to highway research. The FHWA Exploratory Advanced Research Program coordinated the workshop. [more]

Highway transportation research is collecting and analyzing an increasing amount of video data. While the research community is fortunate to be able to collect more and better data, the amount of data has the potential to overwhelm the capacity to assess the data using current methods. [More]

On August 23, researchers used TFHRC’s intelligent intersection to provide Signal Phase and Timing (SPaT) and Geometric Intersection Description (GID) data to a test vehicle equipped with an onboard dedicated short-range communication (DSRC) modem, onboard computer processor, and a display device to provide the driver with speed advice. See how this helps cut emissions and energy [More]