Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
Lab 1 – Current Intelligent Transport System
RED Team
Old Dominion University
CS 410 – Brunelle
Author: Akeem Edwards
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
Table Of Contents
1.0.
Introduction
a. Societal Problem
b. Current ITS
2.0.
Current ITS Product Description
a. Accessible
b. Real-time
c. Valuable
2.1.
Key Product Features and Capabilities
2.2.
Major Components (Hardware/Software)
i. Overview of Current RWP MFCD
ii. Software Components
iii. Hardware Components
iv. Algorithms
2.3
Target Market/Customer Base
a. Initial Customer: HRT
b. Future Market: New Light Rail Systems
3. Current ITS Prototype Description
a. Product Objective
b. End-User Interfaces
c. Benefits
3.1. Prototype Functional Goals and Objectives
a. Display functionality of Transit Authority web interface
b. Monitoring of trains and ridership
c. Accessing of reports
d. Display functionality of Business and Event management web interface and app
e. Posting of and event or business advertisement
f. Display functionality of rider web interface and mobile app
g. Purchasing ticket
h. Viewing train location and current capacity
i. Simulate real time train tracking
j. Simulate real time passenger counting
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
k. Simulate customized reporting using mock up rider data.
l. Simulate ridership trending and forecasting using mock up data
3.2.
3.3.
Prototype Architecture (Hardware/Software)
a. Overview of Current ITS RWP MFCD
b. Software Components
c. Hardware Components
d. Algorithms
Prototype Features and Capabilities
a. Major Features
b. Event calendar
c.
Business advertising
d. Risk mitigation
3.4.
Prototype challenges and risk
a. Risks
b. Realistic representation of the simulated solutions
c. Meeting Development Requirements
d. Completing development of Innovative parts of projects
e. Developing algorithms required for prototype Demonstration
A. Glossary
B. References
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
1) Introduction
The main societal problem addressed in this paper is the lack of complete Information that prevents transit
organizations from adequately serving light rail end users and ultimately prevents new riders riding the light
rail. For this paper the main light rail system that will be examined will be the Hampton Road Transit’s (HRT)
Tide Light Rail System called The Tide (or simply Tide). The main topics that will be discussed in this paper will
be the real world product description along with the major functional components of the product, and the
prototype used for demonstration for proof of concept.
The main problem that will be examined with the Tide is the lack of real-time, reliable information. After
extensive research with the HRT Tide system, communication with the Tide’s trains is also a problem. With the
current implementation of the Tide light rails does not allow for HRT to track any Tide Trains, the amount of
riders currently on the trains, or integrates the local businesses into the rider destinations. This
implementation creates a few of problems for riders, businesses and HRT as well.
There is a loss of ridership for the Tide light rail system due to frustration and confusion. This is due to the
current process flow of the Tide light rail system. The main problem with the Implementation is there is no
way for riders to be notified of any problems that may occur with the Tide’s light rail, there is no way for the
riders to be informed about this problem or to be informed of alternate routes to the destination of choice.
This ends with riders either lost or abandoned at their station with no communication from HRT.
There are several case studies that have shown in cities that host light rail systems see an increase in
customer accessibility and an influx of new customers, which allow businesses in the light rail service area to
see increased sales. However HRT system does not maximize this potential by working with local business and
provide information to riders.
The figure below illustrates the first couple months of the Tide was introduced to the public.
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
August
September
October
Figure 1.0 showing rider ship data for the first couple of month
The Tide ridership started out strong beating the estimations in the opening months, but has been in decline
ever since. Figure 2 shows the following months after the Tide’s public release.
5,000
4,500
4,000
3,500
3,000
Figure 2 showing the decline in ridership in the following months
These figures show the lost revenue that HRT accumulate on a monthly basis.
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
2) Current ITS Product Description
Current ITS will have three goals to improve Light Rail Systems, accessibility, real-time, and value. In order
to Combine Transit Authority, Businesses and Riders together on light rail systems Current ITS will have to be
accessible from a wide variety of devices.
Current ITS will have to provide two-way communication with riders, will allow operators to deliver
important information and collect feedback from riders, through multiple mediums mobile apps, station
kiosks, and websites will be used for communication to ensure easy access. This will allow Current ITS to
service a wide range and variety of riders. With this accessible interface riders will have the ability to purchase
ticks from a wide variety of devices with an internet connection. In addition, the business owner backend will
allow local businesses to advertise companies through Current ITS. Through a GUI allowing users to easily find
local businesses and attractions, riders will be more likely to explore and rely on the system for recreational
usage.
The next major goal for Current ITS will be accurate real-time information. Current ITS will be able to
provide real-time updates on train locations, seat availability, service interruptions, local events, and
important announcements. Allowing local business advertisements change with each destination a rider
reaches, also allowing Transit Authority to track trains and passengers on board, for even greater efficiency.
With these two goals in place Current ITS will add value to a light rail system for riders transit authority and
local businesses, Allowing riders with a much smoother travel to their destination, which stops transit
authority from losing loss revenue, and gain more riders. Cooperation with local businesses through targeted
advertising and listing will directly contribute to local economic growth.
Key Product Features and Capabilities
To help achieve these goals, Current ITS will have a few key features, such as real time train tracking and
passenger counting described above. One of the Major Key features for Current ITS will be the production of
customized Reports. Current ITS will provide detailed information regarding light rail usage. This data can be
sorted to highlight different stops, special events, and time of day trending for Transit Authorities.
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
With these Reports Current ITS will also provide trending for Transit Authority to perform more efficiently in
the future, with a Decision Engine that will analyze past ridership to perform prediction for the future
ridership and trends. The decision engine will help transit authority to operate more efficiently.
Major Components (Hardware/Software)
Figure 3 illustrating the Major Functional Components of Current ITS
This section of the paper will provide an overview of the real world product for Current ITS major function
components. The real world product for Current ITS will provide a variety of hardware and software for Transit
Authorities depending on the available technology already in place, Such as GPS or people counting devices.
The main software components Current ITS will provide will help Transit Authority with train tracking,
people counting and interpreting the data, for prediction of the future. This starts with an onboard Linux
module. This software simply transmits the data from the train and stores it in a database. The important data
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
that is stored will be train location and the amount of riders on board. With this data the decision engine will
be able to do its side of the work. Real-time ridership and GPS coordinates of the vehicles will be retrieved
from database, along with historical ridership data. The prediction server will generate and save a forecast to
a database, as well as optional routes in the event of a failure.
The next and perhaps the most important software element in Current ITS will be the Web Application
Engine. The Web Application Engine (WAE) transmits the monitoring results from the Decision Engine to the
Google API using General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS). Simultaneously, the WAE checks with the Google
API to update its record of local destinations at the station waypoints from Google Places.
The web application engine will then have an extensible interface; any web-enabled device can then
retrieve the monitoring and local destination results directly using a standard format. The web application
engine will also receive rider feedback input from the end-user devices such as smart phones Results will be
written to a database for trend data and accessible via a back-end monitoring interface.
One key advantage of Current ITS will be it is able to interface with a lot of existing hardware already on the
trains, but hardware will also be provided if transit authority deems it necessary, which includes Onboard
Hardware such as Global positioning devices (GPS) Automatic people counting (APC) , and a Master PC to
interface with these devices. The next major hardware component needed will be servers to host the
database, the web application engine, and the decision engine.
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
Target Market/Customer Base
The Intended Customer base for Current ITS will be any emerging light rail systems in a medium
populated city. More specifically the initial customer for this product will be Hampton Roads Transit’s
(HRT) Tide Light rail System. With direct tow way communication between HRT and the riders, and a
variety of devices to access, Current ITS will provide an Economic Boost not only for HRT but also the
local businesses at any HRT station. The Tide is a relatively small light rail system with nine trains at
their disposal.
For the Future of Current ITS Customers will be any new light rails systems or relatively small to
medium sized ones. With Current ITS in place emerging light rail system will be able to expand to more
cities, more locations and more stations. As of right now there are 35 light rail systems available up and
running including the Tide, but there are more than 60 light rail systems in the development or
proposed stage expanding the market for Current ITS even further.
3) Current ITS Prototype Description
Now that the Real world product of Current ITS have been discussed the rest of this paper will discuss the
prototype, the goals to be accomplish in the demonstration and the major functional components of the
prototype. This section will also discuss the risks and challenges in development and the mitigations used to
offset these.
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
Prototype Architecture (Hardware/Software)
The real world product for Current ITS was designed to be packaged with different types hardware
and software packages along with working on existing technology, depending on the customer. The
prototype will retain most of the Software package and simulate the hardware needed.
Figure 4 Displaying the Major function Components of Current ITS prototype
Figure 5 illustrating the software overview of Current ITS prototype.
On the software side the embedded Linux application will be simulated generating GPS and (APC)
automatic people counting data (simulated GPS and APC data will be discussed later) and will be
renamed to Test Driver. The Kiosks software will not be provided in the prototype. The decision engine
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
will also be modified significantly to allow just for forecasting based off of historical data. Ticket
purchasing will be simulated to demonstrate the intuitive User Interface, and business advertisements,
will still in the prototype. These are the major changes from the real world product to the prototype on
the Software side.
Figure 5 illustrating the software overview of Current ITS prototype.
On the Hardware side of the prototype, GPS and APC devices will not be used, and will be cut out of
the demonstration for the simulated embedded Linux application. All server functionality will be using
a virtual machine provided by the Computer Science Department at Old Dominion University.
The major goal of the embedded reporting agent will be to provide a representation of the real
world GPS and APC devices to accurately demonstrate the prototype’s functionality and store the data
in a database. The decision machine will be using historical data from the database generated from
the reporting agent as input and provide forecast reports as output for the transit authority software
side.
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
The Web Application Engine will still be accessible from a variety of devices with an internet
connection, but the two main types will be a computer with an internet browser and an Android
mobile phone application. The web application will still take rider feedback and store it in the
database. The web application will still interface with a lot of the Google API such as General Transit
Feed Specification and Google places API.
Prototype Features and Capabilities
One of the innovative aspects of Current ITS will be the business backend, to be able to advertise
local businesses based on the trains location, and destination of the riders. With Current ITS businesses
will be able to submit advertisements through the backend provided and not only advertise on the
trains but also get advertisements to the end user through the web application engine on an internet
enabled device such as a laptop or smart phone. The prototype will demonstrate when a train visits a
various stations at different locations the appropriate advertisements that will greet end users on the
trains. The prototype will also be able to show upcoming events at a in various locations depending on
the stations a rider will visit.
One major aspect the prototype will demonstrate will be the business interface. The business
interface for the prototype will demonstrate how a business will be able to submit an advertisement
flyer, what locations, or stations will the advertisement be displayed, and the duration of the
advertisement.
The prototype will also demonstrate an interface for the rider as well giving an easy to use Graphical
user interface for a rider to submit feedback, as well an intuitive interface for purchasing tickets for
both computers and Android mobile devices.
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
Prototype challenges and risk
As with any project there are a few risks, and with the Current ITS prototype there are a few risks
and challenges in development. There are Customer risks such as lack of rider interest and lack of
transit authority interests, but the main risks that will be examined are the technical risks that are
associated with the prototype development which is the discussion of this section along with risk
mitigation demonstrated in the test harness.
Data latency is not only a risk but also a challenge in prototype development. The main risk is after
development of the prototype, with no real representation of data latency in the real world,
transitioning from the prototype to a real world product will cause severe problems. So the challenge
in the prototype is to provide an accurate response of Current ITS prototype according to data latency,
in which the prototype will determine acceptable latency periods and provide user warning if data is
time deficient.
The next Challenge in development will be providing a real world representation of the simulated
hardware and software. The simulated hardware and software will be used by the embedded Linux
application or Test driver, GPS, and APC devices. To get the best results possible for the GPS
coordinates the strategy used will be getting sample GPS coordinates from the light rail trains and
generate coordinates based off of the samples (for example riding the HRT Tide train with a GPS phone
and storing the results). In addition providing a test harness interface to display the response of the
prototype for incorrect data from the simulated devices, the test harness will show the responses
when a GPS device is damaged or gives incorrect data.
The next challenge for will be meeting the development requirements for the prototype and
completing these requirements in a specified timeframe, the development requirements include all
innovative aspects of the prototype should be finished as well as the simulated parts. Just as important
will be the test harness which will be used to demonstrated different parts of the prototype. To
overcome these requirements best practices will be used in the development strategy.
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
Current ITS is a new and innovative project that will hopefully bring light rail systems and the
benefits that can be provided to the full potential, and benefit all the users associated with the light
rails including riders , local businesses and human transit authority. With excellent risk mitigation
strategies, and great laid out goals, Current ITS will become a successful project and
necessity for
emerging light rail systems.
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Akeem Edwards, CS 410 Lab 1 Current Intelligent Transport System
Glossary
Global position System – (GPS) a device used to provide location or weather anywhere
on or near the Earth.
Automatic People counting – (APC) a Device used to measure the amount of riders
that enter of exit the train.
Trains – A vehicle used for transportation that moves along a track.
References
•
http://www.gohrt.com/publications/reports/sir-light-rail-summary.pdf
•
http://www.gohrt.com/public-records/Commission-Documents/CommissionMeetings/FY2012/January-2012.pdf
•
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/11/poll-public-board-expanding-lightrail-route
•
http://www.metro-magazine.com/News/Story/2011/08/INIT-employees-to-serve-as-Tide-Guides-.aspx
•
http://hamptonroads.com/2011/07/control-room-nsu-serves-brains-light-rail
•
http://www.serpefirm.com/responsibilities-the-tide-light-rail-controller-operator.aspx
•
http://www.gohrt.com/public-records/Operations-Documents/Rail/Monthly-Ridership/Rail-RidershipCurrent.pdf
•
http://www.metro-magazine.com/News/Story/2011/08/Va-s-The-Tide-opens-hits-30K-boardings.aspx
•
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-4949672-503544.html
•
http://www.lightrail.com/projects.htm
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•
http://www.realtor.org/wps/wcm/connect/212699004205f031b404fcc7ba2f3d20/cpa_transport_090.
pdf
•
http://hamptonroads.com/2012/02/some-stores-near-norfolk-light-rail-stations-see-boost
•
Debbie Messina, “The Tide.” The Virginian-Pilot. February 18th, 2012.
•
http://apta.com/resources/statistics/Documents/Ridership/2011-q3-ridership-APTA.pdf
•
http://www.lightrailnow.org/success2.htm
•
http://www.prweb.com/releases/light_rail/light_rail_transit/prweb4253534.htm
•
http://www.itscosts.its.dot.gov/its/benecost.nsf/images/Reports/$File/Ben_Cost_Less_Depl_2011%20
Update.pdf
•
http://www.detroittransit.org/cms.php?pageid=26
•
http://www.dart.org/about/economicimpact.asp
•
http://reason.org/news/show/126773.html
•
http://mobility.tamu.edu/files/2011/09/congestion-cost.pdf
•
http://www.vtpi.org/railben.pdf
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