The following is a listing of recent news items relating to the NTCIP.

Posted June 3, 2009
IntelliDrive(sm) Survey to Support Future Web-based Sharing of Research Activity. As announced by ITE and ITS-A emails, the IntelliDrive(sm) (formerly VII) research program sponsored by the US Department of Transportation (US DOT), combines leading edge technologies-advanced wireless communications, on-board computer processing, advanced vehicle-sensors, GPS navigation, smart infrastructure, and others-to provide the capability for vehicles to identify threats and hazards on the roadway and communicate this information over wireless networks to give drivers alerts and warnings. The program is intended to accelerate the development and market adoption of IntelliDrive(sm) capabilities, whether they emerge through federally funded research initiatives or as a result of independent research activities in the academic, non-profit, or private sector.

Examples of research include:

Research, demonstration, and evaluation of technology-enabled safety applications;

Establishment of test beds to support operational tests and demonstrations for public and private sector use;

Development of architecture and standards to provide an open platform for wireless communications to and from the vehicle;

Study of non-technical issues such as privacy, liability and application of regulation; and

Research on benefits to mobility and the environment.

In support of this initiative, the US DOT and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) believe that real progress can happen only if there is widespread understanding of the nature and extent of IntelliDrive(sm) related research (federally funded or not) and of its emerging application and deployment.

To increase this awareness, ITS America invites you to participate in a survey authorized by the US DOT, the purpose of which is to:

Identify non-federally funded IntelliDrivesm research initiatives underway throughout North America

Explore the research needs of the ITS stakeholder community

Identify ways in which the ITS stakeholder community can be better supported in its collaboration efforts to develop and deploy ITS technologies

A key outcome of this survey will be the development of a web-based application that routinely identifies IntelliDrive(sm) research from non-federally funded sources to augment the more widely known research occurring under federal sponsorship. The application will also promote knowledge transfer and collaboration to enhance greater deployment of IntelliDrive(sm) in support of our nation's 21st century surface transportation system.

To participate in this survey, please click here: http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/?p=WEB2296PFTCMBE

Responses were requested by Friday, June 12th.

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Posted June 3, 2009
$1.5 Billion TIGER Discretionary Grants Announced. June 3, 2009 (U.S. DOT) U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the availability of $1.5 billion in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grants for capital investment in surface transportation projects. Grants will be awarded on a competitive basis to projects that have a significant impact on the nation, a region, or metropolitan area and can create jobs and benefit economically distressed areas.

The grants can range from $20 million up to $300 million to support high impact transportation projects. Secretary LaHood can waive the minimum grant requirement for beneficial projects in smaller cities, regions, or states. The U.S. Department of Transportation will require rigorous economic justifications for projects over $100 million. To ensure responsible spending, the department will require all fund recipients to report on their activities on a routine basis.

Applications for TIGER discretionary grants must be submitted by September 15, 2009, from state and local governments, including U.S. territories, tribal governments, transit agencies, port authorities and others. Comments on the criteria must be received by June 1, 2009. The Federal Register notice can be accessed at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2009/pdf/E9-11542.pdf.

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Posted May 14, 2009
New LinkedIn Group Started for NTCIP. At the request of the NTCIP Joint Committee, the NTCIP Coordinator started a new LinkedIn group for NTCIP developers, manufacturers, system integrators, user/operators, and other stakeholders.

The NTCIP Group is at www.linkedin.com/e/vgh/1953922/ .

The NTCIP Group at LinkedIn joins with the recent announcements from AASHTO and ITE for their own LinkedIn Groups.

The Joint Committee is in the process of developing instructions and guidelines to advise the JC members, NTCIP working group members, and the NTCIP implementors for how to best use the professional networking and discussion capabilities of LinkedIn.com.

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Posted April 24, 2009
Recommended Version of NTCIP 1103 Transportation Management Protocols Version v02 Out for Approval. NTCIP Standards Bulletin B0131 reports that the Joint Committee on the NTCIP has accepted the "Transportation Management Protocols - Version v02" as a Recommended Standard. The standard publication number is NTCIP 1103 v02 in the series of NTCIP base standards.

AASHTO, ITE, and NEMA are distributing copies to their members for ballot and approval.

The NTCIP 1103 defines a composite, application-layer protocol for the management of transportation equipment. The composite protocol consists of three component protocols: (1) the Internet-standard Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), (2) the Simple Fixed Message Protocol (SFMP), and (3) the Simple Transportation Management Protocol (STMP). These three protocols are concerned with the procedures for exchanging information as well as the format in which the information is exchanged.

All three protocols provide the same base services, but are designed for different needs. The NTCIP 1103 also defines a number of data elements necessary to manage these protocols.

NTCIP 1103 v02 includes revisions for: the referencing of the report and security node objects, use of the community-name field and security threats, and an update of references to related documents. However, NTCIP 1103 v02 does not include the NTCIP specifications for the Trap mechanism, in accordance with instructions from the NTCIP Joint Committee. Traps have been included in the draft NTCIP 1103 v03.

NTCIP 1103 v02 was developed by the Joint Committee’s Base Standards and Profiles Working Group, chaired by Bob De Roche (Bob De Roche Consulting). The BSP2 WG has nine members.

The Recommended Standard and Standards Bulletin are also available in the Library; see the table of Document Links.

All interested parties are encouraged to support the AASHTO, ITE, and NEMA members in their review, balloting, and approval of the Recommended Standard.

### Click here to read the Bulletin and the Document.

Posted April 17, 2009
AASHTO names Doug Spencer as new rep to NTCIP Joint Committee. AASHTO is pleased to announce the appointment of Doug Spencer as a new representative to the NTCIP Joint Committee. Mr. Spencer's contact information is:

Doug L. Spencer, P.E.
Oregon Department of Transportation
Springfield, OR 97478
Doug.L.Spencer@odot.state.or.us

The appointment was for the seat previously held by Felix Tam.

Doug Spencer is the ITS Standards Engineer for the Oregon Department of Transportation, and has eight years of experience with the implementation of NTCIP standards and the operation of ITS devices in Oregon. His deployment experience includes DMS, RWIS, CCTV, and HAR, plus fiber comm networks. Prior to ODOT, he was with Sony Disc Manufacturing and Flor Daniel Northwest. He has BSEE and MSEE degrees from Washington State University.

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Posted April 13, 2009
NEMA names Rausch and Simpson as New Reps to NTCIP Joint Committee. NEMA is pleased to announce the appointment of two new representatives to the NTCIP Joint Committee. The two new reps are:

Robert Rausch
Vice President and Chief Engineer
Transcore ITS, Inc.
Norcross, GA 30092
robert.rausch@transcore.com

and

Mark Simpson
Software Development Manager
U.S. Traffic
Anaheim, CA 92807
mark.simpson@peektraffic.com

The appointments are for the seats previously held by Gary Duncan and Peter Ragsdale.

Bob Rausch has been an active contributor to the NTCIP ASC, BSP2, C2C, and DMS WGs; and a frequent participant at NTCIP Joint Committee meetings. He has an M.S. and B.S. in Electrical Engineering from MIT. He is also a U.S. expert to ISO TC204 Working Group 9, and the present chair of the AASHTO/ITE TMDD Steering Committee.

Mark Simpson has been with U.S. Traffic since 2001, and has a B.Eng degree with a major in digital signal processing. He has designed and developed traffic management software for projects in New York City, Chicago, and Latin America.

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Posted February 26, 2009
NTCIP Joint Committee Reviewing New Quality Management Vision. During their teleconference on February 19, the NTCIP Joint Committee reviewed the first draft of an internal, non-funded work item titled, “A Quality Management Vision for the NTCIP,” which proposed to include four new program areas: (1) Project Management, (2) Standards Life Cycle Management, (3) Configuration Management, and (4) Quality Control. The effort intends to better define and improve the quality management practices used in the NTCIP standards development and maintenance.

The first draft was authored by JC chair Manny Insignares, who has assembled a small team with past experience in the QM domain. The JC is expected to review a revised version, set a future schedule for development, at the future JC meetings.

In the white paper, Section 2 contained definitions. Section 3 presented the proposed model, based on the CMII (Institute for Configuration Management, “Roman-II”) reference. Figure 3 presented Insignares's adapted V-diagram, now called the Potential NTCIP Standards Life Cycle Diagram. Section 4 will define the NTCIP's quality management certification process.

The white paper content may be written into a new process, control, and information policy management document, which would be number NTCIP 8008.

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Posted February 5, 2009
Mike Brown Appointed as new NTCIP C2C WG Chair. On February 5, 2009, NTCIP Joint Committee chair Manny Insignares announced that Michael Brown from Southwest Research Institute had been appointed the new chair of the NTCIP Center-to-Center WG.

Mike is a Principal Engineer with SwRI's ITS Systems Development and Integration, and has served on the C2C WG since March 2004. He played a significant role in developing NTCIP 2306, "Application Profile for XML Message Encoding and Transport," and has experience in large deployments of both the XML and DATEX center-to-center standards.

Mike replaced Manny Insignares, who had been the NTCIP C2C WG chair since June 2002. AASHTO, ITE, and NEMA thanked Manny for his service as WG chair, and for his lead in the effort to finish the NTCIP 2306.

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Posted January 8, 2009
NTCIP 1103 Transp Mgmt Protocols v01 PDF Available for Download. AASHTO, ITE, and NEMA are pleased to announce that an additional NTCIP standards publication is available for no-cost downloading from NTCIP.org. The standard is:

>> NTCIP 1103 v01, "Transportation Management Protocols."

Please browse to the Library page and click the shopping cart to download and save your copy.

NTCIP 1103 v01
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The NTCIP 1103 defines a composite, application-layer protocol for the management of transportation equipment. The composite protocol consists of three component protocols: (1) the Internet-standard Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP), (2) the Simple Fixed Message Protocol (SFMP), and (3) the Simple Transportation Management Protocol (STMP). These three protocols are concerned with the procedures for exchanging information as well as the format in which the information is exchanged.

NTCIP 1103 is one of the three standards that resulted from subdividing NTCIP 1101. The other two "modular" parts coming out of 1101 are the NTCIP 1102 "OER" and 8004 "SMI."

The NTCIP 1103 standard was developed by the Joint Committee’s BSP2 Working Group, which is chaired by Bob De Roche (Robert De Roche Consulting).

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Posted January 2, 2009
NTCIP Joint Committee sets meeting schedule for 2009. At the December 11, 2008 teleconference, the chair of the NTCIP Joint Committee announced the planned meeting dates for 2009. All the teleconference meetings will be at 2:00 PM Eastern Time.

The next NTCIP JC teleconference will be January 22 at 2:00 PM EST.

NTCIP Joint Committee meeting dates are one hour teleconferences, unless noted as "face-to-face" F2F.

-- January 22 (wk after TRB)
-- February 19
-- March 19 (wk before ITE spring)
-- April 16
-- May 21
-- June 15 PM to June 16 all day, F2F meeting
-- July 16
-- August 20 (wk after ITE Annual San Antonio; wk before Rural)
-- September 17 (wk before World Congress Stockholm)
-- October 15
-- November 19 (wk before Thanksgiving)
-- December 10 (2 wks before Christmas eve)

Meeting announcements with agendas and teleconference call-in details are emailed to the NTCIP Joint Committee reflector.

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Posted January 2, 2009
NTCIP 2103 v02 and 2306 and 9012 Available by Shopping Carts. In December 2008, AASHTO, ITE, and NEMA were pleased to announce that additional NTCIP standards publications were available for no-cost downloading from NTCIP.org, by selecting their shopping carts. The additional standards were:

>> NTCIP 2103 v02, "Point-to-Point Protocol over RS-232 Subnetwork Profile - version 02," and

>> NTCIP 2306 v01, "Application Profile for XML Message Encoding and Transport in ITS Center-to-Center Communications," and

>> NTCIP 9012 v01, "Testing Guide for NTCIP Center-to-Field Communications."

NTCIP 2103 v02
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NTCIP 2103 v02 was prepared by the NTCIP Base Standards and Profiles (BSP2) Working Group, which is a subdivision of the NTCIP Joint Committee. The BSP2 WG is chaired by Bob De Roche.

NTCIP 2103 v02 is an NTCIP Subnetwork Profile. NTCIP 2103 v02 defines the rules and procedures for using the point-to-point protocol over an RS-232 or dial-up modem link. The profile provides a peer-to-peer relationship between the connected devices. The profile requires full duplex circuits and is independent of the bit rate of the circuit.

NTCIP 2103 major version v02 supercedes major version v01, filename "2103v0114f.pdf".

NTCIP 2306 v01
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NTCIP 2306 v01 was prepared by the NTCIP Center-to-Center Working Group (C2C WG), another subdivision of the NTCIP Joint Committee, which is chaired by Manny Insignares.

NTCIP 2306 v01 is an NTCIP Application Profile, which profiles the upper three layers from the ISO seven-layer Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) Reference Model. NTCIP 2306 v01 defines the communications between transportation management systems, using Internet standards based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML).

The center-to-center message content is defined in other standards, such as the AASHTO/ITE TMDD, or the APTA TCIP, or the SAE Message Sets for ATIS, or the IEEE 1512 IM.

NTCIP 9012 v01
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NTCIP 9012 v01 provides a roadmap to help an agency become an active participant in the testing process and those processes leading up to testing (requirements definition and specification development).

NTCIP 9012 v01 is expected to be used by transportation agencies to assist them in developing their own testing program when purchasing and deploying NTCIP “compliant” devices and systems.

NTCIP 9012 v01 was developed by the NTCIP Testing and Conformity Assessment Working Group (TCA WG), now chaired by Steve Dellenback.

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