Highway Weather Information Needs & Requirements Paul Pisano Road Weather Management Coordinator Federal Highway Administration

4-Step Process Step 1 – Information Needs Step 2 – Operational Concept Description Step 3 – Preliminary Interface Requirements Step 4 – Test & Evaluation

Step 1 – Information Needs Focus is on decision makers –first understand the information needs of these users and operators of the transportation system to be able to treat, respond to or cope with weather threats. Covered all surface transportation decision makers –426 needs across 44 decision maker categories

Examples of Needs

meso (minutes-6 hrs.) synoptic (6 hrs.-week) climatic (weeks+) micro (current-minutes) use caution route/diversion time/break go/no-go load manage protect work/stock set signals set & issue warnings close/open/restrict routes respond to emer. call report calls/threats trip mode veh. equipage/prep trip route/time destination inquire/search dispatching event decisions schedule jobs harvest/plant emer. resource readiness triage bring assets online protect work/stock treat vuln. plow/salt/drain warn/evacuate suppress emissions work schedules store/ship budget order stock/goods design facilities locate facilities provide capacity provide backup allocate land uses allocate transport Key Organizing Concept: Information and Decision Scales “Warning” “Operations” “Planning”

Decisions Tailored Decision Support filtering, fusion, presentation System requirements WIST-DSS Actions Road Weather Decision Support (Information Infrastructure) Weather Services Specialized Road Sensors (ESS) Communications Interface requirements Interface requirements Other ITS Interface requirements

Step 2 – Operational Concept Description Analyzed winter road maintenance decisions –Originally 10 operational scale decisions –Expanded to 53 –Organized into 14 clusters Defined essential functions (i.e., system requirements) for the Weather Information for Surface Transportation – Decision Support System (WIST-DSS)

9, 77% 2.I Init. Dispatch 33, 60% 2.F Assign Crews 14, 56% 2.D Prep. Exp. Time Before Event (Hrs., pseudo logarithmic) , 40% 2.B Prepare 16, 72% 2.C Get Ready 2.E Select Strat. 14, 75% 2.G Prep Equip. 2.H Act. Staff 0, 96% 2.K Prime Disp. 3.8, 95% 49, 46% 2.A Aware 29 MonitorDetect Needs: Timing and Confidence

WIST-DSS Essential Functions Update Clock Select Context Generate Scenario Update Context Monitor Conditions Present Decision Make Decision conditions_scenario decision_situation context_planning context_parameters time_local time_universal decision_operational presentation_user input_user decision_selector decision_criteria scenario_selector situation_selector context_operational decision_file (to all processes) context_update context_selector query_scenarioresponse_scenario response_decision query_decision Primary Information Interfaces Computer-Human Interface

Step 3 – Preliminary Interface Requirements Linking decisions to threats Linking performance threats and environmental information Synthesizing the Information Taxonomy –212 items necessary to support winter road maintenance decisions –The 212 items include environmental information, transportation state information, and the treatment asset information.

Examples of taxonomy items Environmental Information 2.1Operational scale info. to Update Context Weather Winds Wind direction Wind speed Wind situation Maximum wind gust speed Maximum wind gust direction Stability Transportation State 2.1.5Surface transportation network status Road network Segment characteristics Traffic density Traffic speed Safe speed Open/closed Structure condition Pavement condition (potholes, etc.) Facility condition Pavement type Emissivity Albedo Asset Information Mobile treatment (crews) Status Equipment assigned Beat completed Dispatched beat Treatment product type Treatment product form Percentage of treatment type in mix Treatment amount Treatment width

Linking Performance Threats and Environment Information

Step 4 – Test & Evaluation Iterative development of operational systems “Observing-to-outcome” chain –Quantifying the relationships between performance improvements and environmental information quality –Quality of decision support (Where’s the bottleneck?) Foretell evaluation – 1 st comprehensive evaluation of the entire chain