1. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE RoSaRo – A PLATFORM FOR INCREASING THE INTRINISC RELIABILITY OF ROAD SIGNALING INFRASTRUCTURE by CORNELIU MIHAIL ALEXANDRESCU, MARIUS MINEA, RAZVAN ANDREI GHEORGHIU BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008 Contract CEEX nr. 45

2. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008 TOPICS Introduction The Project Management Development of an Integrated Architecture of the System The Dual Data Acquisition Process The Pilot Sector The Standards Conclusions

3. Overview The paper presents the goals and activities of the Contract 45 / 2005 ROSARO – AMCSIT with UPB-CEPETET main contractor, ITC S.A., SIAT and SICOR95 as partners. The full contract name is “Increasing the Intrinsic Reliability of Road Signalling Infrastructure”, with the acronym RoSaRo (Romanian Safe Routes). The contract goals are to evaluate the actual situation of the urban signaling infrastructure, from the reliability point of view, to produce a unified platform for the management of the signaling infrastructure, with mobile (man operated) and fully automatic data collection of field parameters, georeferenced databases and to improve the standards and recommendations for activities like design and maintenance of the urban road signaling infrastructure. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008

4. Introduction Traffic problems like delays, pollution, noise and stress are a well known fact of the daily activities in major cities. We believe that the only solution to these problems is to employ an integrated approach: improve the road infrastructure, create more parking places, reduce traffic incidence in the central areas thru adequate policies etc. Trying to focus on these problems, this paper presents an integrated solution for improving the quality, maintenance and support for the road signalling infrastructure, one of the most important links in the chain of traffic enhancement measures that are adequate for the specific behaviour and conditions of Romanian road traffic. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008

5. The Project Management 1.The project 45 / 2005 ROSARO is structured on 4 stages and 6 phases, as following: 2.Stage 1: Assessment of present situation (2005) 1.Phase 1: Studies regarding signaling infrastructure and safety problems; 3.Stage 2: Analysis of safety problems in traffic and solutions (2006) 1.Phase 2: Definition of a pilot sector and solution for computer aided management of data; 2.Phase 3: Studies regarding the methodologies and standards for designing and producing traffic controllers; 4.Stage 3: Implementation and validation of the solutions (2007) 1.Phase 4: Solutions; 2.Phase 5: Functional models 5.Stage 4: Elaboration of recommendations and solutions for harmonization (2008) 1.Phase 6: Set of recommendations regarding the standardization. Dissemination. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008

6. The Project Management The goal of the project is to design an integrated platform for signaling structure management and to produce a functional model in a selected area of three signalized junctions in Bucharest. The platform, designed to be scalable and configurable, will serve the infrastructure signaling systems’ operators as an useful tool to produce reports, to plan maintenance, to manage the existing means for signaling, to detect malfunctions of the traffic controllers and to have a general overview of the situation on a geographic (GIS) screen. The operators will have access to two user interfaces: an informational one, with connection to the databases containing all relevant information on the signaling infrastructure and a geographic one, with reference to the position of the elements in the streets or junctions. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008

7. The Project Management The partners in the project are from universities, research institutes and private companies: UPB-CEPETET, as project leader – is a research centre within the “Politehnica” University of Bucharest and has experience in many similar research and consultancy projects, ITC – research institute, partner responsible with software solutions development, SIAT – research and development company, responsible with automation and communication solutions development and SICOR95 – a private partner with large experience in traffic controllers and street equipment design, operation and maintenance – responsible, along with the other partners, in equipment improvement and standardization harmonizing. The last partner joined now a large Austrian producer of road signalling equipment, which will also improve the quality of the works in this project. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008

8. Development of an Integrated Architecture of the System Components: –Georeferenced Database containing information regarding the type, location, technical and functional specifications and information regarding the maintenance scheduled for all types of road signaling elements; –Data Acquisition Subsystem with double input: man operated with PDA/GPS devices embedded with specific software developed within the project (Rosaro Collect); Automatic data acquisition of information with specific sensors mounted in the traffic controllers (items and status to be controlled: opening of the front door of the traffic controller cabinet, presence and voltage of the power supply, different stages of the traffic controller etc.); –Integrated Management Platform for all resources, with emphasize to the operators assistance; –Specific Web Portal for the information of the authorized operators and users and with selected information for all users of the urban road signaling infrastructure (large public). BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008 AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE

9. BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008 Development of an Integrated Architecture of the System Integrated vision The goal of the whole project cannot be reached without taking into consideration the application of a complete set of measures, including: Harmonisation of standards with EU normatives; Improving the signaling infrastructure hardware; Improving safety conditions in the field (e.g. ensuring good visibility, enforcing traffic rules)

10. Development of an Integrated Architecture of the System Structure: AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008

11. Development of an Integrated Architecture of the System The Process : –The information in the field is collected using specific software and a GPS-enabled PDA, where the operator can introduce, amongst others: Type of the signaling element: road mark, indicator or traffic light/ancillary equipment; 2 D position using GPS data acquisition hardware embedded in the device; Timestamp of the measurement; Different parameters of the signaling element, with relevance to the service/maintenance provider AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008

12. The Dual Data Acquisition Process The manual data acquisition process comprises 2 stages: the initial input of information, which is employed to populate the database with the elements in the field and their associate positions, and maintenance input of information, consisting of modifying the initial data, according to the field changes. This second operation will be performed on a regular base, with the occasion of scheduled maintenance operations in the field. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008

13. The Dual Data Acquisition Process The software was developed for easy collection of all relevant information on GPS enabled PDAs AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008

14. The Pilot Sector For the project a representative chain of three junctions was selected in order to introduce the system’s equipment for monitoring the status of the traffic controller. On the other hand, for this sector specific GIS maps were produced where the measurements in the field allowed for positioning the main signaling elements: pedestrian crossings, indicators, traffic controller’s cabinets, traffic lights positions etc. UPB-CEPETET has undertaken several measurements in order to correctly collect all required data. The partner ITC produced the maps for all three junctions in a single chain. The Pilot Sector is formed of the following junctions: Razoare, Geniului, Leul. The traffic controllers will be remotely monitored in the present phase of the project with wireless equipment and the status of different elements will be updated in the central database. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008

15. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008 The Pilot Sector GIS Maps

16. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008 The Standards Within the project framework, several standards were analyzed in order to produce recommendations for the improvement of the Romanian Standards used for traffic controllers design, signaling and for general road automation: National Standards SR-1848-xxx; International and European Standards EN 12966 – xxx etc.; The real safety conditions were also analyzed at the pilot sector level and the overall traffic conditions in Bucharest; A set of recommendations was produced

17. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008 Conclusions By achieving the planned results of the project, an integrated platform for a complex management of the signaling infrastructure will be obtained. Such a powerful instrument will help the administrators of the signaling elements in the streets to manage, monitor, plan the maintenance operations and will help in improving the general operation in this sector. Also, the results of the project will help improving the existing standards and regulations in the Romanian road signaling design and maintenance sectors of the economy. The partial results of the project have already been intensively disseminated in several international and national conferences and seminaries.

18. AMCSIT – POLITEHNICA CEEX 2008 CONFERENCE BRASOV, JULY, 27-29 2008 Thank you for your attention! http://www.e-safety.ro/rosaro