1. 1 Consensus Definition of MDSS Paul Pisano, Team Leader Road Weather Management Federal Highway Administration Washington, DC MDSS Stakeholder Meeting Falls Church, VA August 10-11, 2006

2. 2 Motivation With the success of the MDSS prototype and the interest and investments made by the private sector, many different types of systems using the MDSS name have been brought to market: –Should we as a community agree on a definition of MDSS? –Should we base this on the original federal vision of MDSS or a mix of current capabilities?

3. 3 STWDSR MDSS was originally called STWDSR or the “Surface Transportation Weather Decision Support Requirements” Compiled and composed 1999-2000 during two stakeholder meetings Requirements for functionality, reliability and capabilities were developed

4. 4 Types of Decision Support Needed

5. 5 MDSS: Initial Vision Remove “Stovepiping” and “Swivel Chair Integration”. Provide a one-stop system for route-specific weather and pavement forecasts and treatment recommendations Focus on the strategic scale (out to 48 hrs) rather than the immediate (tactical) scale Integrate RWIS ESS into a common format and location

6. 6 MDSS: Initial Capabilities Easy to use graphical user interface Higher resolution weather forecasts utilizing national and mesoscale models Use RWIS ESS as input into weather and pavement prediction models Customize forecast and treatment recommendations for routes Provide a “what-if” generator to allow for changing values input to the road condition treatment module

7. 7 Enhancements in the Prototype Ensemble modeling Hot-start model initialization Fuzzy logic/data fusion engine Improved storm characterization in algorithms Forecast summary page Improved/higher resolution graphics Storm history page

8. 8 Improvements by Industry Adding short term (tactical) tools such as radar, satellite and lightning data to the display Utilizing telemetry to receive mobile observations Linking MDSS with personnel or equipment/chemical stocks databases Incorporating MDSS functionality seamlessly into commercial products

9. 9 Discussion Should we as a community define MDSS to: –Remove ambiguity? –Specify a minimum technical capability? –Make it easier for State and local DOTs to create RFPs? –Assist those new to the industry to understand where the bar has been set?