Work Program Overview and Tracks

Phase 1 – Foundational Analysis
The program begins with a Foundational Analysis phase lasting roughly 18 months.  In this phase, program activities will focus on identifying candidate applications and their associated data and communication needs.  A key point of coordination with the Data Capture and Management program will come at the end of this process when data needs will be mapped against potential data environments. At the same time these candidate applications are being considered, the program will deploy an open source development environment and prototype an open source application.  The prototype will serve as an example of how the open source development process is intended to operate during the course of the program.  The prototype application will include complete documentation, including a concept of operations, requirements, algorithmic documentation, and source code.  The foundational phase provides the opportunity to determine, refine, and set the rules of engagement for open source development.  Another key element of the foundational phase is the determination of performance measures for the program that will be used to prioritize application development and to guide tool development in Phase 2.  Finally, the phase includes a near-term demonstration of applications leveraging multi-source data.

Phase 2 – Tool Development
Phase 2 begins with a refinement of the program plan based on the outputs and outcomes of the Foundational Analysis phase.  Prior to launching into any field testing, there is a decision point where the program must justify that the identified data environments and their supported applications are both relevant to the broader ITS program and that substantive research can be feasibly conducted within the phase.  The Phase 2 decision gate contains two critical questions:

• Do the candidate applications show enough promise to be tested?
• Do these applications address key performance measures?
• Do we understand the communications requirements of these applications?

If these questions can be satisfactorily answered, then Phase 2 proof-of-concept testing and tool development can be initiated. In this phase, promising applications will be tested using simulated or real test beds.  The use of simulated test beds will be critical since it is unlikely that high levels of market penetration (e.g., 80% of vehicles) within a realistic operating environment will be equipped to support testing.  These simulated environments will assist in the assessment of whether or not specific applications can be expected to perform well in early deployment stages.  This phase is also a test for the open source development concepts pioneered in the foundational analysis phase.  The program will seek to engage public and private sector partners to develop additional applications beyond the scope of this effort or to seek innovations related to applications under development.   This phase also has a strong focus on the development of tools and other analytic capabilities for the assessment of predicted benefits from wider application deployment.

Phase 3 – Focused Deployments
If the results of the Phase 2 effort are encouraging enough to spark interest from deployment partners (drawn from both public and private sector) then the most promising applications will be considered for pilot deployment in Phase 3.  The Phase 3 decision gate is dependent on the following question:

• Are there clear and compelling arguments for deployment with significant benefits?

In Phase 3, the program will attempt to operationally deploy applications showing significant promise in proof-of-concept testing.  These operational deployments will take the form of focused demonstrations that integrate new applications into ongoing operational practice for multiple modes (highways, transit, freight, etc.).  This phase has a strong focus on evaluation, with emphasis on utilizing the improved analytical tools to demonstrate productivity and mobility benefits.