The US Department of Transportation’s (USDOT) Intelligent Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS-JPO) has released a new unified architecture that provides a common framework for planning, defining, and integrating ITS and connected vehicles.
In a program that was led by one of the leading developers of applied informatics for transportation, Iteris Inc., the USDOT’s ITS-JPO has released the updated version of the ITS National Reference Architecture that fully incorporates the connected vehicle capabilities from the Connected Vehicle Reference Implementation Architecture (CVRIA) into the Architecture Reference for Cooperative and Intelligent Transportation (ARC-IT).
Thus, both architectures have been completely replaced by ARC-IT, which will provide a unifying framework that covers ITS comprehensively, including Connected Vehicle (CV) and traditional infrastructure ITS capabilities.
Iteris has led the development and evolution of National ITS Architecture for over 20 years, and initiated the CVRIA in 2012. Combining the two architectures into ARC-IT will streamline the vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communications guidelines as transportation use changes become more prevalent.
The new combined architecture is also likely to play an increasingly important role in the widespread introduction of autonomous vehicles across transportation networks. ARC-IT will also play a similar role as smart city and Internet of Things (IoT) applications and systems become more prevalent. Having a reliable framework can also streamline funding, leading to repeatable deployments.
ARC-IT is a reference architecture that provides a common basis for planners and engineers with differing concerns to conceive, design and implement systems using a common language as a basis for delivering ITS, but it does not mandate any particular implementation. ARC-IT includes artifacts for a large variety of stakeholders, and provides tools intended for transportation planners, regional architects, and systems engineers, to conceive and develop regional architectures, and scope and develop projects.
The ITS-JPO says the existing CVRIA website will remain online through the life of the USDOT’s Connected Vehicle pilots, to serve as a reference for those projects. The architecture team next will be offering a pair of public workshops, where users can explore ARC-IT and its updated software tools (RAD-IT, SET-IT) in detail.
“Transportation is in the midst of a substantial shift, as vehicle connectivity and autonomy is explored,” said Ramin Massoumi, senior vice president and general manager of transportation systems at Iteris. “Combining the architectures provides one reference architecture for all of ITS in the USA, with more breadth and depth than was available before.”
