Project CIDER was established to consider the Communications Infrastructure for Drive on European Roads and to recommend the optimum communications infrastructure. It has become clear that, despite the acronym, DRIVE will not have a dedicated communication infrastructure. DRIVE will employ a mixture of public and private networks according to geographical constraints, national preferences and competition. This paper introduces the requirement for integrated communications, explains the importance of the OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) protocol reference model, then describes the work and interim conclusions of project CIDER in the definition of a DRIVE Virtual Network. Recommendations include the identification of suitable bearer networks, use of appropriate layered protocols and the development of processes to allow selection of the optimum bearer service at any instant. The work of CIDER takes full account of the ISO Open Systems Interconnect "7 layer" model. The recommendations from project CIDER have a major impact on future implementation projects, especially within DRIVE II. If these ideas are adopted then it should be possible that DRIVE II projects may be able to interwork in different countries and between application operators. The alternative is that the DRIVE II implementations will be mutually incompatible and unlikely to succeed commercially.
Abstract