Currently, Traffic Management Centers (TMC) across the state of Texas use different Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) vendor equipment on their expressways and arterial roads to inform the travelling public. In most cases, each vendor uses a different protocol and master computer. As a result, these devices from different vendors are not interoperable or interchangeable. The National Transportation Communications for ITS Protocols (NTCIP) is one development in the ITS industry that will help in ensuring interoperability and interchangeability. The NTCIP effort not only maximises the existing infrastructure, but also allows for expansion in the future, without reliance on specific equipment vendors and their software. The Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) has adopted NTCIP to solve the problem of having disparate hardware and software products. This paper discusses the development of an NTCIP DMS Driver (NDD) by Southwest Research Institute for TxDOT. The driver is written in Java and is platform independent. Its design allows for simple incorporation into any Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS). Since this driver is the property of TxDOT, it can be made available through a licensing agreement to other qualified public transportation agencies. For the covering abstract see ITRD E114174.
Samenvatting