ITS Mobile Information Society

Transcription

1 ITS Mobile Information Society From the Telematics Applications Programme (TAP) To the Information Society Technologies Programme (IST): Results and Outlook

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4 ITS Mobile Information Society Creating the User-Friendly Information Society is a key policy aim for the European Union. Industrial competitiveness, employment, quality of life and sustainable growth all depend on Europe being at the cutting edge in exploiting Information Society Technologies (IST). The IST Programme of the EU builds on a decade of Research and Technological Development (RTD) work and on European policy in liberalising the telecommunications equipment, services and infrastructure markets. It is highly relevant to transport, travel and tourism, because it develops intelligent infrastructure and vehicle systems for efficient mobility management, for increased safety and for the delivery of information based valueadded services. The vision guiding the Transport and Tourism actions of the IST Programme is one of Building the Mobile Society within the Information Society. Its strategic objective is to realise the full benefits for Europe both by accelerating emergence of the Information Society and by ensuring that it meets the needs of individuals and businesses. To prepare for this Mobile Information Society, the Commission has taken very active initiatives. First, the Commission and the Member States have adopted the e-europe Action Plan to accelerate the new economy in Europe. This Action Plan covers a number of domains and includes some priority actions on Intelligent Transport Systems. Second, the Commission has proposed directives on a common regulatory framework for electronic communication networks and services. These directives include some key aspects of universal services and user rights, authorisation, access, personal data and privacy protection to reinforce the competition in the European markets. The Transport actions of the IST Programme are based on the results of previous RTD on Telematics for Transport - also known as Intelligent Transport Systems or ITS, in which the EU has played a leading role since Under the EU s Fourth Framework Programme for RTD&D ( ), the Telematics Applications Programme (TAP), administered by Directorate- General Information Society of the European Commission, has realised leading-edge systems and applications, promoting competitiveness in the European industry and improving the quality and efficiency of essential public services such as transport. Information Society Technologies are contributing to safer, cleaner and more efficient transport by: providing travellers and operators with convenient access to real time information helping passengers, drivers, freight distributors and transport operators to avoid delays, congestion and unnecessary trips diverting traffic from overcrowded roads to alternative routes transferring road freight transport to other modes when possible including rail, coast-line and inland waterways encouraging integrated multimodal passenger transport reducing accidents, fatalities and injuries increasing productivity gaining extra capacity from existing infrastructures reducing energy use and reducing environmental pollution. Intelligent Transport Systems are already in operation on land, water and air routes, and at passenger and freight terminals and depots. They have laid solid foundations for new advances under the EU s Fifth Framework Programme for RTD&D, which began in 1999 with a number of projects under the IST Programme.

5 An efficient freight transport system is an essential prerequisite for the competitiveness of the European Union. With the projected growth of international trade, the planned extension of the Union to the Central and Eastern European countries and enhanced co-operation with the Mediterranean countries, the role of freight transport will become even more important. Since 1970 European freight transport has increased by about 70%. Annual growth of about 2% is expected for the next two decades. Present figures put the costs of traffic congestion at 120 billion Euro or 2% of the EU GDP. Accidents, air pollution and noise amount to a further 2%. These costs undermine European competitiveness, when transport demand requires flexibility, reliability and costeffectiveness. Unless the transport sector considers mode-independent service requirements and utilises spare capacities in other modes, this situation is unlikely to improve. Freight transport must be considered as a door-to-door transport operation based upon a range of viable modal transport alternatives making a new, efficient use of the transport system, reducing transport costs and allowing the generation of added value. This is the concept of freight intermodality. The objective of freight intermodality as a service for shippers and fleet operators is to develop a political, administrative, technical and organisational framework for the optimal integration of different transport modes and the optimisation of the door-to-door transport chain. Within this framework the RTD actions of the Telematics Applications Programme (TAP) focused on the research, development and demonstration of information and communication technologies, applications and services to support these policies and strategies. The research in this area has followed 3 main lines: freight resource management; terminal and port information and communication systems; and freight and vehicle tracking and tracing.

6 This group of applications applies ITS tools to the freight logistics chain, aiming to improve the flow of information and organisation of freight movements. The main applications developed are intra-company resource management systems, freight-related online information systems for cargo terminals, integrated route planning with mobile communication, centralised route planning, and freight capacity exchange systems. For example, the PROMPT application developed in the COREM project, supports order processing and resource management tasks of truck operation (containers, tractors, trailers). It provides the appropriate platforms and data for the definition and processing of transport orders, the monitoring and allocating of resources for each step of the transport process. Project demonstrations of the resource management system showed that waiting times associated with generating offers to potential clients were reduced by 30%. Furthermore, delays due to mistakes during order processing decreased by 30%. The optimised allocation and monitoring of resources decreased empty runs of tractors by 47% and increased by 5% the number of matching imports and exports using the same container. The waiting time for finding a suitable container for a cargo has almost been eliminated. The SURFF project implemented a freight capacity exchange system in Tilburg (DK), where freight operators could join a closed user group for an Intranet application to exchange vehicle capacity and consignment information. Users considered the system to be user-friendly and a significant improvement over the previous videotext-based application. The benefits due to timesavings coupled with very low investment costs provided an internal rate of return of 1139% and a payback period of only a month. The SURFF project also developed a centralised route planning system designed to save costs and reduce pollutant emissions by optimising routeing and loading. The system uses structured messages, and the planning results are automatically returned to the participants. Tests showed that the this cooperative system reduced kilometres travelled by 18% and provided time savings of 14%. The Centralised Route Planning trial was estimated to yield annual savings of litres of fuel and reduced the external costs of pollutant emissions by to Euro.

7 Applications in this research line used ITS tools to increase efficiency at modal interchanges, the bottlenecks where friction costs are added. The main applications developed cover fields like cargo prenotification systems to speed up gate procedures, container identification and location systems, logistics information and communication systems for intermodal cargo terminals, container positioning and management, data exchange between intermodal transport centres, and automatic identification technologies for port terminals. The EKB/BLG application developed in the COREM project, for example, is an on-line system for matching the requirements of truck operators with the operations of a container terminal. The use of this application can provide estimated savings which include reduced processing time at the gates of between 5 and 30 minutes, a reduction of 0.5% to 3% of the average number of empty transports, and a reduction of 52% (7.7 Euro per container) of the total operating costs in the terminal. Another example is provided by the INTERPORT project which tested the use of identification technologies, in particular Radio Frequency Tags and Smart Cards, in medium sized port terminals Six demonstration sites were established, in Greece, Norway, Finland and Spain. The project addressed four main functions in port terminal operations using automatic identification and real-time unit handling, entry and exit control, loading and unloading control, inventory control and document generation and communication. INTERPORT tested two types of RF-tags for Automatic Equipment Identification (AEI): 2.45 GHz tags and 5.8 GHz tags from two wellknown industrialists. The INTERPORT applications on access control helped reduce congestion in the terminal area and ensure quicker loading procedures, fewer check-in procedures, reduced human resource requirements and provided quicker registration and handling with an overall reduction of duplicated paperwork. In the Greek Pilot, access control using AEI systems to process lorries prior to port entry, produced significant time savings for both the container terminal and transport companies of up to 83%, and eliminated paper handling. The inventory control produced significant time savings for lorries. In the Norwegian Pilot, terminal operations were smoother and quicker. Drivers of tractors (trucks without trailers) saved 4 minutes per vehicle in the terminal area. On average, the system repaid the initial investment made by the port terminal operators after the second years of operation.

8 The applications developed within this line addressed the need to monitor, control and regulate the status (position, security, operational conditions, and integrity) of goods transported, the loading units and vehicles. The MULTITRACK project contributed to this domain, producing an intermodal fleet and cargo-monitoring system. The project developed a technologyindependent platform for shipment tracking, linking consignors, forwarders and transport companies, shippers and logistics operators, consignees, and even regulatory authorities. It incorporated system elements using radio tags, satellite positioning (GPS) and communication (Eutelsat), GSM and an Internet-based messaging system, allowing interested users to track a load from its departure and along all the links in any intermodal chain. MULTITRACK prototype validation was based on tracking a shipment of cars from a UK port to a Spanish port and then onwards by road and rail to destinations in mainland Spain. The project reported that the different tracking technologies (satellite and radio tags) were successfully tested in nine different functions, and all performed satisfactorily. The tools for transport monitoring and management were reliable, flexible and user-friendly; they helped users to be more effective and competitive through low-cost equipment and open interfaces to a wide range of technologies; and they provided improved supervision of cargo shipments. The TRACAR Project developed a system for monitoring, tracking and tracing multi-modal container transport, by road rail, road and sea. The system covered the end-toend journey and monitored position, departure and arrival times including the intermediate modal change positions, the temperature, humidity and vibrations, the security of the vehicle and container - using shortrange radio, GSM, GPS and Low orbit satellite communications. The key technology demonstrated in TRACAR was the passive positioning tag and the log tag. The positioning tag provided local positioning at the departure and destination sites and in the intermediate terminals. The log tag incorporates a pre-set journey condition recorder against which it matches the actual situation en-route. Positioning tags were located beneath the road surface at key points along the route, on the surfaces of the carrying vehicles, and at the top and bottom of containers so they can be identified when stacked. The project managed to provide solutions to the problem of transporting sensitive cargoes using combined transport, whereby the shipper can monitor and influence the condition of the cargo throughout the journey; for example the facilities for remote monitoring and varying conditions mean that the defreezing process can be started before a cargo reaches its destination, and processing of the product can start immediately after it is delivered.

9 One of the main objectives of the area was to investigate how new information and communication systems can improve the quality of service and the operational level of freight transport. Several applications were developed in the research projects which proved to be valid, economically viable and efficient. The traditional way of exchanging information and organising freight transport through paper, phone and fax can now be replaced by more interactive means. Intelligent tags and other ITS devices have been developed and appear to be ready for market penetration. But how can this come about? The integration of different technologies in intermodal door-to-door systems is vital to make better use of the existing capacity and infrastructure. As a first step to accomplish this aim, interoperability between the different modes and improved integration between transport and other services, especially in the communication field, should be established. This can be promoted, as the available technical tools are reliable and validated, through enabling political, legal and organisational frameworks and by establishing harmonisation and standardisation needs and operational requirements and by supporting the necessary investment.. Moreover, as intermodal operations have multiple users and layers of responsibility and information needs, those who generate data are not necessarily those who benefit primarily from its use and the party who pays for the service could also be different from the former. Managing data and ensuring its availability throughout the chain, as opposed to the present discontinuous situation, is a strategic and economic issue to be taken into account. The absence of systematic networks for data interchange has led to a progressive growth of modal systems or dedicated intermodal systems. While these may enhance shortterm local performance, they can result in substantial duplication of data, discontinuity, incompatibility, and an inability to exchange data with other current and future partners. There is not yet an effective information chain suitable for serving the needs of transport users and the participants in the intermodal transport operations. Information is often treated separately within each mode or by each operator. This results in commercial and operational weaknesses. There is hence a need for future systems and applications to address the whole chain in an open horizontal framework instead of through sector specific approach, to help boost commercial success.

10 Many applications developed by the Freight Intermodality projects use different communication means. At the start of the projects in 1996 (based on ideas developed in 1995) it was difficult to foresee that the Internet would achieve such strategic importance. This means that, for several applications, technical changes need to be performed. Moreover, the fast development of e-commerce and the explosion of dotcoms in the supply chain management and logistic chain operation, open new requirements for ITS solutions. Thanks to the internet some goods may not need to be physically transported (software, books, music ). The development of e- commerce will lead to a situation where the distribution of the goods will be the future key for success as the Just for You distribution implies smaller shipments and higher transport frequency. The importance of the back office system and the role of the transport chain have been highlighted by recent examples. One major retailer (seeking to become a major e-tailer) failed to deliver 45-50% of Christmas orders. Additional efforts are required to involve SMEs in research projects with the objective of involving them in the evolution towards e- transport through Trial projects to demonstrate and improve the use of existing information technologies in the field of freight transport. Additional research and development work will be needed to develop ITS for the traditional transport of goods in all modes to improve security, safety, reduce costs of operation while improving quality of service, and to develop applications based on an open, global, integrated management and communication system for door-to-door intermodal freight transport operations.

11 Research on information and communication technologies for freight transport and more in particular intermodal transport in the FP5, is included in the two action lines Intelligent transport infrastructures and Intelligent vehicle systems of Key Action 1 of the IST Programme The objectives are to improve mobility management, safety, security and efficiency in all modes of transport. For the Intelligent transport infrastructure the focus is on advanced IST systems supporting logistics and cooperative resource management for the whole transport chain. For the Intelligent vehicle the focus is on in-vehicle platforms and systems for freight transport operations. The motivation for further research in the freight sector lays in the need to still improve quality of service and better use of existing infrastructure in door-to-door freight transport, in the need to insure the fulfilment of e- commerce transactions, the need to manage and make available intermodal freight data, to improve in-vehicle platforms, vehicle and load to infrastructure communication. It is also imperative to overcome the isolation of existing systems and finally look into the need for a Global, Reliable and open system for the integration of information, communication and management of the complete freight chain. In particular, Freight projects under the 5th Framework Programme will address the following issues: innovative information, communication and management systems for door-to-door freight transport; pre and post transport transactions; co-operative resources management; applications for the fulfilment of e-commerce transaction and m- commerce; innovative ITS applications as part of the supply chain management process; innovative in-vehicle platforms for data management, vehicle and load to infrastructure communication.

12 develop and verify a real-time, intelligent, end-to-end, tracking and tracing system for transport and logistics applications operating across all borders of carriers and transportation modes, enabling the re-engineering of the transport and logistics industry in Europe. ParcelCall draw on emerging technologies and networks (e.g. RFID tags, Internet, GPRS, Bluetooth) to develop and trial the system and applications in a realistic business context. ParcelCall will overcome the limitations of existing tracking and tracing systems. Among other things it will provide real-time tracking of the actual position of individual parcels. ParcelCall will improve the performance, flexibility, and scalability of tracking and tracing systems by developing a system which will integrate wireless tags, in two scenarios: real-time, open tracking and tracing system and tags that incorporate advanced intelligence.

13 The TROP project will test an Internet-based service aimed at supporting collaboration among small companies of carriers. This service mainly concerns the optimisation of the information chain and transport organisation to maximise use of truck capacity. The service will be based on a virtual network linking small and medium sized carriers in order to optimise their working procedures. The monitoring of the fleet and of the carriers operations within the pool is performed with a GPS-based system. Two technologies will be integrated and fine-tuned for the new application: GPS, to help with routeing and positioning information, and The «Virtual Enterprise» paradigm and tools, which will provide a planning service and a work flow management service able to propose optimised working plans to the pool of carriers and to manage a time dependent set of resources. Most of the concept used in TROP derive from the PLENT European project.

14 ± ± The objective of TOP TRIAL is to improve traffic safety and road protection by harnessing, developing and testing existing technologies and operational procedures to improve enforcement of freight transport load restrictions. This project aims to increase the accuracy of Weigh in Motion (WIM) systems in a trial which will include staggered multi-sensor arrays combining two promising technologies and adapted optimisation algorithms in a new approach. The two main aspects of the project are to improve the accuracy of weight measurement of trucks to cover future regulation aspects and to recommend future European standards as a basis for enforcement. Efficient, accurate and automatic overload detection and enforcement is required to ensure adherence to legal regulations and to promote fair competition between various transport modes and transport companies. The following table illustrates the project target for selected parameters.

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