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Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology
ITS Joint Program Office

Application Areas

Data Collection/Monitoring

Description

This center-to-field application area covers the interface between a center and a specific type of roadway equipment that monitors and collects traffic and environmental data-the data collection and monitoring (DCM) equipment. The DCM equipment processes sensor signals to generate information about the environmental conditions and traffic passing sensor(s) that is collected and stored for later analysis. The DCM equipment may be a portable device that is deployed for short-term data collection or a permanently installed device for continuous monitoring of a site. There are three main types of data that can be stored by DCM equipment: time stamped sensor events (e.g., detector loop turned on/off), time-stamped individual vehicle data (e.g., speed, length, number of axles, vehicle weight), and aggregate data summaries (e.g., traffic volume for a particular time interval). The stored data is periodically retrieved and archived by the controlling center. Vehicle probe data is also collected and sent to a traffic management center for further review. The data collected by the DCM device serves many different purposes including traffic volume forecasts, highway geometry design, highway pavement design, bridge design, speed studies, weight enforcement planning, and the effects of environmental conditions.
This graphic shows the scope of the Center to Field Data Collection/Monitoring application area.  This scope is described in the preceding text.
National ITS Architecture Interface
This application area includes the interface between the Archived Data Management Subsystem (ADMS) and the Data Collection/Monitoring DCM) equipment in the Roadway Subsystem (RS). The ADMS collects traffic data from the DCM device in the RS, along with information about the status of the DCM equipment. The ADMS controls the DCM equipment using control commands that are sent from the ADMS to the RS. Vehicle probe data collected by the DCM equipment in the RS is also sent to the Traffic Management Subsystem (TMS) for further analysis.

Applicable Standards

In general, the following standards are applicable to Data Collection/Monitoring deployments. To determine which specific standards are applicable for a deployment you will need to determine which architecture flows will be needed for the Data Collection/Monitoring piece of your deployment. Contact your local FHWA ITS Division Specialist or an ITS Standards Program Field Support Team contact

Standard Development Status
ASTM E2259 - 03a(2011) Standard Guide for Archiving and Retrieving ITS-Generated Data; Published
ATC 5201 (ITE ATC Controller) Advanced Transportation Controller (ATC) ; Published
ATC 5301 Advanced Transportation Controller (ATC) Cabinet Version 02; Published
ITE ATC API Application Programming Interface (API) Standard for the Advanced Transportation Controller (ATC); Published
NTCIP 1102 Octet Encoding Rules (OER) Base Protocol; Published
NTCIP 1103 Transportation Management Protocols (TMP); Published
NTCIP 1201 Global Object Definitions; Published
NTCIP 1204 Object Definitions for Environmental Sensor Stations (ESS); Published
NTCIP 1206 Object Definitions for Data Collection and Monitoring (DCM) Devices; Published
NTCIP 1209 Data Element Definitions for Transportation Sensor Systems (TSS); Published
NTCIP 2101 Point to Multi-Point Protocol Using RS-232 Subnetwork Profile; Published
NTCIP 2102 Point to Multi-Point Protocol Using FSK Modem Subnetwork Profile; Published
NTCIP 2103 Point-to-Point Protocol Over RS-232 Subnetwork Profile; Published
NTCIP 2104 Ethernet Subnetwork Profile; Published
NTCIP 2201 Transportation Transport Profile; Published
NTCIP 2202 Internet (TCP/IP and UDP/IP) Transport Profile; Published
NTCIP 2301 Simple Transportation Management Framework (STMF) Application Profile; Published
NTCIP 2302 Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) Application Profile; Published
NTCIP 2303 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Application Profile; Published
NTCIP 8003 Profile Framework; Published
NTCIP 9001 NTCIP Guide; Published
SAE J2266 Location Referencing Message Specification (LRMS); Published
Deployment Resources
Deployment resources can be found in the deployment resources section.
  • ADUS (Archived Data User Service) Standards Advisory