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NTCIP Transport and Subnetwork Level Profiles

This Fact Sheet was written on September 25, 2009. The statuses of the standards at the time were as follows: NTCIP 2101 V1.19 (Published November 2001), NTCIP 2102 V1.09 (Published September 2005), NTCIP 2103 V2.07 (Published December 2008), NTCIP 2104 V1.11 (Published September 2005), NTCIP 2201 V1.15 (Published September 2005), NTCIP 2202 V1.05 (Published December 2001), NTCIP 8003 1.08 (Published December 2001).

This Fact Sheet was written on September 25, 2009.

This Fact Sheet was last verified on September 28, 2009

 Check the ITS Standards Search to see if there has been subsequent development activity.

Overview

The National Transportation Communications for Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) Protocol (NTCIP) is a family of standards that provides both the rules for communicating (called protocols) and the vocabulary (called objects) necessary to allow electronic roadside equipment from different manufacturers to operate with each other as a system. The NTCIP is the first set of standards for the transportation industry that allows transportation systems to be built using a "mix and match" approach with equipment from different manufacturers. Therefore, NTCIP standards reduce the need for reliance on specific equipment vendors and customized one-of-a-kind software. To assure both manufacturer and user community support, NTCIP is a joint product of the National Electronics Manufacturers Association (NEMA), the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), and the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). More information concerning the NTCIP family of standards and their related documents is available in the NTCIP 9001 - NTCIP Guide, available on-line at (www.ntcip.org).

Prior to the establishment of NTCIP, traffic management centers used a number of proprietary protocols to exchange information with field devices such as traffic signal controllers and dynamic message signs. The goal of all NTCIP standards including these transport and subnetwork level standards, is to identify a common set of non-proprietary communications protocols that address requirements for center-to-center and center-to-field communications and promote interoperability.

This fact sheet addresses the six NTCIP standards that fall within the Transport and Subnetwork levels of the NTCIP Framework as well as the NTCIP 8003 - Profile Framework standard which explains the overall framework profiles and their relationship to each other. The six transport and subnetwork NTCIP standards that are the focus of this fact sheet are:

• NTCIP 2101 - Point to Multi-Point Protocol Using RS-232 Subnetwork Profile
• NTCIP 2102 - Point to Multi-Point Protocol Using FSK Modem Subnetwork Profile
• NTCIP 2103 - Point-to-Point Protocol Over RS-232 Subnetwork Profile
• NTCIP 2104 - Ethernet Subnetwork Profile
• NTCIP 2201 - Transportation Transport Profile
• NTCIP 2202 - Internet (TCP/IP and UDP/IP) Transport Profile

These standards are profile standards that define subsets or combinations of established base standards, in many cases Internet community standards referenced at the bottom of this fact sheet, used to provide specific functions or services. The profiles provide a basis for the development of uniform, nationally recognized conformance to ITS standards.

What are these standards for?

The standards referenced above define a set of rules and services for exchanging transportation management information between transportation management applications and equipment in an interoperable manner. The standards numbered 22XX are in the transport level which is on top of the standards numbered 21XX in the subnetwork level of the NTCIP communications framework. The subnetwork level standards define rules and procedures for exchanging data between two entities over particular communications media and interface with the plant level or physical communications infrastructure. These subnetwork standards define the point-to-multi-point and point-to-point protocols using RS-232, FSK Modems, and Ethernet communications media. The transport level standards define the routing, message encoding/decoding specifics, and basic network management functions. The transport standards include the TCP/IP (connection-oriented) and UDP/IP (connectionless-oriented) Internet protocols as well as the transportation transport profile allowing for non-networked connection to the subnetwork level. NTCIP 8003 explains the overall NTCIP profile framework including the transport and subnetwork levels.

Who uses them?

These standards should be used by transportation and traffic engineers involved with the design, specification, selection, procurement and installation, operation, and maintenance of networks of NTCIP devices and center-to-center communication. NTCIP device hardware and software designers, center-to-center system architects, and application (computer program) developers should find this standard especially relevant to their efforts.

How are they used?

These standards define a set of protocol features used to assure that the transportation management center computer-based devices and field devices "speak" a common language. These lower level protocols ensure that a message at the higher protocol level is understood by the device it was intended for, and equally important, it must not be misunderstood or misinterpreted by another device on the same network. Protocol features meet specific requirements for data transfers to and from devices and centers. The standards contain mandatory requirement statements that are applicable for all device and center communications claiming conformance to these standards. The standards also contain options and conditional requirements which may be applicable for certain environments where the device and center are communicating.

These standards are intended to be used in conjunction with one of the NTCIP device profiles at the information level which provide the content for that particular device or NTCIP center-to-center communications. In addition, these standards need an application level standard to bridge between the transport levels and the information level. It must be used with the NTCIP Global Object Definitions (NTCIP 1201), which provides the glossary of common object definitions used by multiple NTCIP traffic control devices.

Scope

Communications between a transportation management center’s central computer and NTCIP devices as well as between centers necessitates at least one transport level and subnetwork profile. This is accomplished by using the NTCIP transport and subnetwork profiles listed above.

These standards provide protocol features that allow the transport, routing, message encoding/decoding and basic network management functions needed for networked and non-networked systems. In addition, the NTCIP 8003 - Profile Framework document describes the overall NTCIP approach to multi-level protocol communications.

Related documents

The following ITS standards should be considered when using this standard:

• NTCIP 1201 - Global Object Definitions
• NTCIP 2301 - Simple Transportation Management Framework (STMF) Application Profile
• NTCIP 9001 - The NTCIP Guide

The following set of standards and documents, while not part of the ITS standards, should also be considered when using this standard:

• IAB STD 3 - RFC 1122, Requirements For Internet Hosts - Communication Layers; RFC 1123: Requirements for Internet Hosts - Application and Support
• ISO/IEC 3309 -- Information Technology - Telecommunications and Information Exchange Between Systems - High-level Data Link Control (HDLC) Procedures, Frame Structure
• IAB STD 15 - RFC 1157, A Simple Network Management Protocol
• IAB STD 16 - RFC 1155, Structure and Identification of Management Information for TCP/IP-based Internets
• IAB STD 16 - RFC 1212, Concise MIB Definitions
• IAB STD 17 - RFC 1213, Management Information Base for Network Management of TCIP/IP-based Internets: MIB-II
• IAB STD 5 - RFC 791: Internet Protocol - DARPA Internet Program Protocol Specification
• IAB STD 7 - RFC 793: Transmission Control Protocol - DARPA Internet Program Protocol Specification
• TIA/EIA-232-F-97, Interface Between Data Terminal Equipment and Data Circuit-Terminating Equipment Employing Serial Binary Data Interchange
• NTCIP 7001 - Assigned Numbers, Part 1
• IAB STD 50 - RFC 1643: Definitions of Managed Objects for Ethernet-like Interface Types
• TIA/EIA-574-90, 9-Position Non-Synchronous Interface between Data Terminal Equipment and Data Circuit-Terminating Equipment Employing Serial Binary Data Interchange
• Bell 202T, Bell System Data Communications, TECHNICAL REFERENCE, Data sets 202S and 202T Interface Specification
• IAB RFC 1317, Definitions of Managed Objects for RS-232-like Hardware Devices
• IAB RFC 1321: The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm
• IAB RFC 1332: The PPP Internet Protocol Control Protocol (IPCP)
• IAB RFC 1381: SNMP MIB Extension for X.25 LAPB
• IAB RFC 1570: PPP LCP Extensions
• IAB RFC 1659: Definitions of Managed Objects for RS-232-like Hardware Devices using SMIv2
• IAB RFC 1663: PPP Reliable Transmission
• IAB RFC 1717: The PPP Multilink Protocol (MP)
• IAB RFC 1994: PPP Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP)
• IAB RFC 2125: The PPP Bandwidth Allocation Protocol (BAP) / The PPP Bandwidth Allocation Control Protocol (BACP)
• IAB RFC 2153: PPP Vendor Extensions
• IAB STD 2 - RFC 1700: Assigned Numbers, Internet Assigned Number Authority (IANA)
• IAB STD 5 - RFC 792, Internet Control Message Protocol
• IAB STD 5 - RFC 919, Broadcasting Internet Datagrams
• IAB STD 5 - RFC 922, Broadcasting Internet Datagrams in the Presence of Subnets
• IAB STD 5 - RFC 950, Internet Standard Subnetting Procedure
• IAB STD 5 - RFC 1112, Host Extensions for IP Multicasting
• IAB STD 6 - RFC 768, User Datagram Protocol
• IAB STD 37 - RFC 826, An Ethernet Address Resolution Protocol
• IAB STD 38 - RFC 903, A Reverse Address Resolution Protocol
• IAB STD 43 - RFC 1042, A Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams over IEEE 802 Networks
• IAB STD 51 - RFC 1661, The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)
• IAB STD 51 - RFC 1662, PPP in HDLC-like Framing
• IEEE 802-3r:1996, IEEE Standard Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) Access Method and Physical Layer Specifications - Type 10BASE5 Medium Attachment Unit (MAU) Protocol Implementation Conformance Statement (PICS) Proforma (Subclause 8.8)
• ISO/IEC 8802-2:1998, Information technology -- Telecommunications and information exchange between systems -- Local and metropolitan area networks -- Specific requirements -- Part 2: Logical link control
• ISO/IEC 8802-3:2000, Information technology -- Telecommunications and information exchange between systems -- Local and metropolitan area networks -- Specific requirements -- Part 3: Carrier sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD) access method and physical layer specifications
• TIA/EIA-568-A, Commercial Building Telecommunications Cabling Standard
• ISO/IEC 4335:1993, Information Technology – Telecommunications and information exchange between systems – High level data link control (HDLC) procedures – Elements of procedures
• ISO/IEC 7809:1993, Information Technology – Telecommunications and information exchange between systems – High level data link control (HDLC) procedures – Classes of procedures
• ISO/IEC TR 10000-2:1995, Information Technology – Framework and Taxonomy of International Standardized Profiles, Part 2: Principles and Taxonomy for OSI Profiles
• ITU-T V.34 - A modem operating at data signaling rates of up to 33,600 bit/s for use on the general switched telephone network and on leased point-to-point 2-wire telephone-type circuits
• ITU-T V.90 (1998) - A digital modem and analogue modem pair for use on the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) at data signaling rates of up to 56,000 bit/s downstream and up to 33,600 bit/s upstream.
• ITU-T V.92 (2000) - Enhancements to Recommendation V.90
• ITU-T V.92, Amendment 1 (2001) - Amendment 1 to Recommendation V.92, Enhancements to Recommendation V.90
• ITU-T V.250 (5/99) – Series V, Data Communication Over the Telephone Network, Control Procedures, Serial Asynchronous automatic dialing and control
• NEMA NS 1-1995 – Guide for Preparation of NEMA Standards Publications

How to obtain Standards

• https://www.ntcip.org/document-numbers-and-status/ Phone: N/A
  
  Information about this standard and other NTICP standards is available on the NTCIP document numbers and status page.

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials 202-624-5800 https://www.transportation.org/ Institute of Transportation Engineers 202-289-0222 https://www.ite.org/ Association of Electrical and Medical Imaging Equipment Manufacturers (NEMA), formerly known as National Electrical Manufacturers Association 703-841-3200 https://www.nema.org/