TMCplus service implementation in Austria
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Document details: Date of preparation: Juni 2011 Abstract: Evaluation report of the implementation of tmcplus in Austria Document number: TWRDS-TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Document version: 1.0 Status: Document in progress Dissemination level: Restricted Distribution: EasyWay Key audience: Project evaluation managers European Commission Associated texts: Name Organisation Tel: Email: Project Authors: Roman Austria Tech +43(1)263 3444 24 Roman.schagala Schagala @austriatech.org
Tanja Weber Frührot (on behalf +43664 11220461 Tanja.weber@frue hrot.at of ORF)
Martin Müllner/ ASFINAG Martin.Muellner@a Martin Nemec sfinag.at
With valuable contributions from members of the Evaluation Expert Group.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 1 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. KEY EVALUATION RESULTS ...... 5 1.1 Impact on Traffic Flow ...... 5 1.2 Impact on Increased Safety ...... 5 1.3 Impact on Environment ...... 5 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM ...... 6 2.1 Site ...... 6 2.2 Issues Addressed ...... 6 3. DESCRIPTION OF THE ITS PROJECT ...... 7 3.1 PROJECT DOMAIN...... 7 3.2 Key Words ...... 7 3.3 Objectives ...... 7 3.4 Systems and Technologies Applied ...... 8 3.5 Status of the Project ...... 13 4. EVALUATION PLANNED ...... 14 4.1 Timing and Type of Evaluation ...... 14 4.2 Objectives for the Evaluation ...... 14 4.3 Research Questions ...... 15 4.4 Study Area for the Evaluation ...... 15 4.5 Expected Impacts ...... 15 4.6 Expected Methods ...... 21 5. THE IMPACT OF THE PROJECT - RESULTS ...... 25 5.1 Technical Performance ...... 25 5.2 Results ...... 25 • Measurement of the three main indicators...... 31 5.3 Research Questions Answered ...... 31 5.4 Overall Assessment ...... 32 6. EUROPEAN DIMENSION: TRANSFERABILITY OF THE RESULTS ...... 35
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 2 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Functionality ...... 9
Figure 2: Data sources ...... 10
Figure 3: Main architecture part of a tmcplus message ...... 11
Figure 4: Regionalising of tmcplus distribution ...... 12
Figure 5: tmcplus traffic information service chain ...... 13
Figure 6: RDS-TMC message chain 4-1 ...... 16
Figure 7: optimizations concerning content sources ...... 17
Figure 8: Expected impacts due to regionalising the tmc-messages...... 18
Figure 9: Expected impacts at the traffic department – duration, until all messages can be displayed by a device ...... 19
Figure 10: Expected impacts (broadcasting network) – duration, until all messages can be displayed by a device ..... 20
Figure 11: TMCplus quality mark ...... 21
Figure 12: Methods to evaluate the optimization measures ...... 21
Figure 13: Test environment of TMCplus conformity testing ...... 23
Figure 14: Real improving rate per region after technical improvements (based on statistical analysis)...... 27
Figure 15: Real improving rate realized by setting up filter (based on statistical analysis) ...... 27
Figure 16: Screenshot from the RDS Lab group statistic (28/04/2010 – shows that the 8a group has a 20% rate) ...... 28
Figure 17: Screenshot from the RDS Lab group statistic (28/04/2010) that shows the sequencing of the tmc- groups (each group is transmitted three times) ...... 29
Figure 18: Evaluation of tmc-disorders from 22/04/2010-27/04/2010 ...... 30
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 3 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
ABBREVIATIONS
ASFINAG Austrian motorway operator B2B Business to business B2C Business to customer BMVIT Federal Ministry for Traffic, Innovation and Technology EEG Evaluation Expert Group FCD Floating Car Data ITS Intelligent Transport Systems ORF / Ö3 Österreichischer Rundfunk (Austrian TV – and Radio Broadcaster) ÖAMTC Austrian car - , motorcycle – and ÖBB Austrian railway operator POI Point of Interest RDS Radio Data System TIC Traffic Information Centre TMC Traffic Message Channel
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 4 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
1. KEY EVALUATION RESULTS
This section should present a brief summary of the key results related to the EasyWay objectives and any other key results.
1.1 IMPACT ON TRAFFIC FLOW The results will be available after the evaluation has been performed. Tmcplus is an instrument to have better influence in the traffic flow. By providing in-time traffic information and options for alternative routes, the traffic flow can be harmonised immediately. Reducing congestion also means a more effective guidance of the traffic flow.
1.2 IMPACT ON INCREASED SAFETY The results will be available after the evaluation has been performed. TMCplus is the only traffic information service that informs the user on-trip in the car. The TMCplus -messages are provided nearly in real-time and therefore can warn the driver immediately in case of danger or delays on the individual route. Using tmcplus the driver also receives additional information as the length of the traffic jams. TMCplus is a very important instrument to improve road safety. Therefore the driver can be informed about the elongation of the obstruction and warned about potential risks, such as collisions. With tmcplus traffic safety can be improved significantly, because providing traffic information in-time is the basis for a pulsing mobility. That is how traffic accidents can be avoided and the number of people being injured or dying in road accidents can be minimized.
1.3 IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT The results will be available after the evaluation has been performed.
As the climate research says, in Austria at least 25% of the greenhouse gases are caused by traffic emissions. In the next phase tmcplus will also contain traffic information from public transport modes. Being informed in-time helps the traffic users by choosing the route or mode of transport. The user can also decide to take an alternative mode of transport – like public transport or bicycle. Therefore tmcplus is also a measure to reduce carbon dioxide. Especially the Alpine republic has a major challenge due to the topographical features and enormous transit. By choosing the correct route traffic flow on the existing road infrastructure can be optimized. Less congestion means less CO2 pollution. In addition "traffic jam hours" can be saved, which means efficiency at the net, and in the daily life. In the further expansion will also include intermodal tmcplus messages. To be informed just-in-time will help support the users in the selection of the route or the means of transport. The users can then also choose alternative transportation - such as public transport or a bicycle, which means significantly reducing C02.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 5 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM
2.1 SITE The sites of the project are Austria’s motorways and urban roads where traffic information services such as RDS TMC support the enhancement of traffic quality and security. The tmcplus-service is addressed to the motorway and urban road users in Austria. The goal is to provide interactive real- time on-trip information of the common traffic situation.The tmcplus service covers the geographical areas registered in the Austrian location table.
2.2 ISSUES ADDRESSED The project “tmcplus” can be seen as a huge upgrade of the existing TMC service adding new features and functions to set a new standard of on-trip traveller information services. Improvements have also been made in order to provide better traffic information. Usually, it took several minutes for all traffic messages to be transmitted to and displayed on the navigation device. Therefore ASFINAG and ORF decided to make the upgrade in order to increase the speed of transmitting the messages and improve the service quality. Real-time on-trip traffic information is one instrument to have a better influence on the traffic flow and prevent higher traffic problems. Spoken traffic information is provided by ORF every 30 minutes. In the past, it took up to ten minutes, until the messages could be displayed at the navigation device. Now, the actual messages can be received by the customer’s end device within about 2 minutes. For this improvement a regionalisation of TMC messages has been decided. That means that traffic events are broadcasted only in that region, where the event is referenced to and not in whole Austria. Important messages on motorways (like motorway closures) are still transmitted Austrian-wide. The next improvement is the clearance of traffic messages. Using more automatically generated date means, that the traffic message concerning congestions can be annulled immediately. The application of traffic sensors on the motorway network also improves the precision of the location where the traffic event happens. So the end of congestions can be located more precisely. Construction sites and weather events that have influence on the traffic flow can also be provided.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 6 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
3. DESCRIPTION OF THE ITS PROJECT
3.1 PROJECT DOMAIN The project domains are: • Traveller Information Services • Traffic Management Services • Connected ICT Infrastructure
3.2 KEY WORDS Key words to describe the nature of the project and the applications used. Suggestions are as follows: Traveller Traffic ICT Infrastructure Information Management Services Services On-trip Traveller Traffic Management Data Management Information using Rerouting and Exchange Highway Advisory Control Centres Radio Driver Behaviour Comprehension and Compliance
3.3 OBJECTIVES The objectives of the project developer and stakeholder are at first to improve the existing rds-tmc-service . Now, more precise information can be provided within 2 minutes. This will be realised by improving the service towards actuality, reliability, precision and increasing transmission time. Concerning reduction of congestion and CO2 emissions, as well as enhancement of the road safety and quality defined in the EasyWay programme the tmcplus service supports every objective:
• Reducing congestion means a more effective guidance of the traffic flow. Traveller can be informed not to use a route where the capacity is low, so the development of congestions can even be avoided in advance.
• With the data from the construction site management system of ASFINAG, it is possible to provide actual information about construction sites. So congestions, based on construction sites,can be reduced.
• tmcplus is able to improve the road safety. The traffic flow can be guided by providing suggestions not using a highly frequented route where the risk for accidents is high to a safer route.
• Using messages from ASFINAG´s new weather information system, the driver can be warned of abrupt weather changes.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 7 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
The number of rear-end-collisions can be reduced by informing the driver not to use the related section. • The reduction of emissions is also a consequence of the implementation of tmcplus. Using alternative routes, suggested by the navigation device, congestions can be avoided. When the drivers are using routes with free traffic flow that means avoiding wasting fuel and avoiding CO2 emission.
3.4 SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES APPLIED General information about tmcplus TMCplus is an improvement of the existing RDS-TMC on-trip traffic information service. The development of tmcplus is a common project of ASFINAG and ORF. Both stakeholders are responsible for the set up and operation of the service. The inducement for extending the “old” RDS-TMC service was to provide a traffic information service comparable with other European professional TMC-service, as e.g.TMC Pro in Germany. The major difference is the access to the service. tmcplus is free of charge for the end-user while in other European countries these professional services are encrypted – which means, the user has to pay for the encryption. The aim is to improve the quality and quantity of the traffic information, reliability, actuality and availability. That does not mean that RDS-TMC had any defects, but it was time for a complete renewal and improvement of the service, that existed in Austria since 2002. The upgrade also provides new kind of information for the drivers and will be totally different compared to the basic TMC. tmcplus is 100% compatible to the former TMC- service in Austria.
With tmcplus drivers can be informed faster and more precise about delays, problems or dangerous situations on their route. The effect is increasing the efficiency and safety of travelling. If there is an event disturbing the traffic flow, the driver can be warned immediately. The traffic department of the radio broadcaster Ö3 transmits standardised ALERT-C code messages to the drivers navigation device That means thedriver can be informed on-trip and nearly in real-time about the actual traffic situation. With the start of tmcplus travellers are able to receive additional information (forecasts weather warnings). An improved data exchange between ASFINAG and ORF (respectively Ö3) makes the new service functions possible. In addition to the “old” data source motorway sensors are used for creating more precise tmcplus messages. The Ö33 traffic department has access to the ASFINAG sensor data and camera videos, and therefore has an even better view of the traffic situation on the high-level road network. Close collaboration with the police and 16.000 Ö3vers, registered drivers that report congestions from the roadside, make sure that the Ö3 traffic service has the best overview of the situation in the entire Austrian road network. The close cooperation between Ö3 and ASFINAG pursues a common goal: Fewer traffic jams, fewer accidents, fewer deaths on the road.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 8 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Figure 1: Functionality
Traffic data collection and exchange between the TICs For tmcplus new data sources were added. The data providers for tmcplus stayed basically the same as those in the RDS-TMC service chain. On the one hand the Traffic Information Centre of ORF receives data about traffic incidents (accidents, technical road side problems etc.) from the police and other executives. Operators in the TIC get informed, evaluate and validate the sources and create a standardised coded message which is integrated in the data pool in a central server and is ready to be broadcasted. On the other hand there is the TIC of the motorway operator ASFINAG. The installed sensor infrastructure on the motorways is the new feature of data collection concerning tmcplus. Traffic sensors, Traffic Control Units, construction site management systems and cameras are monitoring the traffic flow and deliver actual data about the situation on the road. As a new feature of tmcplus, data from the ASFINAG weather warning system is used. This is one important aspect for enhancing the road safety. Another data source for the common data pool represents FCD. In Austria´s urban areas taxi fleets are equipped with special end devices and act as mobile sensors. They transmit periodically the actual traffic status to a central server which provides the FCD traffic data for the ORF.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 9 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Figure 2: Data sources It is important to recognise that some of these sources give very good information about the effect of an incident (extent of congestion, etc.), whereas others will target the cause, such as vehicle accidents, bad weather or major sports events. So the information from various data sources has to be validated towards reliability and actuality. To have an effective real- time on-trip service, the following requirements are necessary: a) Definition of the ownership b) access to police or governmental data which may be gathered using “firewalled” systems and required data processing, for example Floating Car Data.
Important for an effective data collection and later processing is a well functioning data exchange between ASFINAG and Ö3, which was one main target of technical improvements. Their servers exchange the collected data using DATEX protocol.The ORF delivers to the ASFINAG all validated and approved traffic information except construction site information of the high-ranking road network.
Data processing and coding After the traffic data has been collected by various sources and stored in the data pool, it has to be prepared for distribution. In order to increase the speed of transmission, the workflow has been changed a lot compared with the “old” one used for RDS TMC. But as the coding algorithms and forms used in tmcplus stayed the same as in RDS TMC, that means, that tmcplus is back-compatible. Furthermore onthe end users side, there is no need for changing the equipment in order to be able for using tmcplus. All collected data gets digital coded and related to a location and event using the Austrian location and event code. For the distribution of a traffic message the driver has to be informed about:
• What is the problem? Event – Code (11 bits) • Where is the Problem? Location – Code (16 bits)
The base for standardised coding is the ALERT – C protocol. It describes the coding possibilities for locations and events in a defined structure of 37 bits. The protocol contains processing rules how the traffic messages have to be updated and deleted. ALERT - C supports only event based driver information (anomalies related to a normal traffic flow). tmcplus functionality is global standardised but each country can define the national location table. The ALERT – C event and location code is the main part of the TMC message. To
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 10 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA code a traffic event (congestion, accident, etc.) there are standardised tables to allocate each event´s code sequence in the message. To inform where the event takes place, the location of the traffic problem is selected from a location table which contains all traffic related points and regions of a country in a coded form. The location code will be upgraded annually by ASFINAG. The actual version of the location code is version 2.1. Except the location and event code a tmcplus message contains three types of information:
• Direction and dimension (1 bit) • Expected duration (3 bits) • Recommendation for alternative route (yes/no) (1 bit)
A tmcplus message consists of a group of four 26 bits blocks and each block is compound of the information and checksum. The first block begins with a Programme- Identification Code (PI – Code) which gives information about the country where the sender is located and specifies the transmission range (regional or nationwide).
Figure 3: Main architecture part of a tmcplus message
With the upgrade of the TIC system of ORF (Ö3) the precision of the location description was enhanced. The density of the location points on the whole motorway network was incremented and all motorway junctions have been added to the location table in the last quarter of 2008 so that the traffic events can now be exactly allocated to each junction.
The upgrade of the TIC system allowed that multi -event messages get automatically combined together to one message.
What changed compared to the “old” RDS-TMC service is that first of all from the whole list of events in the event table only those events have been defined that are relevant for RDS- TMC. After that a filter has been implemented at the RDS-TMC-Output module in order to broadcast only these events that are relevant for the driver on the road. Due to this measure the amount of TMC-relevant messages could be halved and the transmission time could be doubled.
Another optimization is the regionalisation of the messages. All Austrian traffic messages are no longer being broadcasted in the whole of Austria. After an analysis, ORF decided to divide Austria into three regions A, B, C and overlapping regions AB and BC.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 11 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Figure 4: Regionalising of tmcplus distribution
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 12 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Figure 5: tmcplus traffic information service chain
3.5 STATUS OF THE PROJECT
In September 2008 the tmcplus –pilot trial started. For the end user (B2C) the service is available since 1st of July 2009.Since that time ORF and ASFINAG are ongoing with the improvement of tmcplus as well as with developing a process for monitoring the service and assure data quality.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 13 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
4. EVALUATION PLANNED
4.1 TIMING AND TYPE OF EVALUATION To evaluate the service and functionality of tmcplus both evaluation types, ex-ante and ex- post, are necessary to perform a completely significant evaluation. The ex-ante evaluation process leads to an assessment of evaluation parameters. These parameters are defined to have indicators which can be measured after the implementation in order to determine the effectiveness of the service. That means needs have been identified to describe problems and reasons for an intervention. Objectives had to be set during the ex–ante evaluation – desired outcomes, outputs and targets required in order to achieve these outcomes. Risks and uncertainties had to be highlighted so that they can be taken into account by decision makers. For a Traffic Information Service technical, financial, legal and operational risks are relevant. An ex–ante evaluation also answers the main questions which are relevant for every ITS implementation: - Does it meet the objectives for a reasonable financial investment without wider unacceptable side effects? (Effectiveness) - Could you get a similar result doing it a cheaper way? (Efficiency) - Will it work and is it feasible? (Efficacy)
The other part to evaluate tmcplus was performed with the ex- post evaluation. The ex–post evaluation is an important element to make a meaningful conclusion about the project. The anticipated impacts of the implemented service got summarized with reference to the objectives planned during the ex–ante evaluation. To judge the performance of the traveller traffic information service the assessment criteria have been set out in comparison to investment projects, related to local, national and supranational objectives for safety, efficiency, environment and financial aspects. Due to the main EasyWay aims for traffic in Europe, indicators which have to be used to assess the level of impact have been identified. It is also important to consider the possible approaches to monitor the impacts during a defined period. Using tools and defined processes for assessing the actual impacts based on the before and after monitoring data was necessary. Concerning the results from the technical side of the project, there must be criteria, indicators and tools for assessing the service’s technical performance. As a last point of the evaluation it is important for decision makers and others, who would learn from the outcomes, to provide appropriate supporting information. The results of the technical performance and impacts are essential to recommend improvements to the service.
4.2 OBJECTIVES FOR THE EVALUATION
For a Traveller Information Service such as tmcplus the evaluation results are very important for the image and the first impression of the service functionality. A well structured and organised evaluation plan is necessary to continue the work based on qualitative evaluation results. For the evaluation of tmcplus, objectives which will deliver a meaningful result,have been defined.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 14 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
One of the most important objectives of the evaluation certainly is to find indicators for measuring input and output results and impacts so that a conclusion about the implementation or success of tmcplus can be made.
4.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS Describe the research questions posed by the various stakeholders (ORF, ASFINAG, ORS, navigation device industry, TISA Forum, government, users) involved before the evaluation started (e.g. government, researchers, public), and which of these were covered in the evaluation.
• Which kind of additional data is suitable and available to optimize the quality of the service? • How can the additional data be integrated into the data pool? • Shall the service be encrypted? • Shall the service be free of charge or shall a fee be requested? • How can the automatically generated data be integrated into the datapool? • What does the additional data mean regarding quality and quantity of the tmcplus messages? • What is the consequence/optimization rate of regionalising the traffic messages and setting up a filter? What is the extension of the location table? • How many additional locations will be used in the LC 2.1? • What does the increase of the tmc-rate and transmission to the rds-coder within the rds-data-stream mean concerning transmission time? • Which will be the impacts/improvement of the system-reliability? • How is the acceptance of the conformance tests? • Can the reliability, relevance of messages be increased?
4.4 STUDY AREA FOR THE EVALUATION Describe the study area and show how the area covered by data collection relates to the ITS site described in Section 2.1 (e.g. does the evaluation cover wider impacts on the network or is it confined to the immediate site of the ITS scheme). Tmcplus means – as planned – an improvement on the whole Austrian road-network.
4.5 EXPECTED IMPACTS Describe the expected impacts, and identify those that will be assessed in the evaluation. As a minimum these should relate to those Easyway objectives addressed by the project (efficiency, safety, environment related). First of all Ö3 and ASFINAG defined the improvements/measures that are possible along the whole message chain (see figure 6).
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 15 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Figure 6: RDS-TMC message chain 4-1 Enclosed the measures and the expected impacts are described:
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 16 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
a) Content sources
Concerning the content sources, the expected impacts were: Improvement of service quality Improvement of data quantity Improvement of reliability and relevance of the service
ORF and ASFINAG decided to extend the data pool in order to provide more precise information. ASFINAG e.g. has very accurate location information in the meter area to describe traffic events, traffic signals or the length of traffic jams.
The additional data is: • Sensor based traffic information • Weather information • Extension of the location table (1.100 additional locations)
Figure 7: optimizations concerning content sources
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 17 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
b) Traffic department
The expected impacts – after realizing the measures at the traffic department at Ö3 were: Improving transmission time/duration Improvement of service quality Improvement of reliability and relevance of the service
The measures were: Implementing a filter and regionalising the tmc message.
Implementing a filter
Actually, it used to take up to 10 minutes for all traffic messages to be displayed on the navigation devices. Ö3 planned to implement a filter at the output module. The goal was to broadcast only these events that are relevant for a navigation device and save 20% of bandwidth.
Regionalising the tmc message
In order to save bandwidth Ö3 and ASFINAG decided to regionalise the messages as followed. The percentage show the bandwidth which should be saved.
Figure 8: Expected impacts due to regionalising the tmc-messages
• Regions A and C (see figure 4): 50% • Region B: 30% • Overlapping regions: 15%
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 18 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Ö3 and ASFINAG hoped to reduce transmitting time/duration (due to the measures planned for the traffic department) down to five minutes. This means half of the duration it took before:
Figure 9: Expected impacts at the traffic department – duration, until all messages can be displayed by a device
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 19 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
c) Broadcasting network At the broadcasting network several measures had been planned to optimize the service. One of them is:
Increase of tmc rate and Improvement of the system-reliability
The expected impacts were: Increase of tmc-rate Improving transmission time/duration Increase of transmission to the rds-coder Improving transmission time/duration Improve of service quality Improvement of reliability and relevance of the service
ORF and ASFINAG assumed that the transmission speed could be doubled because of the measures that took place at the broadcast system: In the RDS data stream, many functions such as for example Radio text, program recognition, or Traffic Message Channel (TMC) are integrated. All these functions have certain broadcasting capacity that has been defined more or less free. TMC is currently at about 11 percent of the RDS data stream. The expected goal was to increase this proportion for tmcplus up to 22 percent. With the “old” RDS-tmc-service, each message had to be transmitted by the ORF transmitter thrice. In addition, each message had also to be sent three times to the RDS coders. The result is therefore a corresponding bottleneck in the transmission chain. After updating the transmitting protocol, the message will only be delivered once to the transmitter in order to be broadcasted thrice. The expected impact on duration realised by the measures at the broadcasting network was reducing the transmission time down to two minutes.
Figure 10: Expected impacts (broadcasting network) – duration, until all messages can be displayed by a device
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 20 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
d) Conforming lab In order to differentiate “normal” TMC devices with conformance tested devices towards TMCplus a quality mark has been established. The quality mark is used by the manufacturers for their advertising campaign, as the customers realised the benefit of using a device which has been tested towards its conformance.
Figure 11: TMCplus quality mark
4.6 EXPECTED METHODS
Figure 12: Methods to evaluate the optimization measures
The improvement of the service is based on the following optimisations Measures Evaluation methods Impact on Content sources: Random tests; Before/after Quality of service survey Data exchange with Reliability/Relevance ASFINAG Content sources: Feedback from customers and Quality of service stakeholders Enhancement of the Reliability/Relevance location code Traffic department: Statistical analysis;(number of Transmission time/Duration
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 21 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Regionalising the messages in whole Austria Quality of the service messages versus number of messages in Reliability/Relevance each region after regionalising the messages); Field test, conducted by ORF Traffic department: Statistical analysis (number of Transmission time/Duration messages in whole Austria (saving 20% of bandwidth) Setting up a filter (only versus number of messages in Quality of the service messages that are each region after regionalising Reliability/Relevance relevant for a the messages) navigation device are broadcasted via TMC) Field test, conducted by ORF, Technical assessment against specification, performance criteria
Broadcasting network: Field test, conducted by ORF, Transmission time/Duration Technical assessment against Quality of the service Increase of the tmc-rate specification, /performance within the rds-tmc data- criteria stream
Broadcasting network: Field test, conducted by ORF, Transmission time/Duration Technical assessment against Quality of the Increase of specification, performance serviceReliability/Relevance transmission to the rds- criteria coder
Broadcasting network: Field test, conducted by ORF, Transmission time/Duration Technical assessment against Quality of the Improvement of the specification, performance serviceReliability/Relevance system-reliability criteria
Devices: Conformance lab tests Perception of tmcplus as a high (ASFINAG and ORF expected quality service 10 devices to be tested successfully when starting the service).
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 22 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Figure 13: Test environment of TMCplus conformity testing tmcplus conformity testing is performed as follows:
1. The two identical test products (2 units) are put into operation, i.e. connection to power supply, connection of TMC antenna, the test product is switched on and it is checked whether the test product is functional. In the case of any lack of operability, the Applicant shall provide ASFINAG with another identical test product; otherwise ASFINAG shall be entitled to a cancellation. 2. It is checked whether the test products handed over by the Applicant are identical products with the same software version. 3. The TMC function of the test product is activated. 4. It is checked whether the test transmitter is identified by the test product 5. The message sets used for the test are selected (1 message set mandatory requirements, 1 message set target requirements). 6. The relevant route is entered in the test product (this item is omitted if the test products are not provided with a routing function). 7. The messages are fed into the carousel of the test transmitter. 8. The messages received by the test product are checked and recorded (in the test protocol and by means of photo documentation). The entire scope of existing messages must be received by the test product within 10 minutes. Messages that do not appear on the test product within this time period are considered as not received. 9. The test is finalised. 10. The test product is put out of operation. 11. The documentation of the test result is prepared. 12. The conformity certificate or fault report is issued.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 23 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
The requirements to be tested and to be fulfilled within the scope of the tmcplus conformity test are divided into mandatory and target requirements.
In the event of a positive evaluation, a conformity certificate shall be issued to the Applicant as documentation of the fact that the test product (hardware and software plus the documents provided by the Applicant) subjected to conformity testing meets the requirements for the reception of tmcplus in Austria in technical terms under lab conditions on the basis of the test routine applied. An evaluation is positive if the test product has complied with all mandatory requirements as well as 75 percent or more of the target requirements within the scope of the conformity test.
An evaluation is negative if the test product has not complied with all mandatory requirements or less than 75 percent of the target requirements. In the event of a negative evaluation, the Applicant shall be notified of the relevant reasons for such in writing in the test report.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 24 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
5. THE IMPACT OF THE PROJECT - RESULTS
5.1 TECHNICAL PERFORMANCE Describe the technical performance of the system or service, and conclusions about the influence of technical performance on the impacts identified. . The improvement of the technical performance is also described in the table below (5.2 Results):
5.2 RESULTS
Measures Evaluation methods Results Content sources: Random tests; Before/after The random tests showed that every survey multi-event message was split into Data exchange several single messages. Each time, the with ASFINAG situation changed (e.g. traffic jam +/- 100metres) once again several single event messages were sent. Therefore, it was not possible for the operator at the TIC to handle the multitude of messages or decide which messages belong together. Based on this result, Ö3 implemented a special feature. Before/after surveys at the TIC showed, that the reliability and relevance had been increased, which is an optimisation of the service. Content sources: Feedback from customers Quality of service and stakeholders Enhancement of the location code Traffic Statistical analysis See figure 14. department: (number of messages in After realizing both optimisations Ö3 whole Austria versus Regionalising the organised some field tests. The tests took number of messages in messages place with different navigation devices. each region after The result was, that the duration until all regionalising the rds-tmc-messages could be displayed messages); Field test, was less than 2 minutes. conducted by ORF Furthermore several tests at a reference receiver located at TIC Vienna showed the same – no longer than 1:40 min is necessary until all messages can be received. See also figure 14. (Statistical analysis that shows the real improving rate per
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 25 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
region after technical improvements.) Traffic Statistical analysis See figure 15. department: (number of messages with/without filter. Setting up a filter (only messages Field test, conducted by that are relevant ORF, Technical for a navigation assessment against device are specification, performance broadcasted via criteria TMC)
Broadcasting Field test, conducted by See figure 16 (screenshot from the rds network: ORF, Technical lab group statistic which shows, that the assessment against rate of the 3a (4%) and the 8a (20%) Increase of the specification, /performance (before tmcplus started, it was 2% and tmc-rate within criteria 10%) the rds-tmc data- stream Broadcasting Field test, conducted by See figure 17: Screen shot from the RDS network: ORF, Technical Lab group statistic (28/04/2010) that assessment against shows the sequencing of the tmc-groups Increase of specification, performance (each group is transmitted three times) transmission to criteria the rds-coder
Broadcasting Field test, conducted by The number of TMC disorders has fallen network: ORF, Technical significantly as a result of system assessment against changes: Improvement of specification, performance Before the change, the main causes the system- criteria were reboots of the control computer at reliability the transmission facilities (every 48h) and
the central server (every 48h). See figure 18 that shows disorders of the RDS station in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland in the past week.
Devices: Conformance lab tests A full list of tested devices can be found (ASFINAG and ORF here: expected 10 devices to be http://www.asfinag.at/tmcplus/geraeteliste tested successfully when starting the service).
The optimisation realised by regionalising the messages is in detail:
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 26 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Figure 14: Real improving rate per region after technical improvements (based on statistical analysis)
The optimisation realised by setting up a filter was:
Figure 15: Real improving rate realized by setting up filter (based on statistical analysis)
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 27 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Figure 16: Screenshot from the RDS Lab group statistic (28/04/2010 – shows that the 8a group has a 20% rate)
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 28 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Figure 17: Screenshot from the RDS Lab group statistic (28/04/2010) that shows the sequencing of the tmc-groups (each group is transmitted three times)
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 29 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
DATUM KOMMT GEHT EINTRAG QUITTIERT ANLAGE BM ART KANAL KATEG TEXT Stö. RDS-OE 28.04.2010 09:06:58 09:07:12 09:16:46 09:17:13 JA PROG-DIV DE 1 AM 00:00:14 Stö. RDS-OE 27.04.2010 03:05:13 03:26:54 03:05:16 03:05:25 JA PROG-DIV DE 1 AM 00:21:41 Stö. RDS-OE 27.04.2010 03:04:48 03:26:29 03:04:51 03:04:51 JA PROG-DIV DE 3 AM 00:21:41 27.04.2010 03:04:22 03:27:39 03:04:25 03:04:51 JA PROG-DIV DE Stö. RDS-RES. AM 00:23:17 Stö. RDS-OE 27.04.2010 03:04:02 03:27:20 03:04:05 03:04:51 JA PROG-DIV DE 2N AM 00:23:18 Stö. RDS-OE 27.04.2010 03:02:54 03:04:30 03:03:41 03:04:51 SON PROG-DIV DE 3 AM 00:01:36 Stö. RDS-OE 26.04.2010 18:03:41 18:05:20 18:04:27 18:04:32 SON PROG-DIV DE 3 AM 00:01:39 Stö. RDS-OE 23.04.2010 17:04:09 17:09:09 17:30:26 17:30:34 SON PROG-DIV DE 3 AM 00:05:00 Stö. RDS-OE 22.04.2010 04:32:50 04:33:00 04:32:53 04:33:03 JA PROG-DIV DE 2N AM 00:00:10 Stö. RDS-OE 22.04.2010 04:30:53 04:32:35 04:30:56 04:31:19 JA PROG-DIV DE 1 AM 00:01:42 Stö. RDS-OE 22.04.2010 04:27:32 04:29:10 04:27:35 04:31:19 JA PROG-DIV DE 1 AM 00:01:38 Stö. RDS-OE 22.04.2010 04:27:16 04:28:49 04:27:19 04:31:19 JA PROG-DIV DE 3 AM 00:01:33
Figure 18: Evaluation of tmc-disorders from 22/04/2010-27/04/2010
Figure 17 shows disorders of the RDS station in Vienna, Lower Austria and Burgenland in the past week. These disorders are all caused by planned or corrective network outages on the transmission facilities Jauerling and Sonnwendstein. The transmitters Kahlenberg, Hirschenstein and Mattersburg had no problems during this period.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 30 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
• MEASUREMENT OF THE THREE MAIN INDICATORS Overall Objective Indicators Unit of indicator Data source Congestion % of hours with congestion % Automatic traffic monitoring, surveys, ANPR, drivers logs, Change in % of hours with congestion modelling (congestion definition has to be agreed) Safety Number of Traffic Accidents (Total) Number of Traffic Statistics, Police, hospital Accidents records Number of Traffic Accident Fatalities Number of Traffic Statistics, Police, hospital Accident Fatalities records Number of Traffic Accident Injuries Number of Traffic Statistics, Police, hospital Accident Injuries records
Environment CO2 emissions Kg / day Traffic counts, statistics, surveys and emissions (Fuel consumption may be used instead) models
5.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ANSWERED With reference to the research questions set out before the evaluation started (summarised in Section 4.3), describe how the evaluation provided answers to the questions posed. Questions Answers How can the additional data be By setting up a DATEX interface, integrated into the data pool? running a data transmission and updating TIC Ö3 Shall the service be encrypted? No! The technical eligibility has been examined. As both providing companies
are public organizations it would be political incorrect. Shall the service be free of charge or Free of chage, as both providing shall a fee be requested? companies are public organizations.
How can the automatically generated The validation process took place – the data be integrated into the datapool? workflow for integrating the messages automatically is defined, but at the
moment, it is realised semi-automatically. What is the consequence/optimization Regionalisation: The average optimsation rate of regionalising the traffic messages rate is 50%. and setting up a filter? Filter: The average optimisation rate is 42%. How many additional locations will be ~ 13.000 used in the LC 2.1?
What does the increase of the tmc-rate Doubleing the transmission time. and transmission to the rds-coder within the rds-data-stream mean concerning transmission time?
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 31 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
Which will be the impacts/improvement of the system-reliability? No more failures during the test duration
How is the acceptance of the Very good! Manufacturers like TomTom conformance tests? do include our comments in regular firmware updates of their products.
A full list of tested devices can be found here: http://www.asfinag.at/tmcplus/geraeteliste Can the reliability, relevance of As figure 18 shows, there were no more messages be increased? disorders/failures at the transmission facilities.
5.4 OVERALL ASSESSMENT Summarise the main findings in terms of their impact on European objectives under the headings below.
5.4.1 Safety
Tmcplus is the only traffic information service that informs the user on-trip in the car. The tmcplus-messages are provided nearly in real-time and therefore can warn the driver immediately in case of danger or delays on the individual route. The aspect of traffic safety is a main topic in the conformance tests. One premise, that the navigation device gets the tmcplus-certificate is that messages like “wrong waydrivers” or “animals on the road” can be displayed correctly. Using tmcplus the driver also receives additional information as the length of the traffic jams. tmcplus is a very important instrument to improve road safety. Within the tmcplus-service it is possible to broadcast additional information, such as length of the traffic jam. Therefore the driver can be informed about the elongation of the obstruction and warned about potential risks, such as collisions. With tmcplus traffic safety can be improved significantly, because providing traffic information in-time is the basis for a pulsing mobility. That is how traffic accidents can be avoided and the number of people being injured or dying in road accidents can be minimized.
5.4.2 Efficiency
Especially Austria, with the Alpes and the particular topographic circumstances and the traffic caused by transit is confronted with a lot of challenges. By providing efficient and improved routing information the traffic flow can be optimized on the existing road infrastructure. Furthermore time that is not spent in a traffic jam also means increasing the efficiency on the road infrastructure as well as improving quality of life. tmcplus is not only useful to navigate the traffic flow and avoid traffic jams. The quick and timely information about dangerous situations increased to a considerable degree of road safety. The reduction of traffic jams, as well as the avoidance of accidents is from an economic perspective, an important factor for cost reduction.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 32 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
5.4.3 Environment
As the climate research says, in Austria at least 25% of the greenhouse gases are caused
by traffic emissions. In the next phase tmcplus will also contain traffic information from public transport modes. Being informed in-time helps the traffic users by choosing the route or mode of transport. The user can also decide to take an alternative mode of transport – like public transport or bicycle. Therefore tmcplus is also a measure to reduce carbon dioxide. In Austria for at least 25% of the total emissions of greenhouse gases are caused by traffic. Not to mention the space required. Especially the Alpine republic has a major challenge due to the topographical features and enormous transit. By choosing the correct route traffic flow on the existing road infrastructure can be optimized. Less congestion means less CO2 pollution. In addition "traffic jam hours" can be saved, which means efficiency at the net, and in the daily life. In the further expansion will also include intermodal tmcplus messages. To be informed just-in-time will help support the users in the selection of the route or the means of transport. The users can then also choose alternative transportation - such as public transport or a bicycle, which means significantly reducing C02.
5.4.4 Financial
Planning the tmcplus service and realising the required measures as well as initializing the conformance lab made a lot of initial expenses necessary. In order to get at least a small part of the costs refinanced, that are necessary for running the service, ORF and ASFINAG agreed together with the navigation device manufacturers in the following business plan: ORF and ASFINAG will get from the manufacturers a charge that has to be paid yearly. In exchange, the manufacturer can use the Austrian location code and also the right to use the tmcplus service. tmcplus is not a service that is developed in order to make profit, but is provided by ASFINAG and ORF supported by the manufacturers in a sense of public mission.
5.4.5 User acceptance
Starting with a press conference in July 2009, the tmcplus service was presented to the users. The launch of the service was also announced onair via Hitradio Ö3 during the summer months and is still ongoing in case of actual traffic announcements. For customer requests, a tmcplus hotline support has been launched. All information about the service, the certificated navigation devices are available on www.tmcplus.at. Since September 2009 ASFINAG is running a huge billboard-campaign on the Austrian highways. And also in cooperation with the navigation device manufacturers the customers had been informed about the service. Therefore ASFINAG and ORF are providing flyer for b2c and b2b customers. Surely this big information and promotion campaign is the reason for the really good feedback of the users. tmcplus is widely known among the population. ASFINAG and ORF are planning a market research in order to get further feedback from the customers.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 33 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
5.4.6 Integration
5.4.7 Accessibility
Tmcplus can be compared to other professional or commercial rds-tmc-services, which are provided e.g. in Germany or Italy. In contrast to these services, tmcplus is neither encoded nor has the user to pay a service fee for it. tmcplus is 100% compatible to the past rds-tmc- service. That means, it is not necessary for the user to buy a new device or finish a contract. The main goal of tmcplus is to provide the best traffic information in order to warn the users as fast as possible and to increase traffic safety and efficiency. Therefore it was always a MUST to provide a tmcplus-service that is free of charge.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 34 TMCPLUS SERVICE IMPLEMENTATION IN AUSTRIA
6. EUROPEAN DIMENSION: TRANSFERABILITY OF THE RESULTS
Following the ITS Action Plan and the ITS directive (Directive 2010/40/EU) a study has been carried out to analyse the action area “Free Provision of Minimum Universal Traffic Information” As a result of this stud the proposed solution is to establish a free broadcast service to end- user devices and free feed to service providers in each Member State, providing - as minimum - safety-related information on the full Trans-European Road Network. The two services are referred to as the Traffic Safety Information Services, or TSI services. The suggested broadcast service is based on the Traffic Message Channel (TMC) of the Radio Data System (RDS), which makes use of coded traffic information transmitted with FM radio.
TMC-plus_Austria_Evaluation Report_June2011 Saved: 07/06/2011 Page 35