ITS Research Program, UW

Backbone:
ITS Backbone Design and Demonstration

Sponsors:

TransNow (U.S. Department of Transportation)
Washington State Department of Transportation

Description:

Any significant ITS development activity has data communications as an underlying issue. A communication backbone, therefore, is central to the development of regional ITS applications. The backbone developed by this project will support traffic data from a multitude of sources while making data accessible in a clearly defined manner on a geographically distributed network. The backbone will be designed to:

1. improve interagency and multi-jurisdictional sharing of data without disrupting existing operations.
2. support existing investment in ITS technology and system development,
3. encourage expansion and innovation, and
4. be compatible with federal efforts to develop a national ITS architecutre.

This project will construct the backbone outlined above and, in conjunction with related projects in the areas of data integration and fusion, demonstrate how different types of data gathered from politically distinct agencies can be integrated in a single application. The diagram below shows the overall ITS communication architecture developed during this research effort.