HOMEWORK 02

Advanced Transportation Engineering

MD IBRAHIM MOSTAZID
STUDENT ID: 37-196921
Y. SAKAI LAB

DECEMBER 24, 2019

Q 1. Make a summary of the class (2. Intelligent Transportation Systems and its
applications (1/2) and (2/2))

Summery
Traffic engineering entered into the transformative technology of connected and automated
vehicle system but still the problems associated with traffic has become a rising issue in major
highly developed countries like Japan. Globally, the demand for automobiles significantly
increases over the past decades. Due to this rising number of vehicles countries are facing
challenges of inescapable traffic congestion, fatal road accidents, and environmental pollution.
a) Traffic congestion: The gap between the traffic demand and the traffic capacity is the
primary reason of traffic congestion. The economic cost of lost hours due to congestion
is huge. A study says, in Japan the delay loss is 40 hours/person/year.
b) Road accidents: The ultimate results of road accidents are loss of life and wealth.
Complex vehicular traffic flow pattern, emergence of mixed traffic in highway are the
common reason of accidents.
c) Environment pollution: Traffic fumes are one of the major contributors of air
pollution which is harmful not only for environment but also for human health.
The advancement of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) in Japan tries to sort out some
fundamental solutions of the above problems by connecting the three main elements of traffic
engineering like human, vehicle and roadway with the help of Information and Communication
Technology (ICT). The nine development fields of ITS in Japan since 1996 are briefly
summarized below:
1) Car Navigation Systems: Rapid growth of using car navigation system with integrated
digital road map enables optimistic routing of traffic flow system. Japan’s Vehicle
Information and Communication System (VICS-started in 1996) fabricated a new era
in transportation field. The principal benefits of using VICS are travel time shortening,
smooth operation of traffic, increasing road safety by obtaining precise traffic
information and road conditions.
2) Electronic Toll Collection: Congestion at toll gates is another important reason of
traffic congestion. Allowing automatic payment of toll fee by using Electronic Toll
Collection (ETC) system resulted an effective reduction of congestion in the toll
collecting region.
3) Traffic Control: Traffic control system maintains efficient traffic flow by processing
the information collected from ultrasonic beacon, imaging sensor and traffic volume
counter (ITC camera) on real time road scenario assessment.
4) Road Maintenance: Road maintenance is executed by routine maintenance on daily
basis, periodic maintenance by inspecting and repairing of road facilities, surface
condition checking, and emergency maintenance due to disasters and accidents. It is
imperative to maintain road infrastructure in good workable condition to get the
benefits of economic development and growth.

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 5) Safety Driving Support: Integrated Vehicle to Infrastructure (V2I) and Vehicle to
Vehicle (V2V) communication system enables driver to aware about nearby road-
infrastructures as well as approaching vehicles to prevent accidents.
6) Public Transit Operation: Bus location system helps bus users to save time by
locating the position of arriving/departed bus via GPS tracking system using internet.
On the other hand, Public Transit Priority System (PTPS) increases the efficiency of
traffic management and service regularity at intersections by ensuring faster travel time.
7) Commercial Vehicle Operation: Commercial Vehicle Operation is a particular
application for ensuring safety and productivity of commercial vehicles under
Intelligent Transportation System (ITS).
8) Pedestrian Support: Pedestrians Information and Communication Systems (PICS)
specially helps senior citizens and physically disabled persons to walk safely by
providing precise information of intersection safety by voice.
9) Emergency Vehicle Operation: FAST emergency vehicle preemption systems
provide priority transit at a potential emergency situation by controlling traffic lights.
ITS Policy and ITS Stakeholders in Japan: In Japan, Intelligent Transportation System (ITS)
includes a wide variety of policies. The policy comprehends road operation, traffic control,
incorporates Information and Communication Technology (ICT), do research for development
activities, promotes industrial sectors, and enforces safety regulations for vehicles. To ensure
speed execution of works these policies belongs to separate ministries. ITS uses modern
technologies and latest management strategies to alleviate traffic problems. National Police
Agency (NPA), Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC), Ministry of Economy,
Trade and Industry (METI), Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT)
works for the promotion of ITS both by industrial and academic advancement as they are the
biggest stakeholders of this system. ITS Standardization Committee works significantly for the
promotion of standardization at ISO with minimum technical requirements.
Automated and Connected Vehicle: Development of automated vehicle system aimed to
secure society with safety, enhance quality-of-life, and to provide ease and comfortable
mobility. The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) gives six levels of automation where
level-0 has no automation and level-5 is fully automated. In Japan several researches ongoing
to develop fully automated driving in three domains, namely, private car, shared vehicles and
commercial vehicles. Automated vehicles use various sensors to detect nearby obstacles, the
detected information is then processed by powerful software’s to make its way.
Probe Data: Probe vehicular system is an application of Intelligent Transportation System
(ITS) designed and used for collecting real-time traffic data. As data is collected on real time
basis, probe data helps in determining the real traffic congestion scenario and also partakes in
mitigation of the congestion situation. In case of emergency, probe data helps to provide a
speedy response and assists to take possible countermeasures.
In brief, the application of ITS is widely used in many countries now-a-days due to its versatile
characteristics of traffic control, management, safety assurance and proficient usage of road
infrastructures. One example is Tokyo city, where ITS gives real time traffic information of
daily commuters, their availability, current location, roadway situation, time to reach next
station as well as destination etc.

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Q 2. Choose one applications/systems of ITS which you are interested in, and describe
the reason.

Summery
From the nine development fields of Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) in Japan, I am
interested in Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) System. The reasons are describing below:
1) Expressway tollgates are responsible for a significant amount of traffic jam. As manual
tollgates are maintained First In First Out (FIFO) discipline, queue of vehicles are
usually forms to get service from that particular point. As a cashless toll collection
system ETC can significantly mitigate the congestion at toll booth points.
2) ETC is a time saving and emission control system. Vehicle need not to stop for paying
toll at toll booths which consequently saves time. On the other hand, as traffic don’t
stop at tollgates the toll collecting area gets rid of the harmful emission of vehicle fumes
which helps in air pollution control at that zone.
3) ETC system is a fuel-efficient system in that sense, vehicle acceleration, deceleration
and idly waiting is completely absent in this system.
4) Flexible payment system is another reason for choosing ETC application as customers
have their flexibility of doing payment by cards.
5) This system is fully automated and the full procedure completes quickly that’s why the
toll booth can accommodate more vehicles without increasing its existing capacity.
Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) System is one of the most successful projects in Japan. In
2003, the traffic congestion was 56.2 km-h/day. The rapid use of ETC reduces congestion to
2.8 km-h/day by 2007 (https://www.mlit.go.jp/).

References
1) Lecture notes provided by KANOSHIMA Hideyuki sensei at the Advanced
Transportation Engineering classes.
2) ‘https://www.mlit.go.jp/road/road_e/p1_its.html#a2’, ETC (Electronic Toll Collection).
www.mlit.go.jp. Retrieved 2019-12-24.

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