CORDIS Archive
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Research work carried out under the IST Programme in the area of 'Systems and Services for the Citizen' - Key Action 1 - is built around 12 clusters of projects in specific technical areas. These clusters are a logical grouping of projects co-operating together for their mutual benefit, and to improve the performance of the individual projects through value-adding interaction with other projects, participants and stakeholders in the domain.
Broadly speaking, clustering among projects within the IST offers a number of benefits:
All the projects funded and managed by the Transport & Tourism Unit are grouped into three clusters: Mobility & Intelligent Infrastructure, Intelligent Vehicles and Intelligent Systems for Tourism.
Intelligent transport infrastructures are expected to make a significant contribution to solving problems related to congestion, accidents and pollution that we face in transport and travel today. This applies not only to the roads, but also to other modes of transport - air, rail and maritime. Research in IST and the work undertaken in this cluster can contribute to safer, cleaner and more efficient transport, and can help to rationalise energy use - thereby reducing environmental pollution. In addition to this, people on the move will enjoy increasing access to a range of info-mobility services in line with IST's stated objective of having ubiquitous access and ambient intelligence.
The European Union's priorities for all modes of transport include: improving service efficiency via traveller information, congestion control and demand management and innovative network capacity optimisation tools; enhancing safety via traffic control, incident and emergency management systems and driver assistance; promoting intermodality and collective transport via real-time traveller information services, integrated payment technologies, on-line tracking and tracing and novel scheduling techniques; ensuring interoperability of operations via open systems and architectures and standardisation initiatives; protecting the environment via integrated pollution monitoring and traffic gating strategies; and developing citizen-oriented info-mobility and value-added services supporting all levels of urban, interurban, interregional and international travel.
Across all modes of transport, safety, security, efficiency and comfort must be seen as primary considerations. On Europe's roads, traffic accidents and delays are two areas under close scrutiny. Work here is concentrating on active safety systems augmenting driver performance and on passive safety measures. Europe's rail and public transport sectors are of key interest as they are more environmentally sustainable modes of transport. While coping with the challenge of reducing costs, of complying with new regulations and of travelling faster in ever more congested waters, on board systems for shipping must become more sophisticated to maintain safety standards. Air transport continues to be plagued by air traffic control and airport congestion leading to delays and safety breaches. Current RTD efforts are focused on enhanced air-to-ground communications.
This cluster takes a comprehensive view of safety, ranging from the monitoring of road driver alertness, collision warning systems, lane and distance keeping, to co-operative and autonomous driving systems. In-vehicle platform integration is an important industrial issue, raising questions of standardisation and compatibility of components. In rail, an objective is to increase safety and capacity through more efficient use of networks and equipment. GNSS positioning is being considered to enhance/extend the ERMTS/ETCS system from high to low density lines. On-board train communication systems are also foreseen. On the water, advanced pilot assistance systems are being developed to improve manoeuvrability and to communicate emergency and traffic information.
Tourism is an important contributor to European GDP and employment and accounts for a major piece of the balance of trade in the European Union. However, it is a highly fragmented industry involving many actors. To remain competitive in the worldwide market, new business models and interoperable systems - based on innovative information and communication technology solutions - are needed to improve the quality, efficiency and the adaptability of the tourism value chain. On the demand side, consumers are seeking more personalised tourism products and are expecting to access relevant high quality information and services at any time and anywhere in a mobile environment.
The portfolio of current projects covers a broad spectrum of tourism services based on interoperable, IST-intensive components and systems. Booking and reservation, trip planning and guidance - maps in cities, in museums, in open areas - supported by three dimensional reconstruction, auctioning and reverse auctioning are examples of services which will be offered. Several projects are exploring innovative profiling techniques reflecting the dynamic behaviour of the tourist - off trip and on trip - and most of the projects address mobility issues according to specific targeted tourist categories. Services, when relevant, will integrate positioning and orientation information for delivery to the customer. Mechanisms, including speech, for intelligent and efficient storage of and access to various heterogeneous sources of multimedia information are being investigated. New business models are addressed by researching customer relationship management systems and the development of open platforms supporting virtual marketplaces enabling business-to-business and/or business-to-customer interactions. Collectively, the projects cover a wide range of tourism applications (e.g. urban, cultural, rural, alpine).