CORDIS Archive : CORDIS : TAP for Transport: Archive

Telematics Applications for Transport Research Information 4th Framework Research Projects

CONVERGE TR 1101

Telematics Sector Consensus and Support

Project Summary

The Transport sector of the Telematics Applications Programme includes over seventy development projects, covering all transport modes in all European countries. There is consequently a need for technical co-ordination, to ensure that the results are operable in common and valid at the European level and that key standards emerge from them. There is a further need for best practice to be followed in the development process, in particular in system architectures and validation.

In the first eighteen months from the start of the programme CONVERGE provided essential tools for management, co-ordination and support to projects. The current work programme, while continuating some of these activities, adds other 'horizontal' tasks previously covered in other projects.

The work programme of the first 18 months included three sub-projects:

- The Systems Architecture sub-project (formerly SATIRE) contributed to and promoted a practical and useful approach to systems architecture for advanced telematics applications in the field of transport. The development work has been undertaken in partnership with the demonstrator projects, who have developed their own system architecture plans, with CONVERGE providing a co-ordinated approach and tools.

- The Validation Quality sub-project (formerly AQUARIUS) provides support to all the experimental projects, in particular the large demonstrators, in the design, validation, and evaluation of their experiments. CONVERGE has prepared and presented validation guidelines and checklists for all projects' validation plans, which all projects are obliged to provide, and assists them one-to-one in preparing their individual plans. CONVERGE subsequently reviews the plans, recommends changes, and advises the EC of any sector-level measures that may be needed. Finally, CONVERGE is helping to define validation objectives at sector level and to prepare for any collaborative studies that may be required.
The remaining CONVERGE activities (formerly ACCORD) included defining and leading consensus working groups in public transport and automatic debiting, leading the follow-on from DATEX which prepared consensus tools for pan-European data exchange, and providing assistance to the EC in their contribution to the 1996 and 1997 World Congresses on Transport Telematics.

The extension to CONVERGE for a 48 months term covers the following work areas:

8. Management and co-ordination working with other support measures on co-ordination activities such as concertation meetings and reporting of final results
9. Validation quality while continuing to support projects in reviewing validation plans and advising on best practice, also reviewing the quality of evaluation results at programme level and preparing guidelines for the Fifth Framework programme
10.Cross-project collaborative studies and synthesis of results setting up and co-ordinating assessment studies synthesising evaluation results across areas and themes, and producing brochures and reports for a broad public readership
11.User needs identifying user needs in Transport Telematics based on an analysis of the projectsÕ deliverables, reviewing procedures in the Telematics Applications programme and preparing recommendations for the Fifth Framework programme
12. Standardisation to provide liaison between TAP projects and standardisation bodies, to support projects in applying and developing standards, and to promote new standards
13. Human/Machine Interface co-ordinating a task force to produce a Pan-European Code of Practice, servicing a consultative group which decides its scope and approves the draft.

Major Validation Sites

Not applicable, as this is not a development project.

Users involved

In the perspective of CONVERGE, users cover:

- the projects participating in the Telematics Applications Programme
- the actors concerned: end users, operators, authorities, industry.

Approach

The approach is generally to review with the EC the objectives of the programme in a chosen area, and analyse how individual projects contribute to those objectives, then, arising from that, to provide guidance to projects and lead working groups on producing common outputs or reaching Europe-wide consensus.

Expected benefits

CONVERGE will contribute to cohesion amongst the Transport Sector projects, which is designed to lead to results that are integrated and of higher quality than would otherwise be the case. End users will find the results of the programme accessible, relevant and reliable, and on that basis more likely to meet their needs. Above all, the results will be applicable across Europe, not just in the area of a particular demonstration or trial.

The primary beneficiaries of CONVERGE are the Transport sector projects. They will benefit from the guidance on best practice, especially in validation and system architecture. The consensus activities will assist the projects in exchanging knowledge and avoiding consequences of working in isolation.

Part of the Validation quality and systems Architecture work has also benefited the Environment sector projects.
From the wider perspective, the outputs from consensus activities will give a European dimension to the developments, and thereby help the participants to create pre-standards and exploit markets. The improvements in validation will help both industry and their customers.

Contribution to EU-policies

Integrated architecture and sound validation will strengthen the demand for the programme's results. This supports EU policies on transport and mobility for the citizen.

The emphasis on technical convergence and consensus supports EU policies in areas of Industry and Telematics.

Contact person

Paul Kompfner, ERTICO
Tel: +32 2 550 0051
Fax: +32 2 550 0031
e-mail: p.kompfner@mail.ertico.com

Project Participants

ERTICO, BE

Public deliverables

-System Architecture

DSA 2.3 Guidelines for the Development and Assessment of Intelligent Transport System Architectures

DSA 3.1 Architecture Assessment Guidelines

DSA 4.2 Architecture Analysis tool : Getting started Manual

DSA 5.1 Systems architecture dissemination

DSA 6.1 Review of Telematics Application Programme current architecture results