Objective
Surveillance of hazardous goods vehicles (WP 200)
Driver information and early warning system, including automatic incident detection, particularly accidents and traffic congestion (WP 300)
Integrated automatic debiting and road protection including weigh in motion (WIM) (WP 400)
Preexperiments were carried out along the road network of the Portuguese road traffic innovations on a corridor(PORTIC0) project covering the areas of early warning and driver information as well as weigh in motion (WIM) and integrated automatic debiting. The experiments demonstrated have proved the functional feasibility of the systems.
The hazardous goods workpackage demonstrated a satellite based vehicle monitoring system, which will form the basis for the pilot implementation. Finally, substantial progress has been made in developing an EDIFACT version of the advanced transport telematics-advice and problem location for European road traffic (ATT-ALERT) traffic messages.
Driver information and warning workpackage besides the feasibility study are the successful demonstrations of the functionality of new system designs and equipment in local and cooperative operation. Some achievements have had memorable effects on traffic flow, speed reduction, early warning, high attention related to possible incidents for early warning could be demonstrated. This will be the base for the test site installations. The automatic debiting and road pricing workpackage provided data that are considered relevant for the study of the Portuguese car fleet and that allow for a detailed study and the elaboration of the penalty model for overweight vehicles.
Technical Approach
PORTICO includes two main interurban roads of the IP1/A1/E80/E01 Lisboa-Porto (300 km), motorway 2x2 and the IP5/E80 Aveiro-Vilar Formoso (Spanish border), highway 2x1, and focuses on concrete test installations, operational programmes and investigation, and on the exploitation of positive results for improved traffic safety. Field trials will be used to test the effect of the above on:
Information exchange service between a hazardous goods fleet operator control centre mobile devices and safety stations;
Driver information and early warning system based real time warning waves in selected pilot sites along two critical zones of the PORTICO;
Experimenting of a comprehensive debiting system for one site with toll system of the PORTICO and a combination with road protection and overload detection systems as an integrated concept for new methods (weigh + pay);
Interchange of traffic information between the road user and systems in combination with existing traffic measurement stations, meteorological devices, etc. and the new ATT applications.
Key issues
TRAFFIC SAFETY IMPROVEMENT (to improve safety on dangerous road network-areas and road sections, caused by environmental conditions - ice, snow, fog -, road guidance problems and hazardous goods transport),
REDUCTION OF FACTORS FOR DANGEROUS TRAFFIC SITUATIONS (to smooth traffic flow and reduce dangerous situations caused by overload and slow-motioning trucks),
ROAD INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION (to protect the existing road network fron destruction by overloaded axles and to reduce the maintenance costs and the road network and improve the lifetime of the infrastructure),
DRIVER EARLY WARNING AND GUIDANCE (to improve real time and on site information for drivers in the form of an "early warning system" with short reaction-times and long-distances, covering dynamic warning effects combined with Driver guidance support under difficult environmental conditions),
REALISTIC DEBITING AND SAFETY CHECK (to get a fairer allocation of toll payments depending on "load flow" along the road network. To change and combine auto-debiting with wide technologies to load pricing systems (weigh + pay) for truck systems as a future control instrument for load flow in combination with traffic flow. Combined safety for overload and imbalance).
Expected Achievements
It is expected that at the end of the PORTICO Project, the Partners of WP 200 will have developed a system for vehicle tracking and hazardous goods operation that will be of immediate interest in the Portuguese market. The system will be developed further as required by the needs of transport and distribution companies. The message exchange system will be available for exploitation by emergency centers and other related public authorities.
The system designed and pre-tested for early driver warning and information within WP 300 is clearly based on the idea to solve the safety problem of sudden incidents on road networks (primary and secondary roads) with blocked lanes, reducing accidents and saving lives in black spot areas as well as reach early warning in real time along road section and central alarm. It is hoped that this can be achieved by an integral sensor network, roadside processor network and warning light network (microsystems) along the road section using different levels of AID algorithms and modes of operation. Special features for this system for black spot areas are:
High resolution incident detection covering the whole section and monitoring
Real time recognition of irregularities and real time specific warning
Manual and automatic mode
Reduction of accidents
Simplification and lower false alarm rate of AID Algorithms
Low cost solution with good cost/benefit factor
Open system architecture for multi purpose use Data Collection, Real Time Control, Combination with VMS and environment sensors.
In WP 400, real safety improvement and permanent road protection using techniques of weigh in motion with higher accuracy in combination with a fairer toll system. This will be achieved by:
Safety check stations generating alarms of violations, also for hazardous goods transport without causing traffic jams by dynamic weighing integrated in toll stations
Introducing law enforcement for overloaded axles, axlegroups and gross weights of trucks to improve safety and protect the road network
Data generating for future toll systems concerning load flow and statistic
Reduce traffic jams and better traffic flow combined with lower environment damage
Automatic mode with reduced staff
Lower road maintenance costs by reducing pavement damage by overloaded trucks
Classification of vehicle type, vehicle load and load distribution per axle with related limits and right pricing for road use and damage
Expected impact
The PORTICO Project is fundamentally a development project, with a large element of verification, through real pilot studies and experiences on the road network. The Project has been designed to provide an early demonstration of the benefits of pan-European ATT systems. This had been for two reasons:
European industry may easily lose its lead in many ATT application areas if the results of development work are not clearly focussed at market needs.
The market itself must be built up, with both private and commercial users being shown an attractive and effective range of products. The partners come to this collaborative programme with these issues very clear on their minds.
PORTICO is primarily a road owner and industrial initiative and as such its interest is in the identification and development of commercially viable products and services that can benefit the road users. PORTICO, therefore, will take close note of market developments in its requirements work, to ensure that both style and substance are attractive to road users.
The existing infrastructure along the roads that compose the PORTICO Project and the Association of Partners involved in this project clearly show a good indication that the different test equipments and prototypes have good chance of being viable and beneficial to the users and may lead to implementations in other countries.
Contribution to Standardisation
The work on this Project is expected to lead to a contribution in drafting a set a European Standards for the main technical parts of the PORTICO, namely the WIM/automatic debiting.
It is the intention of the Partners to make available to the CEC the literature and standards emanating from the PORTICO Project.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- engineering and technology mechanical engineering vehicle engineering aerospace engineering satellite technology
- social sciences law law enforcement
- engineering and technology electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering electronic engineering sensors smart sensors
You need to log in or register to use this function
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Data not available
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Data not available
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Data not available
Coordinator
2800 ALMADA
Portugal
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.