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ITS Update



Week of August 25, 1997

WEEK AHEAD (Week of September 1, 1997)

- The Federal Communications Commission's (FCC's) first comment cycle
on ITS America's petition to acquire spectrum for Dedicated Short Range
Communications (DSRC) closed on July 28. Approximately 16 comments
were received, including the Department's, and the majority were in favor
of further FCC action to grant the intent of ITS America's request. The
Reply Comment cycle is now underway, and the closing date has been extended
to September 17 at ITS America's request. After this initial record has
been established, it is expected that the Commission will issue a Notice
of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) at some point later in the year that recommends
concrete action related to ITS America's request.

- The ITS JPO is working toward determining criteria for the selection
of projects from the deployment incentives program for the area of travel
management. This effort will be more fully developed through a series of
meetings to be held in September. Mac Lister and Shelley Lynch of the JPO
are coordinating these efforts.

- Over the next few weeks, the ITS Procurement Resource Guide will be
sent to the FHWA Regions and Divisions and to the FTA Regions. Available
for the first time, this guide will consist of five different reports addressing
different facets of procurement. Two additional studies are underway. Bill
Jones of the ITS JPO is coordinating this effort.

- On September 3, the FTA ITS Quarterly Review will take place from 9
a.m. - 3 p.m. This meeting will provide an opportunity to review past achievements
and future plans. Mac Lister of the JPO is coordinating this effort.

- From September 9-11 and September 16-18, two three-day short courses
titled, "Using the National
ITS Architecture: A Short Course for Transportation Professionals on System
Integration for ITS" will be held in the Nassif Building. About 50% of the
attendees are from the public sector (Federal, State and local levels) and 50% from the private
sector. The pilot course was held in July. This effort is being coordinated
by Lee Simmons of the ITS JPO.

WEEK IN REVIEW (Week of August 25, 1997)

- From August 26-27, the ASTM Dedicated Short Range Communications
(DSRC) Writing Group met in Laurel, Maryland, to address the communications
protocol. This is the "phone
connection" aspect of DSRC development.
Representatives from Treasury and Immigration joined the writing groups.
On August 28, the IEEE DSRC Message Set Group, which deals with
the data or content traveling over the "phone
lines," met in the same place.
Both of these meetings were hosted by the Johns Hopkins University Applied
Physics Laboratory. Mike Schagrin and Mike Onder of the JPO attended.

- From August 25-27, the Rural Advanced Technology and Transportation
Systems 1997 International Conference was held in Big Sky, Montana.
This event was sponsored by the Western Transportation Institute of Montana
State University-Bozeman. The theme of the conference was Rural ITS:
Making It A Reality Around the World. Sponsors included: ITS America,
the Western Transportation Institute, Montana DOT, FHWA, Castle Rock Consultants,
and Surface Systems, Inc. The theme was chosen to highlight the important
role that transportation and advanced technologies can play in making rural
travel safe and efficient throughout the world. National and international
leaders in business, government, and academia attended to exchange information
on the planning, development, and implementation of Advanced Technology
and Transportation Systems (ITS) in the rural environment. Christine Johnson
and Ray Resendes of the JPO attended.

- On August 28, a meeting on the status and progress of the Professional
Capacity Building effort was held. Shelley Lynch of the ITS JPO attended.