## 1 Introduction
Some emerging communication technologies such as low-power wide-area networks (LPWANs) can improve upon some factors of cellular communication technologies, such as range, availability, frequency band, and cost reduction both in acquisition and operation [15]. The use of adequate communication technology between transit vehicles and the control centers is an important requirement for an FMCS to improve operational efficiency at a minimal cost. It is also important that an FMCS is not complex in its handling and operation because this could mean more delays in processes, which could make the system slow and inefficient. That is why it is convenient to properly distribute the workload between components and operating personnel [16]. The simplicity of handling and division of work does not imply a lack of security because it is also necessary to include security components to guarantee confidentiality, integrity, privacy, and availability of the managed information [17; 18]. Finally, it is important that an FMCS must also consider the safety of passengers because it is necessary to protect passengers' well-being, thus building trust in the system [19]. Speed control is a factor that contributes to increasing safety in the vehicles that are part of the FMCS. Proper vehicle tracking can also identify some events that may pose a safety risk for passengers, such as unscheduled routes or stops at prohibited sites. Considering ITS developments, the significant disadvantage of most of the ITS services developed at the international and Colombian level is that they are not based on adequate architectures, which brings integration, interoperation, and reusability issues [20]. Many models of FMCS have been proposed, but most of them are implemented with services not based on an appropriate architecture. Although there are several approaches to Colombian ITS architectures, the proposed modeling is very general and not suitable for cities with specific characteristics [21]. To address this situation with transit service in the mentioned context, this research focuses on:  
* A literature review (with scientific mapping and systematic review) of FMCS. * Proposal of an ITS architecture for the FMCS in medium-sized cities in the Latin American context, by previously identifying suitable requirements for an FMCS in such context. In addition to the ITS architecture, suggested technologies and a prototype were defined. * Experiments for validating usage of the suggested technology and prototype in a case study (Popayan medium-sized Colombian city). The article structure is as follows: Section 2 presents the methods and materials used in this work and the criteria for the selection of a communication technology; Section 3 presents the literature review with SciMAT tool [22], and Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology [23]; Section 4 presents the identification of suitable requirements of an FMCS, a study of ITS reference architectures, a proposal for an ITS architecture for the FMCS, and a proposal for an FMCS prototype; Section 5 contains experiments performed to validate the proposal presented in the above section; Section 6 presents a discussion of the obtained results; finally, Section 7 presents the conclusions.