INTELLIGENT TRANSPORTATION

SYSTEMS INSPECTION AND MAINTENANCE MANUAL (ITSIMM)

Quarterly Meeting Presentation

03.19.200803.19.2008

How to improve How to improve our existing our existing

transportation transportation facilities?facilities?

• Technology, in the form of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS), offers a valuable tool to improve the operations, safety and management of our existing transportation facilities.

• For this reason, a manual of guidelines is to be prepared that will serve as a reference document to assist the NJDOT personnel in the inspection and maintenance of ITS facilities.

The Motivation

Knowledge Base Development Steps

• The main challenge is to develop an effective methodology to extract the knowledge from a diverse set of sources: Experts (DOT personnel, consultants, ITS device

manufacturers, system vendors, suppliers, and contractors),

Manuals, research literature, other DOT’s and FHWA sources, related websites, and manufacturer’s published material.

• The intense knowledge base development process used in this project includes the following well-known steps: Knowledge Acquisition, Knowledge Elucidation, Knowledge Representation, and Validation and Verification of the Developed Material.

Knowledge AcquisitionStep 1: Literature Review

• This is the comprehensive review of manuals, research literature, other DOT’s and FHWA‘s related web sites, manufacturers’ publications in order to develop ITSIMM.

• This preliminary compilation of existing research studies resulted in the review of a wide variety of reports and documents including policies of U. S. DOT Federal Highway Administration, Institute of Transportation Engineers, several States (Idaho, Kentucky, Texas, Virginia, Alabama, North Carolina, Minnesota, Arizona, Oregon, Colorado, California, Florida, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin) and countries (Ireland, Wales, Scotland and England), the MUTCD guidelines, and private sector reports.

Knowledge Acquisition

Step 2: Expert Surveys

• The first stage of knowledge acquisition consists of sending preliminary surveys and receiving answers.

• The survey includes two sections basically.

General Questions / Information: The recipients are first asked to identify themselves. Then, basic questions about the recipient's involvement in ITS systems are asked.

ITS Specific Questions: Then, detailed questions related to ITS inspection and maintenance are asked.

Knowledge Acquisition

Step 2: Well-structured Expert Interviews

• The second stage of knowledge acquisition includes face to face interviews.

• The interviews have been identified as the NJDOT personnel or contractors highly experienced in inspection and/or maintenance of ITS components.

• Meetings mainly serve as means for gathering information about the current state-of-practice of inspection and maintenance processes for various ITS equipment.

• Two meetings have been handled by Orth-Rodgers and Associates Inc. with Pennsylvania Turnpike Authority and Delaware DOT.

Knowledge Acquisition

CONTACTPERSON

E-MAIL SURVEY INTERVIEW

Tim Bourne Tim.Bourne@dot.state.nj.us Completed survey received. Interview completed.

Frank Prezioso Frank.Prezioso@dot.state.nj.us Completed survey received. Contacted, but no response. 

Edward Hanna Edward.Hanna@dot.state.nj.us Completed survey received. Interview completed.

Tiberiu Tajts Tiberiu.Tajts@dot.state.nj.us Completed survey received. Interview completed. 

Bill Brantley Bill.Brantley@dot.state.nj.us  - Interview completed. 

William Ducsak William.Ducsak@dot.state.nj.us  - Interview completed

Howard Donovan Howard.Donovan@dot.state.nj.us  - Interview completed.

John McEldowney John.McEldowney@dot.state.nj.us  - Interview completed.

Donald Mottola Donald.Mottola@dot.state.nj.us Completed survey received. Interview completed.

Milton Pequero mpeguero@dewberry.com Completed survey received. Interview completed.

Jack Hayes Jack.Hayes@dmjmharris.com  - Contacted, but no response.

Kevin Hayes khayes@ekmail.com Completed survey received. Interview completed.

Bruce Littleton blittleton@orth-rodgers.com Completed survey received. Interview completed.

List of Experts Interviewed

Knowledge Elucidation

• This step involves processing of expert knowledge in order to clarify different aspects of the knowledge acquired from the experts and other cited resources.

• The literature reviews, expert surveys, and interviews provided significant information used in the development of Intelligent Transportation Systems Inspection and Maintenance Manual (ITSIMM).

• Results revealed the fact that there is a need for the development of a software for performing inspection and maintenance operations on a touch-screen tablet notebook computer. Rutgers Intelligent Transportation Systems Inspection and Maintenance Software (RITSIMS) is created for this purpose.

Knowledge Representation• This step is completed through the development of written material

including procedures, checklists, and guidelines using the expert knowledge obtained and processes in the previous stages.

Knowledge Representation

• The ITS equipment is divided into five categories after the expert surveys and interviews conducted.

Knowledge Representation

• ITSIMM is composed of three sections namely, inspection, maintenance, and troubleshooting of five categories of ITS equipment.

ITS Manual Guidelines

Delivery Inspection

(Acceptance)

TroubleshootingMaintenance(Preventive &

Routine)

Knowledge Representation - Inspection

Knowledge Representation – Inspection

• Inspections are designed to verify that the ITS equipment and its components are in accordance with the quality requirements of the specifications/plans.

• Inspection checklists are provided as general guides, and should be used as supplements to, not replacements for the contract specifications and specific installation instructions of the product manufacturers and suppliers.

• Inspection procedures consist of checklists in the form of Pass and Fail questions.

Knowledge Representation – Inspection

• Elements of inspection are given as:

Pre-construction Phase: A simple pre-construction check should serve for the purpose of making any field modifications to the plans when necessary to fit site conditions.

Basic ITS Elements: These include the inspection of conduits, junction (pull) boxes, loop detectors, foundation, CCTV poles, VMS sign supports and sign boxes, wiring and grounding, and the communication/field equipment cabinets.

Electric Service: The components associated with providing electric service are: preconstruction electric service, service poles and electrical feed, and load center and meter.

Traffic Maintenance during Construction: A traffic control plan should be properly implemented and revised if necessary to conform to the prevailing field conditions.

Knowledge Representation – Maintenance & Troubleshooting

Knowledge Representation – Maintenance• ITS are often designed and installed with little attention to

the future maintenance requirements.

• It is significant to perform maintenance procedures effectively so that the costs incurred for providing maintenance and training staff can be minimized. The maintenance procedures are simply: Generic Preventive Maintenance: It is defined as a set of checks

and procedures to be performed at regularly scheduled intervals for the upkeep of ITS system, including maintenance inspection, record keeping, cleaning, and replacement based on the function and rated service life of each component

Part Specific Maintenance: Questions related to the equipment common to all devices belong to this category.

Brand Specific Maintenance: The second approach includes the specific questions for different brands (Daktronics, Vultron, etc.).

Knowledge Representation – Maintenance

• With both approaches, tables in the form of checklists are formed as an attempt by the research team to summarize various approaches found in the literature.

• In these checklists, a rating system has been applied on the contrary to the inspection checklists as a result of the stakeholder meetings.

• Depending on the completion of the task, there are four available ratings: Excellent: Totally Operative / New Good: Operative / Satisfactory Fair: Operative / Needs Minor Work Bad: Not Operative / Needs Major Work

Knowledge Representation – Troubleshooting

• It is always useful to have some common troubleshooting measures which will help one to solve the problem that appears during the maintenance checks.

• Since trying to find the problem and its solution can be difficult and time consuming, the troubleshooting issue has outmost importance for the efficiency of ITS systems.

• With this purpose, troubleshooting tables are prepared for ITS devices that basically include some basic sample problems/symptoms, their possible causes and remedial actions for the mentioned equipment.

Validation and Verification of the Material

• Most of the information given in the manuals will be highly technical and procedural, and therefore it is important to verify and validate it very carefully before actually using it.

• Upon the development of various products including ITSIMM, its checklists, the RITSIMS software, and the training content, they are evaluated by the experts and its developers to ensure their accuracy and appropriateness for the tasks they are designed for.

• Therefore, during/after obtaining the draft version of the ITS Inspection and Maintenance Manual (ITSIMM), the manual is constantly revised by the experts from NJDOT, private companies, and other state authorities.

Database Structure

Rutgers Intelligent Transportation Systems

Inspection and Maintenance Software (RITSIMS)

Work Flow and Structure

Functionalities

Printable PDF Version of the Manual:

At any time, the checklist questions for the equipment can be printed after selecting it. This is useful when a computer is not available for use in the field.

Pausing:

This option is available for short-term and long-term pauses throughout the inspection and maintenance procedures.

Functionalities

Database Synchronization:

The tables obtained during the inspection and maintenance procedures in the field can be sent to the master database which is located in the main computer at the office. The synchronization can be done both ways.

Installation Manual

• Rutgers ITS Inspection and Maintenance Software (RITSIMS) is compatible with Windows 98/2000, Windows XP and Windows Vista.

• Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 should be installed prior to RITSIMS installation.

• The application can be started with clicking on the MTSoft.exe file that is supplied in the RITSIMS folder.

• All the other database files (.mdb’s) are accessible in the same folder.

RITSIMS Training

Training Sessions

• Four training sessions have been held on the dates 03.12.2008 and 03.13.2008 in the NJDOT Computer Lab.

• 30 NJDOT personnel have attended the training sessions.

• A brief introduction about the project has been given to the attendees.

• The features of the software have been shown to the attendees.

Training Sessions

• Two case studies for inspection and maintenance procedures using RITSIMS have been given to the attendees and they have successfully performed both studies.

• Positive feedback have been received from the NJDOT personnel.

• Comments of the attendees have been taken into account and some changes have been implemented into the software.

Training Attendee List

NAME DEPARTMENT

Kennand R. Luckey Construction North

John McEldowney Construction North

Robert Nagy Construction North

Robert Kohle Construction North

Paul Shelly NJDOT

Martin Schwan NJDOT

Stanley McDowell Construction Region Central

Hans P. Janssen Construction Region Central

Joe Serenelli Construction / Electrical Central

Randy Richline Construction / Electrical Central

Thomas White Inspection

George Carroll NJDOT Central Region Construction

Ilya Slivenko Construction Region Central

Paul Lynyak Traffic Operations North

Rocco Picciolo Construction Region South

Stephen Magazu Construction Region South

Ray Morris Construction Region South

John D’Ambre Construction Region South

Wally Nunez Traffic Operations North

Robert Hargrave Traffic Operations North

Padmanabha Amin DOT-ITS

Ramchandra Patel DOT-ITS

Jeff Rockower DOT-ITS

Tim Bourne Traffic Operations

Lou Ranson Traffic Operations South

Bryan Kepler Traffic Operations South

William Brantley Traffic Operations South

Keith Kirby Traffic Operations South

Mark Renner Traffic Operations South

Victoria Battaglia DOT-ITS