space technology for surface transport management

8/14/2019 Space Technology for Surface Transport Management

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Use of Space Technology for Surface TransportManagement

S Pal* & K.V. Venkatachary**

In the last quarter of 20th century space technology took its roots and by the end, it was applied to thevarious spheres of the life of mankind. The largest impact, of the space technology, experienced was in the field of communication and remote sensing. Communication satellites were used for fixed terminalcommunications. The end of the century saw the emergence of satellite mobile communication. In thearea of remote sensing the resolutions improved to one meter. The global satellite positioning systemswhich were earlier giving stand alone 100 meters position accuracy improved to 20 meters by the U.SDoD decisions of removal of the SA from the GPS system. The mobile satellite services became verypopular in monitoring the movement of vehicles and man. The integration of all the above services can be(being) utilized for the surface transport management. The use of Mobile Satellite Services (MSS) alongwith GPS can be used for railways/railway wagons, trucks/buses fleet management. The GPS along with

high resolution pictures can be used for roads/railway lines laying planning, alignment and also to findthe shortest routes. GPS along with the images can also be used for traffic management. GPS can also beused as an anticollision device in railways. GEO SATCOM coupled with GSM, GPS and Internet canbecome a Transport Telematics Backbone.

The paper deals with the above various applications of space technology and their relevance to India forthe overall management of surface transportation.

*Group Director, Communication Systems Group, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore**Director, DMS, ISRO Headquarters, Antariksh Bhavan, Bangalore


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1.0 INTRODUCTION

The invention of wheel is still considered to be the most significant technological development.The wheel coupled with the animal power increased the efficiency of the transportation almostfrom zero to infinity. The advent of the steam engine, petrol and diesel engine, a part of the

industrial revolution changed the total scenario of the transportation industry which influencescountrys economy to a great extent. For any upcoming economy the three basic infrastructuresneeded are:

1. Energy or Electricity2. Communication3. Surface Transportation

All the three sectors are of great importance. One can go on discussing the same. For thepresent we are restricting ourselves only to Surface Transportation.

After the 2nd world war there has been a tremendous growth and improvements in the area ofsurface transportation. To start with the emphasis was more on making the transportationsystem comfortable and luxurious rather than fuel efficient. Safety and planning, althoughalways talked about, was never taken seriously particularly in the developing countries likeIndia. The transport industry that includes: (1) road transport-cars, trucks, buses, two wheelersetc., (2) railways goods trains, passenger trains and (3) waterways ocean liners etc., in thelast decade of the 20th century had experienced almost an exponential growth in India. Manymanufacturers came to the country. This has happened without proper planning of roads,towns, highways & traffic law enforcement segment. It has given rise to congestion of traffic,increase in accidents thereby loss of valuable life and property, intentional avoidance of taxes,increase in pollution resulting in a considerable delay in delivering the goods. Until unless thetotal transportation section is properly planned and managed, all the above factors will act as

stumbling blocks in the booming economy.

The Management of Surface Transportation has got the following main components:

1. Planning of roads & routing2. Smooth movement of cargo & passengers with least unwanted stoppages.3. Automobile & Rail machinery improvement4. Safety and accident avoidance5. Emergency assistance6. Revenue collection

There are various age old ways & methodologies by which all the above are being presentlymanaged in the country. Space technology coupled with mobile communication and with theemergence of internet can lead to a better Surface Transport Management in the country.


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2.0 USE OF SPACE TECHNOLOGY, MOBILE COMMUNICATIONS & INTERNET FORSURFACE TRANSPORT MANAGEMENT.

The advancement in space technology, mobile communication & growth of internet can help to

a large extent in planning & managing the evergrowing transportation system in the country. Inpresent paper more emphasis is given on the space technology segment.

Space Technology: Space Technology in the present context is referred only to spacecrafttechnology & its applications. The spacecrafts for this purpose can be categorized under thefollowing headings:

Spacecrafts used for remote sensing applications

Spacecrafts used for Meteorological application (Meteosat, GOES, INSAT, NOAA etc.)

Communication Satellites (GEO STATIONARY) with bent pipe transponders used forVSAT applications.

Communication Satellites (LEO, GEO or MEO) used for mobile communications. Spacecrafts used for Navigational Applications (GPS, GLONASS etc.)

Spacecrafts for Search & Rescue Operations (Eg. SARSAT & COSPAR & INSAT).

All the above can play a definite role for the overall planning & Management of SurfaceTransportation. When we talk about surface transportation we do take into account the ROAD,RAILWAYS & WATER TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM.

2.1 Use of Space Technology for Surface Transport Planning

2.1.1 Use of Satellite-based Remote Sensing

To start with it is essential that while laying down the road or railway line followings are takeninto consideration:

Geological & Geodetic survey

Proper identification of the shortest routes with minimal geographical obstacles and alsoalignments.

Identification of potential geological weak points like: flood & landslide prone areas etc.

Proper location of the river bridges taking into account the changes in river course, landintrusions, bank erosions and their long term impacts.

Before planning the roads and railway lines, it is advisable to collect the data based on localgeological studies, soil conditions besides collecting the satellite remote sensing data. Satelliteslike IRS, SPOT, IKONOS can give multispectral pictures for the study of vegetations, forest &geological signatures. The wide & narrow swath pictures with 1 to 2.5 meter resolution(including panchromatic pictures obtained from IRS-1C/1D) can help in the proper routing ofthe roads and railway lines. The satellite imageries an also help in aligning the roads & railwaylines. The imageries can be used for identifying and studying the geological features of theregion. The 1 to 2.5 meter resolution pictures can also be used in preparing the city road maps,


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planning by pass roads, super highways, overbridges, under bridges & ring roads. These canalso be used for planning of ERLTs and Metros. Town planning can be done using theseimageries. Rouen city image is shown in Fig.1. Fig.2 shows some typical geological imageries.

Fig.3 shows the road map of a part of Bangalore city prepared using IRS imageries. Bangaloreand Hyderabad have used Irs imageries extensively for RING ROAD routing and alignment.

Geodetic information can be obtained using GPS receivers or satellites having 1.00 meter orbetter resolutions with stereoscopic image generation capabilities.

In case there are rivers or the area is flood prone and the river course changes also occur, thesatellite imagery comes as a boon in planning of the roads, bridges and rail lines. Satelliteimagery study for couple of years can reveal and give data about bank erosion, river shifts. Notonly these can help in estimating the damages caused but also in future planning for avoidingsuch damages. Figs.4 to 7 show the impact of floods, damage caused by the bank erosions ofBrahmaputra river and river migrations. These type of imageries can help in planning of roadsand in taking advance measures to minimise the losses.

Fig. 1. PAN image showing parts of ROUEN, France.Fig. 2. Geological features of parts of

Cuddapah basin, A.P.

Fig. 3. PAN image of Jayanagar, Bangalore and road networkmap..


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Fig. 4. Impact assessment of erosion and deposition in the river bed.

Fig. 5. IRS 1C image showing damage to roads and villages


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Fig.6 Pre and post flood PAN data merge

Fig. 7 PAN data Pre flood and during the flood conditions


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2.2 Use of GPS for Surface Transport

During the initial road or railway planning or even for the existing networks accurateGeographical Information Service (GIS) database provide sufficient details and accuracy for

distance computations in the total network analysis. However, while travel distances dependonly on the route, travel times depend on speed limits, traffic signals, congestion, roadconditions & time of the day. Collecting data on actual travel times has been quite expensive.However the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) consisting of GPS-Rx and a simple recorder canprovide location & time data, they can serve as automated travel time data recorder. A typicalapplication could be where a GPS unit is mounted on a truck collects information which isloaded with the route GIS and used to study a road network for truck routing applications. Theprocedure is advantageous because no additional efforts are needed and data is collectedduring normal working schedules. An added benefit is that the data can be used to verify thespatial accuracy of the road network, identifying omitted or misaligned road segments. Thisprocess gives realistic travel time & results in reliable network analysis. The data collectedon various type of vehiclesat different times of the day particularly vehicles having roundtrips would reflect local traffic conditions, time of day and any alternate route chosen. Bycompiling and analyzing data from several days of multiple round trips a realistic sample oftravel times and speed can be obtained. GPS position data can be collected say at everysecond with a 10,000 point storage capacity where data can be stored for nearly 14 hours andwith the S/A removed the data can be fairly accurate. However for a better accuracydifferential correction can be applied. GPS software also allows recording & uploading ofactual velocity data. However a small programme can calculate speed for each point,distance, time and velocity data can be corrected by judicious approach for wild GPS datapoints and brought to the actual road points. This data can then be reliably used for:

1. Classification of highways & roads

2. Speed limit fixing with respect to time of the day3. Alternate routings4. Improvement & alligning of roads5. Turn around time calculations of goods, passenger & cars. Minimum & Maximum

travel time calculations can also be done.6. The total exercise can help in time motion study, traffic analysis, efficiency studies &

route planning.

2.1 Use of GPS, GSM, Mobile Satellite Communication and Internet for SurfaceTransportation

The amalgamation of GPS, GSM or Mobile Satellite Communications & Internet has beentermed as Global Transport Telematics:

GPS + GSM + MOBILE SATCOM + INTERNET = GTTS

The Transport Telematics means the large scale integration & implementation oftelecommunication & informatics technology in the transport industry in a way whichpenetrates all areas of modes of transport, the vehicle, the infrastructure, the organization &management of transport & the interfaces between all the above mentioned elements as well as


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between these elements & the transport users & society on the whole. This will integrate man,cars, trucks, buses and roads to achieve increased travel safety, a better environment, a moreefficient and reliable transport system and a higher exploitation of existing infrastructure. Thiswill help all over the world in the immitent increased inter-regional trade as a result of theglobalization of the economy, the lowering of traffic barriers and the restructuring of the

manufacturing industry. This can help in addressing & managing the congestion &environmental problem which are of great concern with regard to economic development ingeneral.

In an European study, economic losses, through traffic delays are estimated to be 150 billionECU annually. In India no such study is done. Some politician or a bureaucrate will belch outsome number of several crores depending upon the numeric figure which comes to his mindand that instant. Besides the delay roads are considered as death machines. The accidentscauses losses to life and property.

Transport Telematics can be seen as an important contributor to solve these problems andeven considered as a potential low cost solution to transport problems.

The implementation of the Transport Telematics will ask for:

GTTS compatible vehicle construction & design

Improved telecom infrastructure which will have WILL, GSM & Space as a part of it.

Effective transport organization & management technologies

The various technologies which need to be developed or adapted for the GTTS are:

Radio channels

Telephones

Computers

Screen displays & printers

Digital road maps

GPS receivers

VSAT & GSM systems

Vehicle based interrogating Transponders

Smart cards

Bar code readers

Electronic & RF Tags

Various sensors to monitor the vehicle performance

A small databus to integrate various components of the vehicle to the interrogatingtransponders.

3.0 INFRASTRUCTURE EQUIPMENT

Equipments to monitor road and traffic conditions, receive & send information to vehicle aswell as traffic information centre and control vehicle safety and weight. A communicationcable along the road, beacon by the side of the road, variable message signs and sensors in the


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road surface are the main instruments. Long distance communication is transmitted by thecable, short distance communication to passing vehicles is transmitted by wireless.

A beacon is an information communication device which enables the instantaneoustransmission of the exact location and a large volume of data to vehicle passing by. Beacons and

sensors are used for road condition monitoring (traffic density, pollution, weather, accidents)and issuing of warnings, others for automatic toll collection, it checks whether a vehicle haspassed between interchanging, calculate the toll & automatically deduct the amount from thedrivers smart card. Weigh-in-motion & speed checks can also be done with drivers knowledge.

4.0 COMMUNICATION CHANNELS

While the information interaction between all infrastructure subsystems can be by cable butwith the vehicles it will be by both short-range vehicle to roadside & wide area wireless. Longdistance communication with moving vehicles can take place by (1) satellites (2) vehicle-roadside information exchange (3) Mobile Telephone (GSM).

Europe has chosen a separate Radio Data System Traffic Message Channel (RDS-TMC) whichbroadcasts coded traffic messages to in-vehicle receivers in the drivers chosen language. Thegeneral telecommunication system EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) is to a high degree usedfor electronic transmission between customers and shippers/forwarders. Such a system will bequite suitable for INDIA. All the information can be put on the Internet for the operators andother users to see. Satellite communication plays a decisive role in transport telematics for twoway communication as well as in providing accurate position information for the individualvehicle. The EUTELTRAC system of Europe consisting of two satellites, OmniTrack of USA &INMARSAT-C Global Positioning System consisting of FOUR Satellites does this job. Thesatellites communicate via terrestrial stations, linked together by the so-called X.25 network.The same can be done by Internet.

With satellite communication a message can be sent from the home base to the vehicle or viceversa. Dispatchers can also obtain the position of a vehicle using the INMARSAT system. Bysending a form of coded message the computer in the vehicle automatically reports the positionof the truck, without requiring any action by the driver. This position message make use of theGPS. The EUTEL TRACK system provides a position accuracy within 80 meter in 95% of thecase. Smart card can be a low cost solution to recording information about trips & loads andtoll tax payments which are not needed in real time.

Near valleys, tunnels & shadow regions Roadside-to-Vehicle Communication Posts can beused while these posts can directly communicate with satellites using VSATs and then to

the base stations.

5.0 TRAFFIC INFORMATION & MANAGEMENT

All the data collected from vehicles, the infrastructure and other source, (parking facilities,public data base etc) are collected for traffic analysis and management at the traffic informationcentre. After centralized processing, this information is transmitted to drivers in real time so asto assist them in safe driving. The messages can include information as traffic congestion, road


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maintenance work. Lane closures, accidents, route guidance, parking conditions and travellingtime.

The integration of all the above systems creates a comprehensive traffic management system.For eg: when digital road maps in the vehicle are combined with traffic reports from Radio Data

System Traffic Message channel (RDS-TMC) the information can be converted into routerecommendations. Given the location of truck, provided by GPS and a destination, thecomputer selects the fastest route, considering preferences such as avoiding traffic facilities,height/weight restrictions & restrictions on hazardous goods transportation.

Such an integrated system is shown in Figs. 8 & 9. The pictorial view shows anamalgamation of all the above systems. The vehicles have an interrogating transponderswhich can be interrogated by the RoadSide Beacons, the toll gate where toll tax is collectedautomatically using the vehicle based transponder & smart card. Defaulters can be quicklyphotographed using the video cameras. The system uses terrestrial cable, wireless as well asspace based mobile, VSAT & GPS systems. The system shown is a typical example of GTTS.All the information, messages and data collected can be put on Internet for proper

dissemination.


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6.0 USE OF GTTS FOR RAILWAYS

GPS can be used for collision avoidance and GPS based guiding can be utilized for railway tracklaying and route planning. Typical concept of GPS based collision avoidance and Positive TrainSeperation (PTS) systems are shown in Figs. 10 & 11.

Such systems have been successfully tried in USA and Europe. A system similar to GTTS forroads can be used even for railways in tracking the bogies, engines & trains in real time for aproper utilization & resources management. Here each bogie and train can fitted with a GPSReceiver, interrogating transponder and an RF Tag.

Fig. 10. PTS for prevention of collision for Railways


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7.0 SPACE TECHNOLOGY FOR WATER TRANSPORT SYSTEM

GPS & Mobile Communication Terminals (like INMARSAT-C Terminal or MSS Terminal ofINSAT system) can play a major role for water transport management. Using satellite based

remote sensing one can find the deep river & sea routes and identify sedimentations or hiddenrocks. The position can be determined using GPS and INMARSAT-C terminal while searchand rescue can be attempted using SARSAT, COSPAR & INSAT Search & Rescue systems. TheGTTS can be modified to take care of water transport system.

8.0 INDIAN SCENARIO

As far as space technology is concerned India does have a operational spacecraft basedcommunication and remote sensing system which can fulfil all the space basedtelecommunication & remote sensing requirements. IRS series of spacecraft can provide 1 to

2.5 Meter resolution imagery. CARTOSAT-2 spacecraft will give better than 1 meterresolution imagery. All these can be used for:

Geodetic Study

Route planning

Town planning

River course change study

Floods

Glacier study

Forestry study

These can also provide all the data needed for road, railway track planning, alignment andshortest route identification

INSAT series of spacecraft can provide;

VSAT communication links

INSAT MSS - `A terminal can provide the short messaging service

MSS terminal coupled with GPS receiver can give accurate velocity and location ofvehicles & railways and can provide services similar to INMARSAT-C or EuropeanEUTELTRAC systems.

The Meteorological component gives information about weather

The broadcasting component can help in information broadcasting and providingservices similar to European RDS-TMC

9.0 WHAT THE TRANSPORT TELEMATICS CAN DO for India?

Transport Telematics with its ground and space components can provide:

a) An efficient transport system with


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Fewer entry driven kilometers

Fewer detour kilometers

More cost effective driving

Lower communication cost

Less planning & turnover time

b) Travel safety due to:

Congestion management

Traffic control

Onboard sensors monitoring driver alertness & vehicle

Functioning & shift in cargo

Fewer accidents

High degree of compliance with the speed limits

This will also help in reduced emissions and better environment

10.0 PROBLEMS ONE MAY FACE IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF SUCH A SYSTEM

The main obstacles to a large scale deployment of Transport Management System in India maycome from:

Economics

Lack of Governmental & Political will

Lack of institutional & regulatory frame work

Lack of availability of cheap & standard equipment Corruption in public, government & commercial sectors.

The system in concept is doable and can be a significant addition to the countrys infrastructure.

11.0 SYSTEMS AVAILABLE ELSEWHERE

USA, Mexico & Canada depend on Omnitrack system along with the ground based systemsEuropes Euteltrack, RDS-TMC, ERTRICO, Advance transport Telematics (ATT), DRIVE-I,DRIVE-II & PROMETHEUS are the systems which are being put into service for a better SurfaceTransportation Management. All of them working towards implementation of GTTS & its use

for safer, quicker & efficient transport management.

12.0 CONCLUSION

Space Technology can play very important role in surface transport management system ofIndia. India does have all the components available. Only there is a need to integrate all ofthem to put in to use.


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ABBREVIATIONS:GPS Global Positioning SystemINSAT Indian National Satellite SystemGEO Geo Stationary Orbit

GSM Global System for Mobile CommunicationDRIVE Dedicated Road Infrastructure for Vehicle Safety in EuropeS/A Selective AvailabilityVSAT Very Small Aperture TerminalsLEO Low Earth OrbitMEO Middle Earth OrbitIRS Indian Remote Sensing SatelliteMSS Mobile Satellite ServiceRx ReceiverTxp TransponderGTTS Global Transport Telematics SystemWILL Wireless in Local LoopRDS-TMC Radio Data Systems Traffic Message Channel

Sources:

1.Satellite Based Mobile Communications A PerspectiveS Pal, IETE Technical Review, Vol 16, No.3&4, May-Aug 1999 pp 349-361

2. Impact Assessment of 1998Brahmaputra Floods Some case studies on Sand Intrusion, Bank Erosion & Damage toKaziranga National ParkK V Venkatachary, DMS-Office, ISRO-HQ, Bangalore 94

3. Study of Brahmputra Bank Erosion (1990 1998)

(Based on Multi-temporal Satellite Data)DMS Task Force TeamDMS Office, ISRO-HQBangalore 560 094

4. IRS & INSAT Systems Reports5. Towards an Intelligent Transport System. Proceedings of the First World Congress on

Application of Transport Telematics & Intelligent Vehicle-Highway Systems, Paris - 19946. Traffic Management on the Trans-European Road Network by the EC-Directorate General for

Transport, Brussels 19947. Report on EC-Integrated Inter-Urban Traffic Management

space technology for surface transport management

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