North American Program Plan

Deployment Plans

Because the underlying technology is based on IEEE 802.11a, and products are available today, it is possible for deployment plans and system design to begin immediately without waiting for the full set of DSRC standards to be completed.

Most systems require years of planning, budgeting, design, development and testing before they are ready to use by the public. With these DSRC standards, all of this can take place now, without delay. The differences between the existing 802.11a products and the final DSRC compliant products will have little significance to probably 95% of any program. The systems can go through the whole development and testing process, and the standards compliant hardware changed over at a later time just before full deployment/system release.

We have created a separate Task Force, the Early Adopter TF, to identify any such programs and to work with these system developers to ensure that their needs are met and that any useful feedback to the standards groups is provided. We are presently identifying several potential "model deployments" that can be used to demonstrate the potential capabilities of the technology as well as providing valuable feedback to the standards organizations about any potential modifications that may be required in the standards.

American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM)

ASTM is the lead organization responsible for developing the 5.9 GHz DSRC standards. The formal designation of the responsible committee is the E17.51 subcommittee. Lee Armstrong is the chair.

The subcommittee has formed an number of task forces to deal with the various activities under way. These are:

	Architecture	The overall DSRC architecture
	Lower Layers	The Physical and Data Link Layers
	Layer Manager	Manages DSRC communications, taking a vertical slice through the OSI layer stack.
	Upper Layers	The LLC and all layers above the Data Link
	Vehicle to Vehicle	Vehicle to vehicle communications, including any ad-hoc network management that may be required
	Security	The full matrix of security needs.
	Early Adopters	Identifying and supporting those wishing to develop systems prior to the completion of the standards

ISO

There are two working groups with ISO TC204 working on DSRC or similar communication standards.

WG15 is the primary group responsible for DSRC, which differs from the present North American program in several key respects, most notably the WG15 definition of DSRC does not include communications over more than 20 to 30 meters and data rates of over 1 mbps. There are two major standards that WG15 is responsible for: the Application Layer (which will not be used for the NA 5.9 GHz standards); and the Resource Manager which will be used directly or indirectly for the NA standards.

WG16 is responsible for medium to long range communications and for in-vehicle Internet access. While WG16 considers many different communications technologies, including cellular phone and infrared, the 5.8/5.9 GHz rf work item very closely matches the NA 5.9 GHz DSRC in almost every respect.

North American Program Plan
(requires updating, reflects mid-2004 status)

The North American DSRC standards development is focused on the new spectrum available at 5.9 GHz. This new spectrum allows the US, Canadian, and Mexican ITS programs to evolve to a new generation of rf communications between vehicles and the roadside, and between vehicles, that enables a whole new class of communications and a new class of applications to support future transportation systems and needs.

Goals & Objectives: The overall goal of the NA DSRC standard program is to develop a set of DSRC standards that will support full interoperability throughout North America while satisfying all of the application requirements. The emphasis is on public safety applications, but many others are considered and allowed. Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) goal from recently published article.

Development Plan: The overall plan represents a coordinated effort by many standards organizations and industry. The lead organization is ASTM.

Summary presentation: DSRC Summary.ppt
Status

STANDARDS DEVELOPMENT

To be fully effective, DSRC systems must be standardized. This is to allow all vehicles to be able to interact with all roadside systems and with other DSRC equipped vehicles that may be encountered.

There are multiple standards development efforts underway around the world. The focus of this web site is the North American standards. However, these standards are being developed with the desire to harmonize as much as possible with other systems throughout the world.

Standards Organizations Many different organizations are cooperating in developing these standards. There is a separate program within each organization contributing to the overall effort. ASTM is the organization providing overall program leadership and management.

Draft Standards These are the current drafts that are available. These represent work in progress and therefor are undergoing rapid changes. The copies available here are the latest releases and subject to change at any time.

Overall North American Plan

The objective of this effort is to develop the necessary standards, supporting documents and industry support required to have fully interoperable DSRC communications systems and applications throughout North America. The Introduction, Goals, & Objectives provides introduction to the overal plan. The program goals include the rationale for the new class of communications, why we are doing the things the way we are.

Program Plan The plan includes the work items under development, the allocation of this work between multiple organizations, and the approach being taken.

Schedule

Spectrum Plan There has been 75 MHz of spectrum allocated within the United States that must be divided into multiple channels. This plan must also be applicable in Canada and Mexico.

DSRC Forum

There needs to be a branding and marketing effort to support the standards program. This is to encourage the widest possible dissemination of information about the technology, what it can do, how to use it, and its availability. The best technology and standards are of no value if the people and organizations that can use them are not even aware of their existance.

This forum would create brand awareness to those who might benefit from the standards.This includes equipment manufacturers, system developers and integrators, as well as the eventual users.

Unfortunately, this DSRC Forum does not yet exist. The major focus has been on the standards development and creating and managing such a forum is outside the scope of what a standards organization can do. Those of us involved in the program are seeking people and organizations that would like to get such a forum organized.

	Windshield Mounting	Defines where and how to mount a DSRC transponder in the windshield. Includes mask area for windshields with metallic coatings.
	Driver Interface	Defines how to manage information to be displayed to the driver so as to minimize overall workload and ensure that adequate safety concerns are met.
	RF Interface	Defines an rf interface between towing and towed vehicles to allow multiple data networks, audio, and video channels to be transferred to/from a trailer.