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91.1 Project Objectives The objectives of this project were to (1) develop a list of near-term (less than 5 years) and longer-term (5â15 years) technologies that are candidates for use in enhancing the safety and security of Hazmat transportation, as applied by shippers, carriers, emergency responders, or government regulatory and enforcement agencies; (2) identify emerging technologies that hold the greatest promise (in terms of effectiveness) of being introduced during these near- and longer-term spans; and (3) identify potential impediments to and opportunities for their development, deployment, and maintenance (e.g., tech- nical, economic, legal, and institutional). The remaining organization of this report includes the following: ⢠Chapter 2: Research Approach (All Tasks) and Preliminary Findings (Tasks 1 through 3) ⢠Chapter 3: Findings and Applications (from executing the Task 4 work plan) ⢠Chapter 4: Conclusions and Recommendations NOTE: The findings and applications for Tasks 1 through 3 are provided in Chapter 2. These findings include the selection and general characterization of the preliminary most prom- ising emerging technologies, which sets the stage for the final research. It was considered necessary to provide these find- ings before Chapter 3 to most effectively show the logical pro- gression of the research as it built on the findings. However, in Chapter 2, Task 4 is presented in terms of planned activities. Thus, the findings and applications discussed in Chapter 3 focus on results obtained from executing the Task 4 work plan, which defines Task 6 activity. (NOTE: Task 5 is sub- mission of the interim report, capturing the activities and results of Tasks 1 through 4, and Task 7 is the final report documenting the entire research effort.) 1.2 Problem Statement and Discussion A big challenge in the planning and conduct of this project was to identify a research methodology that recognized and captured the needs of the various transportation modes, and then in the wide universe of technologies, finding the emerging ones that will best meet those needs. An additional challenge was the reality that by definition, these technolo- gies would not already be in the marketplace. Rather, they would be found in the research departments of companies both big and small, government laboratories, universities, and consortia. Some would not be far along; for the emerging technologies farthest out on the 15-year development horizon, there would not be nearly as much concrete information to go on. Once the most promising emerging technologies were identified, finding their developers, collecting enough perti- nent information from them, and making judgments about the anticipated path to the marketplace for each of the tech- nology areas were themselves challenges that had to be met. C H A P T E R 1 Background
