Initiating the Systems Engineering Process for Rural Connected Vehicle Corridors, Volume 1: Research Overview (2021)

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7   e project team used a systems engineering approach to develop model ConOps and model SyRS documents (NCHRP Research Report 978: Volumes 2 and 3, respectively), building on user needs that can be traced through concept development to system-level requirements. ese model documents guide agencies responsible for rural corridors as they begin to assess their needs, opera- tional concepts, scenarios, and requirements for connected vehicle technology deployment. e project team’s approach for executing this work and task relationship is shown in Figure 4. e team engaged rural corridor stakeholders to understand their needs and to develop model ConOps and SyRS that represent the core common characteristics of rural connected vehicle corridors. ese model documents serve as starting points for agencies operating and main- taining rural corridors that wish to implement connected vehicle deployments. e model docu- ments can be tailored to specic needs and environments. Project management was performed under Task 1 for the duration of the project. Phase 1 consisted of Tasks 2 and 3. Before starting Phase 2 (Tasks 4 and 5), the Principal Investigator and two project subject matter experts participated in the in-person NCHRP Project 08-120 panel meeting aer which the panel approved the team to begin Phase 2. In Task 2, outreach planning included conducting a literature review and identifying a list of preliminary stake- holders. e ndings were documented in Interim Report 1 and a presentation was given to the panel members. In Task 3, a stakeholder engagement and needs assessment was conducted by surveying and interviewing the identied stakeholders. e ndings from the stakeholder engagement were documented in Interim Report 2 and presented to project stakeholders in a validation webinar. e results of Tasks 2 and 3 (Phase 1) were presented to the project panel at an in-person meeting in January 2020. Tasks 2 and 3 provided input to Task 4, where the project team developed the model ConOps and model SyRS documents; these model documents presented information representative of core, common characteristics of rural connected vehicle corridors shared by the project stakeholders. In Task 5, the project team developed nal deliver- ables, including this report, prioritized ndings, presentations, and a dra TR News article. 2.1 Systems Engineering Approach e project team followed a systems engineering approach in the development of the model documents. In general, systems engineering is an interdisciplinary method and means to enable the realization of a successful system that focuses on the entire system lifecycle (see Figure 5). e project team reviewed a series of documents that describe principles that apply to systems engineering and connected vehicle projects—see the following list for a key set: • FHWA Oce of Operations’ Systems Engineering for Intelligent Transportation Systems: An Introduction for Transportation Professionals (2). C H A P T E R   2 Research Approach

8 Initiating the Systems Engineering Process for Rural Connected Vehicle Corridors (Source: Noblis 2020.) Figure 4. The project team’s project execution approach and task relationship. (Source: FHWA Systems Engineering for Intelligent Transportation Systems, January 2007.) Figure 5. Systems engineering “Vee” diagram.

Research Approach 9   • FHWA Oce of Operations’ Regional Concept for Transportation Operations: e Blueprint for Action—A Primer (3). • FHWA Oce of Operations’ e Regional Concept for Transportation Operations: A Practi- tioner’s Guide (4). • FHWA Oce of Operations’ Advancing Transportation Systems Management and Opera- tions through Scenario Planning (5). A complete list can be found in the model documents. Readers of the model documents are encouraged to review these materials and to work with the regional TSMO planners and ITS/ connected vehicle engineers to advance their projects. e systems engineering approach seeks to identify customer needs and required functionality early in the development stage. Requirements are documented followed by design synthesis and system validation that consider the complete problem: operations, cost and schedule, perfor- mance, training and support, test, manufacturing, and disposal. As such, the project team solic- ited input from a subset of rural stakeholders across the country before developing the model ConOps. An ideal situation would have been regular communication with stakeholders during the development of the model ConOps and model SyRS; however, due to resource constraints, the team instead hosted a webinar with project stakeholders aer the development of dra model ConOps and SyRS to review and nalize the documents. e webinar was an opportunity to conrm that the nal products addressed the project stakeholders’ feedback. e literature review and stakeholder engagement eorts are explained in more detail in Sections 2.2 and 2.3, respectively. 2.2 Literature Review A signicant amount of literature exists related to research studies, demonstrations, and deploy- ments applicable to the integration of connected vehicles in rural corridors. For this review, the project team referenced the Rural ITS Toolkit (https://ruralsafetycenter.org/resources/rural-its- toolkit/), publications available publicly from U.S. DOT’s connected vehicle research and FHWA programs (e.g., Road Weather Management and Integrated Corridor Management), and other publicly available resources. e project team also leveraged the Noblis-developed Connected Vehicle Deployment Resource Matrix that was produced in support of the U.S. DOT’s Connected Vehicle Deployment Technical Assistance program. e matrix includes over 400 documents and tools, ranging from fact sheets to videos, to planning documents, to systems engineering documents, to open source connected vehicle soware tools that would be helpful to the early deployer community. e literature was organized by seven topic areas or initial themes representative of key rural ITS/operations areas. ese areas are loosely inuenced by categories identied from the National Center for Rural Road Safety Toolkit, National Rural ITS Conference, Tribal Transportation Program, and the current rural connected vehicle deployers. A summary of each topic area is provided as follows: Road Weather Management. Connected vehicle technologies oer the poten- tial to improve safety by reducing crash risk due to inclement weather; increase awareness among agencies and users of the real-time weather conditions; and restore safer driving conditions more quickly and eectively during weather events. is area investigates using connected vehicle technologies to collect and disseminate weather and road condition data with a focus on unique rural situations (fog, wind, ice, snow, dust, etc.). Connected vehicle technologies allow agencies to collect weather- related probe data, signicantly increasing the number of environmental sensor data points

10 Initiating the Systems Engineering Process for Rural Connected Vehicle Corridors from which to draw weather information. ese increased data sets can signicantly improve operational analyses and the quality of decision support and information dissemination. Addi- tionally, rural agencies will have the ability to directly communicate with vehicle occupants to provide weather-related trac information and warnings to improve safety and mobility. Trac Conditions and Work Zones. Connected vehicle technologies oer opportunities for rural agencies to better collect and disseminate trac conditions— including work zone information. is area focuses on unique challenges in rural areas, including overcoming challenges in long distances between cities or services as well as the signicant rerouting distances and fewer detour options for work zones. Connected vehicle technologies provide the opportunity for rural agencies to have greater access to probe data sets that can enhance their operational capabilities. ese technologies also provide rural agencies with greater access to disseminate traveler information on trac conditions and work zones. Incident and Emergency Management and Response. Connected vehicle technologies oer the potential to improve incident and emergency management and response. With a combination of connected vehicle technologies, rural agen- cies will be able to collect an enhanced set of incident data to assist with opera- tional strategies. ese applications will allow users (e.g., driver, non-driver, or vehicle system) to initiate requests for emergency assistance and enable emergency management systems to locate the user, gather information about the incident, and determine the appropriate response. is area focuses on incident and emergency response needs in rural areas that may lack communication, have long response times, dicult detours, and challenges in collecting incident data. Rural Mobility. Connected vehicle technologies oer the potential to address mobility challenges on both arterials and freeways in rural areas. On arterials, connected vehicle technologies allow agencies to collect more robust probe data sets to enable greater accuracy in signal control operations, including more adaptive/responsive trac signal systems. Additionally, these technologies can enable new methods for transit signal priority and emergency vehicle preemption systems. On freeways, connected vehicle technologies can be used to improve roadway throughput and reduce crashes by using frequently collected and rapidly disseminated data drawn from connected vehicles, travelers, and infrastructure. For example, speed harmonization can be used to dynamically adjust and coordinate maximum appropriate vehicle speed in response to downstream congestion, incidents, and weather or road conditions to maximize trac throughput and reduce crashes. Finally, connected vehicle applications can be used to integrate passenger connection protection; dynamic scheduling, dispatching, and routing of transit vehicles; and dynamic ridesharing into a single system that benets both travelers and operators. Rural Safety. Safety is a major challenge on rural corridors that have many motor vehicle fatalities with a higher frequency of accidents than found in urban areas. Rural corridors can have higher posted speed limits with a large variance in travel speeds and frequent passing. ese areas also have unique roadway geome- tries. Vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) safety includes the wireless exchange of critical safety and operational data between vehicles and highway infrastructure, intended primarily to avoid motor vehicle crashes. Examples of V2I safety applications relevant to rural areas include red-light violation warning (RLVW) applications at isolated intersections with high speeds; stop sign gap assist (SSGA) applications for vehicles crossing high-speed roadways with limited visibility; curve speed warning (CSW) applications to reduce roadway departures due to excessive speed in curves; stop sign violation warning (SSVW) applications intersections with limited visi- bility approaches; oversize vehicle warning (OVW) applications; and reduced speed zone warning

Research Approach 11   (RSZW) applications in areas such as work zones. In addition, connected pedestrian applica- tions oer the potential to enhance the safety of pedestrians at signalized intersections. Finally, Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) safety applications are expected to provide signicant benets in rural areas. Freight. Rural congestion can have a signicant impact on freight movement, manufacturing processes, competitiveness, and productivity. e needs for rural freight corridors include parking, specic traveler information, and road condi- tions, such as weather, alternate routes/diversions, height/weight restrictions, and weigh-in-motion (WIM)/e-Permitting. Connected vehicle technology has the potential to improve freight operation safety, eciency, and mobility along these corridors. Connected vehicle applications can provide truck drivers with timely, accurate information combined with connected vehicle technologies that improve communication and coordination with state/local DOT Transportation Management Centers (TMCs) and eet operation centers. Crosscutting. For any connected vehicle deployment—rural or urban—to be successful, the underlying enabling technologies and critical crosscutting elements and their associated successful practices should be taken into consideration. is topic area is not intended as a tutorial or an all-encompassing compilation of crosscutting topics; its purpose is to identify key areas that pertain to integrating connected vehicles into rural corridors that are consistent with existing deployment best prac- tices. Since the deployment of connected vehicle technology involves interaction with other activities in a cooperative fashion, discussion of other related eorts is presented briey to help further a common understanding. 2.3 Stakeholder Engagement Outreach to deploying agencies and other rural stakeholders is crucial for assessing the needs and opportunities derived from the integration of rural connected vehicles. For this research, stakeholder engagement and needs assessment activities focused on answering the following questions: • Who: Who are the stakeholders involved with the system? • What: What are the elements and the high-level capabilities of the system? • Where: What is the geographic and physical extent of the system? • When: What is the sequence of activities that will be performed? • Why: What is the problem or opportunity addressed by the system? • How: How will the system be developed, operated, and maintained? To gather input eectively and eciently from rural stakeholders and deploying agencies, the project team developed surveys and interviews around these seven topic areas and then explored additional topics as indicated by stakeholders. Targeted stakeholders include all state agencies listed in the AASHTO Committee on Transportation System Operations (CTSO), county- and city-level agencies from American Public Works Association (APWA) Technical Committee and FHWA Local Technical Assistance Program (LTAP), tribal communities from U.S. DOT Tribal Communities and Tribal Technical Assistance Program (TTAP), and connected vehicle stake- holders identied by the project panel. e stakeholder engagement eorts focused on three key activities: 1. A survey to help identify transportation agencies’ current capabilities and needs. 2. Interviews for a more in-depth assessment of needs. 3. A webinar to validate ndings.

12 Initiating the Systems Engineering Process for Rural Connected Vehicle Corridors Introductory emails were sent to each of the stakeholder groups, explaining the purpose of this eort and providing the survey link. e email also requested that the survey link be shared with colleagues who should be included in this data collection activity. e survey was also adver- tised through AASHTO and FHWA Division Oces and state DOT ITS sta. is outreach eort yielded 38 responses, covering 27 states, 4 local agencies, and the American Trucking Associa- tion. Ten follow-up interviews were conducted followed by a webinar to validate ndings. e following is a more detailed description of each. 2.3.1 Broader Stakeholder Surveys e survey was developed and hosted on SurveyMonkey, an online survey platform, to collect feedback from stakeholders and analyze results. Project panel members provided review and comment on the survey before it was sent to stakeholders. e objectives of the survey were to • Identify the challenges, successes, and lessons experienced in rural corridor operations and connected vehicle deployments; • Gain insights into the problems or challenges in rural corridors that connected vehicles have the potential to address; • Identify the key stakeholders that will play a critical role in deployment and operations of connected vehicles; • Gain a better understanding of existing rural corridor O&M activities and the potential gaps or needs of key stakeholders; and • Identify the connected vehicle applications that have the most potential to address rural corridor challenges. e survey included 30 questions—multiple open-ended and numerical rating scale questions— and asked responders to rate gaps and challenges in six topic areas for deployment of connected vehicles in rural corridors (see Figure 6). e list of questions is provided in Appendix A. 2.3.2 Key Stakeholder Phone Interviews Survey responses were also used to downselect and identify 10 candidates for in-depth inter- views that ranged from 30 to 60 minutes. e purpose of the interviews was to collect in-depth input on needs, challenges, and opportunities of interest to the rural corridor stakeholder commu- nity. e interviewees were asked questions regarding matters not discussed in the survey, such as the following: • Identication of stakeholders that would be involved in deploying, operating, and maintain- ing a connected vehicle system in rural areas; Figure 6. Topic areas for rural deployment of connected vehicles. (Source: Noblis 2020.)

Research Approach 13   • Differences in the operating process of deploying connected vehicles in rural areas versus metropolitan areas; • Potential impact of connected vehicle deployment on their O&M processes and activities; • Expected scale of deployment in the next 5 to 20 years; and • Current and planned engagement with original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). 2.3.3 Webinars The stakeholder engagement entailed conducting two webinars: • Confirmation Webinar. The findings from both the surveys and interviews (conducted as part of Task 3) were documented into a presentation format that was shared with the stake- holders during a 1.5-hour webinar that took place December 17, 2019. The main objective of the webinar was to present, discuss, and validate the gaps and challenges, both by topic area and crosscutting, with the highest rated criticality levels. The findings of all outreach efforts to date were updated based on discussions and interactive feedback during the webinar. • Validation Webinar. The second webinar (part of Task 4) took place August 31, 2020, during which the project team presented the approach used to develop and prioritize user needs, use cases, and system requirements. Participants were asked for their feedback, which was then integrated into the final versions of the model documents.