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Road Pricing

Performing a leading role in the world's largest urban charging technology trials

Client: Transport for London

Context

The use of DSRC 'tag and beacon' technology for motorway and freeway road pricing is well established. Using the same technology in an urban environment presents numerous new challenges resulting from the unfavourable geometry and urban clutter.

Over a period of several years, Transport for London conducted a large-scale trial of urban road charging technologies, as a precursor to the potential introduction of DSRC-based charging.

What we did

integrate played a leading part in the success of the trials programme, addressing a broad mix of technology, policy and procurement issues. Major activities included:

  • developing a trials methodology and associated analysis approach to optimise the value of the trial
  • providing the lead Trials Architect, responsible for overseeing the planning, procurement, installation, operation and analysis of 20 individual DSRC/ANPR charge points
  • designing the in-station equipment used during the trials to provide transaction processing, charge point control, digital video capture and logging of driver records
  • developing and integrating the in-station software, written in C# and using the .NET framework 2.0, and interfacing to SQL Server 2005 running on dual Windows 2003 Servers
  • developing an innovative approach to ground-truthing, involving use of a portfolio of essentially independent methods to determine when vehicles pass charge points; methods employed to establish ground truth included GPS and RFID
  • modelling the performance of DSRC and ANPR sensor subsystems to investigate the impact on performance of traffic obscuration
  • co-ordinating and undertaking other modelling, design and analysis activities to deliver the trials objectives
  • preparing a formal System Requirements Specification for an Urban Charge Point, for use during the procurement phase of the programme
  • contributing to the development of road charging policy by assessing the technical feasibility and likely performance of a wide range of charging policy options
  • analysing the impact of different data quality processes (automated and manual) on back-office operational costs
  • analysing different charge point configurations and their placement on the road to meet practical, aesthetic and legal constraints on the operation of a charging scheme
  • analysing the costs and options for upgrading existing charge sites to use DSRC
  • developing the high level design, system architecture and data schema for a model/prototype back-office facility that covers the key front and back office business processes for tag-based accounts; this is intended to demonstrate how an end-end operational system could work, validate business processes and support the refinement of business and system requirements.

Outcome

As a result of this work integrate offers deep expertise in the application of DSRC tag and beacon technology to road pricing, particularly with respect to the challenges presented by the urban environment.

Our staff are expert in the underlying standards and the limitations these impose, and are thoroughly familiar with the current state of the art within the DSRC supply base.