N° 4 April 2015

This month focus on...


MASSIMO SCHINTU, GENERAL MANAGER OF AISCAT (ITALIAN ASSOCIATION OF HIGHWAYS AND TUNNELS)

According to Aiscat, in 2014 the highway traffic grew up. This was the first time since the crisis beginning. How do you explain this?
The decrease in traffic, since 2008, was one of the most visible effects of the well-known context of crisis and international economic recession that has also affected our country. Difficulties for families and businesses, drop in consumption and decrease in production were the leitmotifs of recent years. And then other elements, such as, for example, the significant changes in the price of oil, and then fuel, which certainly have a weight in the condition the vehicle travel. All this could not but affect the demand for global mobility of goods and people, went back to the levels of the early 2000s.
Despite the persistence of these conditions, already in 2013 there was a slowdown in the downtrend with a stabilization of demand. This slowdown in 2014 became a turnaround, perhaps indicative, but no less significant. With an overall increase of 1%, both light and heavy traffic returned to growth. It's easy to read into this as a positive sign of recovery of production systems and travel - for business or pleasure - of people: many have argued that the worst is over and that we're nearing the end of the crisis and one of the most representative indicators of socio-economic conditions of a country is its traffic.

An important data is the reduction of accidents. How much did the investments in technologies from highways managers affected this trend?
So much has been done by the motorway segment for safety and the achievements along the Italian toll network are the most concrete and tangible proof. We talk about a system, unique in Italy, which has not only achieved (one year in advance) the target set by the European Commission, to half the number of victims of road accidents in the decade from 2001 to 2010, but it has even exceeded with a steady and significant progress in all indicators in claims.
This reduction trend gradually consolidate, so that 2014 ended with a further reduction of 9% over the previous year and the lowest level of mortality ever detected on the highway.
Certainly the development of ITS and their precise application have contributed substantially to the improvement of mobility and security and the achievement of these results. However, I think it is difficult to quantify the exact impact: keep in mind that we are talking about a system which annually spends on average about 100,000 Euro / km for maintenance and for the continuous development of the standards of service.
It cannot be forgotten the commitment to research and innovation carried out by various companies that designed and developed advanced systems at international level - for example, for to contrast inappropriate driving behavior and potentially dangerous - representing excellence in the field of road safety.

Is it possible to quantify the impact in terms of efficiency and safety of technological systems already in use on highways, starting from the Telepass?
ITS are an essential tool to help improve the overall performance of road transport, especially in a particular sector such as motorways under concession, where the manager has to face every day both ordinary and exceptional situations, in which many variables play a role such as infrastructure and weather conditions, with the clear objective to ensure the highest standards of efficiency.
The search for new information and technological applications and better performing, as well as their increasing and "targeted", use have contributed to the indisputable achievement of higher levels of service, safety and quality for the benefit of travelers and to the implementation of sustainable mobility policies.
With numbers is partially possible to describe the commitment of the industry: we speak of a complex that includes, among others, 36 radio rooms operating h24; over 5,900 cameras and 7,300 devices for SOS calls Emergency; 2750 variable message signs and more than 1,150 weather stations and detectors for ice and fog, etc. We should not forget the commitment in terms of modernization of the systems of collection, with more than 1,800 automatic doors and 2,400 Telepass, out of a total of about 4,250 doors: considering that there are currently about 8.5 million Telepass devices, now less than a fifth of transactions takes place with non-automatic mode, with obvious benefits in terms of fluidity of traffic and pollution reduction.
And finally - an essential element – the highest attention to information users. New technologies and new communication tools are making information on the state of the traffic and road more and more accessible. By now it has become normal practice for motorists to use, both before and during the trip, all the various channels made available by the concessionaire companies (websites, InfoPoint, app, Call Center and dedicated numbers, national and local radio, etc.). Such an increased knowledge has definitely positive effects on the efficiency of the system.

Some of these systems are now implemented in urban contexts. Are there any news?
There is no doubt that the motorway operators have acquired over the years considerable expertise in the field of ITS: the highway, in fact, can be considered always the testing of innovative technologies and management techniques and the daily results, in terms of conditions accident, are a confirmation.
The concessionaires have always distinguished by the ability to innovate and develop systems with high added value, whether in technology or procedural. But we have always been convinced that this wealth of knowledge and expertise should not be confined exclusively in the motorway sector, but, although born in a context that is so specific, it could be exported, suitably modified and adapted, taking into account the different types of applications and resources available, so as to provide a qualitative increase - and of security - for all users, regardless of the type of road traveled.
In this sense, let’s think about the logical and natural integration that there has been over the last years in those urban contexts characterized by the presence of motorway sections, especially in terms of traffic information.
More and more we talk about smart cities. We are used to see in urban contexts cameras, variable message signs indicating the travel time, or systems to control driver behavior. We have also extended the use of the Telepass to pay parking. But, in my opinion, is infomobility in its various manifestations (V2V, V2I, for users, for logistics, for co-modality, etc.), to get much of the attention of operators, also considering the European Community inputs.

Do you think that the technological development is homogeneous between the various operators? Do you think that an harmonisation at national is important for the growth of the industry? This role could be explained with the implementation of the National Plan of ITS?
I think those traveling along the 5900 km of the national motorway network toll has not the perception of being in a system currently operated by 27 different concessionaires. There’s a commitment of all that allows to overcome the fragmentation between the various concessions and ensure high interoperability and standards in the operation between the different routes, operating as a single network. An interoperability that is not limited to the revenue collection of the toll system but also about the safety systems and flow management.
Quite different, in my view, is the situation if we enlarge the view to other reality. There are systems more "mature" and sector in a phase of implementation more advanced than others. Also, there is a certain fragmentation of projects and a partial and uneven spread of ITS in our country. But this obviously depends on territorial, infrastructural, planning differences, and, above all, depends on the resources available. Resources - particularly public - objectively limited and not adequate.
As for the growth of the industry, there objectives and measures established at Community level in Directive 2010/40 / EU and in related the acts to which Italy should refer to define the lines of action.

Who is Massimi Schintu. Civil Engineer, General Manager of Aiscat since 1991, specifically focusing on road design, transportation planning, traffic studies, systems of licensing, road safety, pricing of public services utility, preparation of business plans, strategic logistics and intermodality. He is member of the main technical and scientific committees as well as national and international organizations in the field of road transport, the freight management, of 'intermodality and road safety. On these issues he took part to Ministerial table. He is President of Aiscat Services,a society controlled by Aiscat to offer specific services o transport.

Sent to 5.484 Members

Focus on…

Rossella Panero reconfirmed as President of TTS Italia
The TTS Italia Ordinary Assembly of 29 April 2015 elected a new Board of Directors of the Association, who will serve for the next three years.
The Assembly has unanimously reappointed as President, Rossella Panero, Director of 5T.
As Vice-Presidents were elected Diego Galletta, Autostrade Tech, in representation of the founding members, and Carlo Maria Medaglia, Agency for Mobility of Rome.
As councilors, the Assembly appointed Emilio Cera, Atac, Stefano Mellina, Famas System, Roberto Arditi, Satap, Adriano Scardellato, Targa Infomobility and Fernando Capozzi, Viasat Group.
"I am extremely happy for this confirmation to the prestigious role of President of TTS Italia - said the President Panero after her confirmation - that rewards the work carried out in the past three years together with the outgoing Board of Directors which I would like to thank for the active and enthusiastic collaboration that has characterized my first term. The priority and the biggest challenge for the next three years is certainly the implementation of the ITS National Plan also through the enlargement of the Platform of Local Authorities of TTS Italia and the active involvement of the public administration in our Association. TTS Italia represents a highly innovative sector and therefore a key role will be also covered by the programs of research and development both a national and European level. I am convinced that our Association has the potential to achieve these targets in collaboration with other associations of the world of transport with which TTS Italia has already established strong relationships.”

News of the month from TTS Italia partners

Aesys wins tender in Caltagirone
Aesys, TTS Italia ordinary member, has won the tender issued by the City of Caltagirone for the supply and installation of geographic information system WEB-GIs, the wireless info point with 5 transmission points, 6 information systems, 6 electronic panels for variable information within the historic center.
Source: TTS Italia

All day long Think Tank: Exploiting the potential of E-GNSS in non-EU countries for road regulated applications (Elgazala Innovation Days - EID’15 parallel event) - 19 May 2015, Okba conference room - Elgazala Technopark business centre
On 19 May, Tunisia will host an international event on applications using EGNOS (European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service) and Galileo, and their introduction in non-European countries.
EGNOS, which is already operational since 2009, and Galileo, today under deployment, constitute the European Global Navigation Satellite System (E-GNSS). As stated in the EU GNSS Regulation 1285 approved in 2013, E-GNSS is aimed to provide benefits not only to European countries. Therefore, the European Union has opened lines of cooperation with non-European countries, and particularly with the neighbouring regions in North Africa and the Middle East, with the objective to assist their governments and private industries in utilising and exploiting EGNOS services that extend across the Mediterranean.
As part of the MEDUSA (MEDiterranean follow-Up for EGNOS Adoption) project, the potential of these services are being explored via technical assistance actions, aimed at awareness-rising, capacity building, technological transfer, and regional cooperation. MEDUSA is a project funded by the European Commission, under the Euromed GNSS II programme, and coordinated by Telespazio (an Italian Finmeccanica-Thales company), member of TTS Italia. MEDUSA aims to introduce the use of E-GNSS in non-European countries around the Mediterranean (the so-called Euromed region which countries are: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Palestine, Syria, Tunisia). In the frame of its technical assistance programme, MEDUSA operates a regional cooperation structure called GEMCO (Galileo EuroMed Cooperation Office). Located in Tunis, GEMCO acts as a catalyser of initiatives related to E-GNSS in the Euromed region, and contributes to MEDUSA.
This event is conceived as a one full day “Think Tank”, focused on EGNOS/Galileo applications in the road and Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) domains.
Different stakeholders’ perspectives (from policy-makers, users, technology and commercial players, experts) will be presented. Interactive sessions are foreseen, for sharing experiences also with other regional initiatives that can leverage from lessons learnt in MEDUSA. Panellists from the European Union and from Ministries of Transport, as well as international speakers from the business and research sectors will provide information about the state of the art, new developments and promising applications. Networking among participants will be facilitated (e.g. coloured badges according to categories will be used).
Organized by MEDUSA with the support of GEMCO, the event will be held in parallel with Elgazala Innovation Days 2015 (EID’15, http://eid.tn), purposely to exploit the convergence between ICT (Information and Communication Technologies), wireless communication and GNSS, and the potential of their integration. EID’15 is a three-day conference/exhibition taking place in Tunis, at the Elgazala Technopark, from 17 to 20 May 2015. This year edition is themed “Energizing Global Innovation”, and it includes a core conference, parallel workshops and an expo focused on the role of ICT in the innovation of services and applications.
Contacts and links
For further information about MEDUSA and the “All day long Think Tank”, contact GEMCO @ gemco.medusa@outlook.com.
For further information on MEDUSA and GEMCO, visit here.
Further information on E-GNSS is @ http://www.gsa.europa.eu/egnos/what-egnos and @ EGNOS portal http://www.egnos-portal.eu/.
The agenda of the event and the registration form are available here.
Source: Telespazio

Esri Italia: Conference 2015
Esri Italia, TTS Italia ordinary member, in collaboration with Sistemi di Logistica, organised the event "The politics of mobility in a global system" aimed at studying transport policies "married" with the reading of the territory.
The event was held in Rome on April 16, and during the debate, case studies have been taken into consideration, focusing on the analysis of material and immaterial infrastructure network especially related to the port.
Source: Esri Italia

Florence chooses Kiunsys for the smart mobility
Florence will revolutionize all aspects of management and control of urban mobility, parking lots and the relevant permits, centralizing all operational activities on an ecosystem perfectly integrated, based on INES Cloud. The solution, developed by Kiunsys, ordinary member of TTS Italia, allows to manage and control through a single and fully centralized platform, all aspects of mobility of a metropolitan area of over 1 million inhabitants. The digitization of the mobility of Florence, in line with the guidelines and objectives of the European Union and of the Italian Republic on eGovernment, will ensure a more transparent management and a significant increase in revenues.
The efficiency of the services offered and control activities has already enabled more than 25 cities to achieve important results in terms of return on investment, increased revenues, and reduction of traffic. With more than 100 different reports, INES Cloud allows to monitor in real time all aspects of mobility including employment of individual parking stalls, traffic flows and revenues. The tools for the analysis of the historical data allow to collect statistical data to plan and manage mobility infrastructure more efficiently.
Source: Kiunsys

Honorary Doctorate awarded in France to Prof. Alberto Broggi
Prof. Alberto Broggi, full professor with the Department of Information Engineering of the University of Parma, TTS Italia ordinary member, and CEO of VisLab srl, received the title of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Honoris Causa during an important ceremony on April 3, 2015 at INSA (Institut National des Sciences Appliquées) in Rouen, France. The Doctorate Honoris Causa is awarded by an institution of higher education to researchers who have distinguished themselves during their career. For the uniqueness of the academic and research topics related to those in which is involved the famous French research institute, INSA has decided to award this honor to Prof. Broggi. Prof. Broggi’s long and thorough research, mainly focused on the application of computer vision in the field of intelligent vehicles, profoundly influenced the field of vehicular robotics worldwide and helped to define a number of milestones in autonomous driving internationally recognized by the scientific community.
Some basic techniques for the interpretation of the vehicle surrounding environment have been developed and demonstrated in real cases: the first test in the world (2000 km on Italian motorways) in semi-automatic mode with off-the-shelf and low cost components in 1998, the successful participation in the DARPA Challenges together with the most renowned research groups in the world, the first ever test of intercontinental autonomous driving (from Parma, Italy, to Shanghai, China, from July to October 2010), and finally the first test of autonomous driving in open traffic in urban environment in July 2013 with nobody in the driver seat.
Since 1998 Prof. Broggi has been ‘visiting professor' for many times at INSA in Rouen, where he participated in the research as advisor and lecturer. The title of PhD Honoris Causa, conferred by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, rewards and highlights the work, career, and emphasizes the personal involvement of Prof. Broggi in applied research conducted together with the LITIS laboratory (www.litislab.eu) at INSA in Rouen. Held as part of INSA 30th anniversary celebrations with the Regional Council for Higher Education Mr. Yves Léonard and the Mayor of Rouen Mr. Yvon Robert participation, the doctorates conferment ceremony has been one of its main events.
Source: VisLab

Indra develops for Kuwait City an innovative traffic monitoring system for €16.3 Million
The Kuwait Municipality has awarded Indra, TTS Italia ordinary member and the leading consulting and technology firm in Spain and one of the key players in Europe and Latin America, a contract for €16.3 million to implement an innovative traffic monitoring system in Kuwait City that will allow for gathering, processing, analyzing and presenting data to facilitate mobility management in the Kuwaiti capital. This contract strengthen Indra's position in the Middle East and is a new step forward for Indra in Kuwait, a country which plans to invest $1 billion in its Infrastructure Development Plan with projects involving roads, ports, the railway which will connect with other countries of the Persian Gulf, and the Kuwaiti metro. Indra has already equipped the Kuwait City Airport with its air traffic management technology. The new project for the capital consists of equipping and supplying the technology necessary for the traffic management center, installing over 200 permanent traffic sensors, and gathering and integrating data from about 3,000 locations throughout the city within the new monitoring system. The main change is the planned integration of different technologies for detecting vehicles, with radar systems, loops, video cameras and weighing systems.
All of these systems communicate with the Traffic Data Center of the Kuwaiti municipality thanks to an advanced traffic data management system, also implemented by Indra, which will, in turn, make these, available to different public bodies responsible for the city’s traffic and mobility, or for those which may be affected, such as maintenance teams, emergency services, police, etc. It will also provide citizens with information to help them choose their routes. By providing all actors involved in mobility with data and facilitating decision-making, Indra technology will contribute toward improving the city's mobility management, increasing security and operations both in day-to-day management as well as in emergency situations. Through this project Kuwait City joins others like London, Madrid, Dublin, Medellin, Curitiba or Manila, to name a few, which have confided in Indra solutions to improve their urban mobility. Cities can progress toward a more efficient and sustainable mobility using this technology. This contributes to cutting traffic jams as well as their costs, minimizing carbon emissions and promoting (intermodal) integrated urban transport services. In addition, smart mobility is a major step in advancing toward the smart city model.
Source: Indra

Kapsch wins tender for Limited Traffic Zones
Kapsch Traffic Com Srl, TTS Italia ordinary member, has won the tender issued by the City of Como to modernize and strengthen the telematic gates of the control access system of the municipality.
Source: TTS Italia

Pluservice alt the conference on technologies for mobility - 23/24 April 2015
Pluservice, TTS Italia ordinary member, took part at the Conference “Technologies for Mobility: cost and efficiency”, organised by Club Italia and held in Saluzzo on the 23 and 24 April. The two days event was the occasion to discuss about: e-ticketing and clearing; full contactless; certification of supplied services; compulsory ticket validation; Mobile Ticketing; infomobility.
Especially, Pluservice acted as the main sponsor of the event and was one of the speaker both within the technical round table on mobility best practice and the Workshop on technologies for the mobility of citizens and tourists.
Source: Pluservice

Viasat Group and Ania presented the10° edition of Guide to Safety
Viasat Group, TTS Italia ordinary member, and Ania Foundation, presented in Rome, on the 29th of Aoril, the 10° edition of the “Guide to Safety”. Several issues were discussed: roads risks; technological and normative solutions for a better safety; high costs for car insurances; sustainable mobility. At the event took part both press and institution representatives.
Source: Viasat Group

Project of the month

The European project CORE on the use of advanced technologies for enhancing the visibility and the security of the Global Supply Chain

Bordeaux (France), 8 April 2015: at ENC 2015, Telespazio presents the activities related to the use of EGNOS and Galileo for tracking & tracing the transport of dangerous goods.

The “European Navigation Conference – ENC 2015” ( www.enc2015.eu), an international event on satellite navigation, took place in Bordeaux from 7 to 10 April 2015. During ENC 2015 Telespazio, ordinary member of TTS Italia, presented the activities related to the use of the European Satellite Navigation Systems (EGNOS and Galileo) for tracking & tracing the transport of dangerous goods.

CORE (Consistently Optimized Resilient Secure Global Supply-Chains) is a research project co-funded by the European Commission under the 7th Framework Programme. CORE analyses the aspects related to the use of advanced technologies for the freight transport and the logistics, to enhance the visibility and improve the security. The project implements various pilot demonstrations to prove and make concrete verifications in real use cases and along intercontinental logistic chains and paths across Europe.

One of the CORE’s pilot demonstrations concerns the utilization of ITS solutions based on the use of EGNOS and Galileo for tracking & tracing the intermodal transport of chemicals and gas throughout road-rail European paths. Conceived to extend the results of the previous European project SCUTUM (www.scutumgnss.eu) to the intermodal transport of chemical and gas, the pilot demonstration is coordinated by Telespazio, with the involvement of HOYER (www.hoyer-group.com – a European leading logistics operator in the sector), the Ministry of Transport of Italy and the France and TTS Italia.

Satellite navigation technology is a building block for numerous applications, and it is widely adopted in ITS for freight transport and logistics.

Over the past decade, the European Commission has incentivised the development of these solutions through the effort of European research projects co-funded by the industries. Various initiatives have been also launched to support and promote the use of EGNOS today and in view of Galileo.

These initiatives have validated the benefits that EGNOS can generate. EGNOS enables a robust and reliable traceability of the freight traffic, thus supporting a “smart” transport of goods and the establishment of liability schemes among the various stakeholders. This, in turn, contributes to the implementation of the “e-freight” and “green lanes/corridors” envisaged by the European Commission policies related to logistics, and it is in line with the present trend to possibly include the use of EGNOS also for institutional purposes.

Specifically for the transport of dangerous goods, the resulting advantages are also in higher safety and security, improved risk management and prevention. SCUTUM has confirmed that EGNOS is a key technology in this respect. The pilot demonstration of CORE will also address aspects related to standardization and regulation, thanks to the support of the two involved European Ministries of Transport. The presentation during ENC 2015 in Bordeaux was focused on the standardization and regulation themes.

The presentation is available at www.scutumgnss.eu.

For additional information, contact antonella.difazio@telespazio.com
 

TTS in action

TTS Italia at the ANCI conference on Smart mobility – Florence, 22 April 2015
ANCI Tuscany, along with Anci Innovation, organized for April 22, in Florence, a meeting with the Tuscany municipalities to discuss the issue of Smart Mobility, a key element for the transformation of urban areas in "Smart City", with the aim to identify some elements needed to define a model for the region. The initiative was born to support municipalities in the challenge of smart and sustainable growth asked by the European Commission for the period 2014-2020. ANCI Tuscany and Anci Innovation have already played a key role on the issue, by elaborating a proposal for an integrated regional system for the mobility management reflecting the European recommendations and the Italian directives as well. The event was the occasion to share common experiences and best practices well as to create a working group to complete the above mentioned proposal.
TTS Italia took part with a speech on the ITS impact on urban mobility, underlining the benefits of such systems on mobility and discussing the related normative aspects.
Among the speakers of the day, Kiunsys, TTS Italia ordinary member, with a focus on the technologies implemented in Tuscany for the urban mobility management.

TTS Italia in Saluzzo to discuss technological best practices
It was held on 23 and 24 April, in Saluzzo, the conference “Technologies for Mobility: cost and efficiency”, organised by Club Italia in collaboration with Consorzio Granada Bus, Gruppo Bus Company and with the support of Piemonte Region and 5T, TTS Italia ordinary member. The event aimed at analyzing the positive effects in terms of efficiency gains and business service quality of public transport introduced by the new technologies of mobility. Technical best practices both at local and national level were discussed. TTS Italia, represented by the President, Rossella Panero, took part in the round table on technologies for mobility, related costs and revenues. Among the speakers of the day, Pluservice, TTS Italia ordinary member and main sponsor of the event.

Territorial Workshop "South and smart mobility: opportunities and solutions for local governments" – 19 March, Bari – interviews with speakers available
Now available the interviews to the speakers of the Workshop "South and smart mobility: opportunities and solutions for local governments", held in Bari on the 19th of March, organised by TTS Italia in collaboration with the City of Bari , a member of the Platform of Local Authorities launched by the Association. Carla Tedesco, Councillor for Planning; Claudio Laricchia, Manager of the City of Bari; Olga Landolfi, Secretary General of TTS Italia; Luigi Ranieri, Director of the City of Bari; Angelo Scattaglia, AMTAB; Antonio Scarano, AREM, Francesco Casertano, Indra; Giorgio Fanesi, Pluservice; Mariarita Costanza, Macnil: these were the speakers who described models and solutions for the mobility on south Italy, also discussing the future development and the opportunities offered by the new 2014-2020 financial programming.
For the interviews (available only in Italian), click here
The workshop was organised with the support of:

ITS relevant tenders in Italy

Italia-Boscotrecase: Services for parking areas management
Italia-Pozzuoli: Parking meters
Italia-Sperlonga: Services for parking areas management

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