Technical Support
Information technology is growing and changing at a dizzying pace, frequently
allowing for applications that were technically infeasible in the recent
past. Transportation engineers have not been able to keep pace with this
growth. A key reason for this is that ITS systems tend to be mission critical.
If a new information technology application were to be introduced that
temporarily degrades performance of the system during the "debugging" phase,
the mission critical system is unavailable. Because of this, new applications
are often not introduced. However, given that the Smart Travel Lab is not
directly involved in system operation, it will allow for experimentation
with new approaches.
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| VDOT ITS manager examines a prototype simulation application developed
by Smart Travel Lab students. |
An example of this in the Smart Travel Lab is seen in ongoing research into
information systems survivability. As promising approaches to protecting ITS
systems from "cyber attacks" are developed, they will be implemented
and tested within the lab. Once they perform adequately, they can be considered
ready for deployment in operational traffic control systems.
Finally, VDOT has realized the advantages of the laboratory's technical support
services. For example, recent simulation research in the laboratory has demonstrated
the usefulness of microscopic traffic simulation for traffic management, not
just for the traditional uses of design and planning. This has led to a stronger
emphasis on simulation in VDOT's ITS program.
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