UPDATE: Friday, October 23rd, 2015
COATS Phase 6 is facilitating ongoing technology transfer through the Western States Forum and continued demonstration and evaluation of ITS technologies through several incubator projects. In the third quarter of 2015, continued progress was made on COATS Phase 6 projects as detailed below.
Western States Forum
The 10th annual Western States Forum was held during the previous quarter, June 16th-18th. The Forum project team spent this quarter continuing wrap-up activities. Evaluations from the 2015 Forum were compiled and discussed relative to the final report and the planning and operation of the 2016 annual Forum. The final report for the 2015 Western States Forum will be completed during this upcoming quarter.
The 11th annual Forum will be held June 21st-23rd, 2016, in Yreka, California. In the coming quarter, the project team will begin planning for next year's Forum. The meeting facility will be reserved, an event planner will be hired, and a Save the Date postcard will be distributed via mail and email. Midway through the quarter, the Call for Abstracts will be developed and released. The Forum and Consortium websites will be updated to reflect all notices and events.
Year 1 Incubator Projects
Technology Incubator: Data Quality for Aggregation and Dissemination of DOT Traveler Information: An Analysis of Existing System Best Practices
This quarter saw further work on the "Data Quality for Aggregation and Dissemination of DOT Traveler Information: An Analysis of Existing System Best Practices" project. With a focus on the transportation field, the project team continued a literature search for best practices regarding quality control of traveler information data, as well as related practices in similar domains such as weather data.
Midway through the quarter, project team members attended the 2015 National Rural ITS Conference in Snowbird, Utah. They presented results of the project thus far and led a brief discussion with session attendees on traveler information data quality. More information on the event can be found here. The presentation, titled "Data Quality for Aggregation and Dissemination of DOT Traveler Information: Best Practices," can be viewed and downloaded from the COATS Phase 6 Documents page.
Photo by Doug Galarus |
Work on the Data Quality incubator project will continue over this next quarter, including pursuit of interviews with representatives of the Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming state DOTs. The project team will also complete the literature search and compile a draft report on the state of the practice for traveler information data quality.
Safety/Operations Incubator: Evaluation of the Fredonyer Summit Icy Cuve Warning System – Before and After Study of Long-Term Effectiveness
Work on the "Evaluation of the Fredonyer Pass Icy Cuve Warning System" project continued with development of the final report. A draft was submitted to the technical panel for review.
All work for this project will be concluded in this upcoming quarter, and a final report of the project will be completed. David Veneziano has continued work to wrap up this incubator project after leaving WTI.
Year 2 Incubator Projects
Technology Incubator: Bluetooth Evaluation for Siskiyou Summit Chain-Control Chain-Up Area North of Redding
The Bluetooth incubator project has been put on hold. However, the report on Deployment Location Recommendation and Sources/Vendors was finalized and posted. Take a look at the COATS project update from August 26th, 2015, to read about this part of the project and review the recommendations.
Check back next quarter to read more about the progress and status of the COATS projects.