UPDATE: Thursday, January 9th, 2020
Save the Date! The 15th Annual Western States Forum will be June 16th, 17th, and 18th, 2020, in Yreka, California.
As the 15th annual event, it will be a significant milestone in the history of the Forum and the COATS and WSRTC partnerships. Here’s a look at the event over the years:
The first annual Forum was held in 2006 in Mount Shasta, California, and 15 engineers and technicians from 3 states attended.
Thirty-eight (38) individuals from six states participated in the 5th annual Forum in Yreka, California.
The 10th annual Forum was also in Yreka, CA. Thirty-nine (39) pracitioners from 8 different states attended.
The 14th Forum in Yreka saw a record 53 participants from 8 different western and central states.
Abstracts are currently being solicitated for the 2020 Forum! The program incorporates both presentations and live demonstrations about rural ITS topics and technologies. If you have implemented or improved a project because of participation in a past Forum, we highly encourage you to submit an abstract for presentation/demonstration at this year’s event.
Forum presentations cover a variety of topics related to ITS design and engineering. Speakers really delve into the details of a project, spurring dialogue about rural ITS system implementations and encouraging transparency about what worked and what didn’t work. Potential topics to be discussed are:
- Design, engineering, and installation of rural ITS field applications, such as warning and safety systems
- Design, installation, calibration, and evaluation of roadside traffic detection equipment (loop or non-intrusive)
- Applications of microwave, radio, cellular, and/or 802.11 WiFi communications
- Custom ITS application development
- Innovative applications of commercial ITS applications
- Lessons learned with application and development of standards and specifications (e.g., NTCIP, DOT specifications)
Previous Forum agendas have included topics in all these areas and more, with speakers hailing from multiple state DOTs, universities, and other transportation related offices. Here are a few examples:
- A Tale of Two RWISs (RWIS Trials and Tribulations) (2008)
- Cellular Communications in Rural Applications (2018)
- Commercial Wholesale Web Portal 2: Providing Caltrans’ Traveler Information Data to Third Party Developers (2014)
- Fiber Optic Systems in Rural Areas: Building and Leveraging Fiber Systems (2019)
- Idaho’s Winter Performance Measures (2013)
- Organic vs. Purchased Data for Travel Time Predictions (2019)
- PPPoE Security on Networks Utilizing Ethernet Interfaces (2017)
- Technical Development of the Western States One Stop Shop for Rural Traveler Information (2012)
- UDOT Automated Traffic Signal Performance Measures (2017)
- Washington State DOT LED Adaptive Roadway Lighting and Illumination Reform (2014)
- Weather Warning Systems in Oregon and Region 5 Interstate Access Gates (2007)
These presentations and the others from previous Forums are on the Forum website at http://www.westernstatesforum.org/PastForums/Default.html. Peruse the technical content and the image galleries to get an idea of what the Forum is about and how it has facilitated technology transfer. For a good review of last year’s Forum, check out the project update from December 13th, 2019.
If you are involved with a rural ITS project you think would be of interest to other technology practitioners, we would encourage you to consider submitting an abstract for presentation and/or demonstration at the 2020 Forum. For more information about the Forum and instructions on how to submit an abstract, please visit the Call for Abstracts page on the Forum website.
The deadline for submitting an abstract is Friday, January 17th, 2020.