Responsibility for technical specifications for Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) systems is to transfer to TOPAS from the UDG, which has traditionally been responsible for their development.
TOPAS (Traffic Open Products And Specification) is a not for profit limited company managed by a management board with representatives from national and local government and the Association for Road Traffic Safety and Management (ARTSM).
The Transport Technology Forum (TTF) said the maintenance of current standards and the development of new ones, which is necessary to keep UTMC systems both in use and capable updating to accommodate new capabilities has historically been the task of the UTMC Development Group (UDG), which the TTF has recently revived from dormancy.
It added that since the inception of UTMC systems in the late 1990s, UK Government and highway authorities have invested substantial amounts of resource and money into them to maximise their value.
However, ‘as the UDG develops its future remit, it is considered timely that in light of the wider standards work being undertaken by ARTSM and TOPAS’, the ownership and management of the current UTMC Technical Specifications (TS003 & TS004 and all related materials) will transfer to TOPAS.
‘Meanwhile, the UDG will shift its emphasis and develop a new role.’ TOPAS will arrange for Technical Standards TS003 and TS004 to be made available through the TOPAS website as the TOPAS UTMC Interface standards.
‘Their format and structure may be subject to change, for example each interface may have its own specification, but the technical content will continue unchanged.’
Manufacturers and service providers wanting to bring their own interfaces to the market will be able to follow the TOPAS registration processes and have their interfaces added to the TOPAS register.
‘This is the first step towards improving confidence that the disparate components of UTMC system do achieve interoperability,’ the TTF said.
Steve George, the TTF’s UTMC lead, said: ‘TOPAS didn’t exist when we started UTMC.
‘We are delighted that the detailed work of technical standards now lies in safe hands. This leaves UTMC free to move up the value chain, and to work on how to facilitate the functional and operational integration of current and future ITS systems.
‘We have discussed this concept through several TTF events, and we can now see a clear path ahead.’
