TR4005 COMETA - COMmercial vehicle Electronic and Telematic Architecture

Short description - Setting the Scene - Approach - Results and Achievements - Conclusions and Plans for the Future

Short description 

The COMETA project was initiated to answer the strong concern regarding the potentially growing proliferation of on board systems for commercial vehicles. the aim was therefore to define and design modular associations of various on board performed functions, allowing for efficient interfacing within a global telematics system.

Setting the Scene 

In the coming years, professional drivers task profiles will be directly impacted by the introduction of new information technologies. To date a considerable number of on-board telematics applications for freight and public transport vehicles have been developed and it is likely that more will appear in the coming years. A real need exists then for an integration of these systems and their data processes into a cost effective operational entity. COMETA system architecture ambition is to represent this entity in order to avoid incompatible and/or overlapping on-board systems.

Approach 

The COMETA project has deliberately privilege a functional approach where focus is carried on daily business needs and on the benefit of having maximum integration. According to this approach, four main phases have been considered in COMETA:

The first phase combined, investigation and enhancement of user's requirements started in UGFFM, the consideration of standardization on the basis of CEN TC278 WG2, and finally review of the state of the art regarding available tools and systems, so as to achieve a first draft of system architecture, regarded as a part of a global system (KAREN: Keystone Architecture Required for European Networks).

A second phase consisted in "validations" with fleet operators of possible implementation and operability of this draft close to CONVERGE methodology.

A third phase resulted in a consolidation of these audits by a qualitative evaluation of impacts, and their translation in an integrated system architecture design.

A fourth phase consists in dissemination level through guidelines and recommendation to potential users.

Results and Achievements 

The COMETA system architecture has been designed considering technical, economical, appropriation and prospective aspects so as to enable:

• Better integration of driver and vehicle;
• Better adherence to social regulation;
• Compatibility of components in the perspective of a wider world market;
• The performance of freight operations in cost effective manner;
• And finally to ease the integration of future services and tools and its integration in third generation networks.

Concretely COMETA can be considered as an open system architecture allowing extensive development of interfaces, internal / external accessories and application software, taking into account modularity in cost-effective steps:

• User friendliness of any mobile / home base application (hardware or software) when applying to any information from the information systems of the different users;
• Different levels of sophistication regarding different needs expressed by the users;
• Different types of environments such as weather, infrastructures, traffic information …etc.
• Adapted measures through the personnel management so as to ensure successful introduction of these applications (HMI aspects).

Conclusions and Plans for the Future 

COMETA aims to define and design a reference system architecture so as to ease the harmonization and the standardization work at the European level. It could now be considered as the basis for a European wide platform for modular freight and fleet systems at lower cost leading to better services for operators. It should be initiated in parallel to KAREN, and with this latter, extended to possible new areas.