Reminder
of COMETA objectives - COMETA main benefits
- Approach and
methodology to achieve project objectives
COMETA 1st phase - COMETA
second phase - COMETA third phase - COMETA
fourth phase
Approach
Through the design of an integrated on board systems architecture and the elaboration of several supporting " handbooks " for systems architecture designers, fleet operators, trucks manufacturers, systems, products and services providers, COMETA project aims to the achievement of successive objectives.
An immediate one can be seen in the convening of the Project consortium itself, gathering direct actors involved in the design and then implementation and future management of this architecture, (among whom professional organisations) and others (such as various authorities and infrastructures managers) to be interviewed and associated to the validation of the outputs.
But, of course, starting from this initial but necessary step, the objectives are to satisfy expressed and identified needs (and to help to their expression and identification) addressing this architecture.
A short term one is to answer to a strong concern expressed by fleet owners and managers, considering the potential proliferation of commercial vehicles on board systems, to be offered by the market or to be more or less imposed by public authorities and the consequences (on costs multiplication and operation complexity) of having to invest in such systems through fragmented approaches.
A rather mid and longer term one is to answer to a complementary need expressed by all actors, willing that, beyond coping with this kind of threat, the integrated on board systems architecture should be opened to technological, managerial and regulatory evolution and allow for long lasting interoperability of components and sustainable developments in a moving environment.
COMETA ambition has been to come as close as possible to the satisfaction of these needs, through the cooperation with two other Projects (KAREN and INTACT), so as to embed on board architecture in a more global one.
The project expected benefits are:
To help fleet operators to identify and express their needs in terms of functionalities and, more, in terms of integrated approach with human and economic justifications for a new driver/vehicle status in the company's and sectorial information system.
To insert functions being performed, in a modular architecture interfacing different support tools.
To identify technical requirements and Human Machine Interface requirements, resulting from modularity and interoperability.
To identify any harmonisation or standardisation enhancements to be favoured or new proposals to be submitted, i.e. data directories, data exchanges structures, mobile EDI.
To favour balanced benefits between private management usage and administrative regulations enforcement usage, allowed by the sharing of common devices in structured technical architecture (tachograph, automatic identification, positioning, technical safety monitoring, etc.).
To favour cost reduction of on-board data capture, data processing, data exchange, and increase of their user friendliness. · To favour a market widening for the industrial manufacturing of " plug in devices ", for the design and manufacturing of intelligent commercial vehicles, for trivial off the shelf accessibility which have formerly been seen as too sophisticated solutions.
If not to design a multifunctional, multipurpose, multistandards, multitechnology, super on board data capture, data processing, data exchange, device to be mounted in commercial vehicles, in an immediate future; nevertheless, to identify positive conditions to allow for a prospective approach both from solutions providers and potential users, in the coming months and years.
To allow for harmonious integration of a cost effective intelligent vehicle within intelligent infrastructures in a global European systems architecture.
To study modular associations of various functions performed on-board allowing an efficient interface with a global transport telematic system.
To develop an architecture for on-board information systems that is modular, flexible, efficient, user-friendly, cheap to use, as inter-operable as possible, and that will be based on a mid- and long-term broad vision.
To ensure that this architecture reflects technologies such as on-board data capture, data processing, information management and exchanges within vehicle and/or the external world, technical diagnosis, mobile EDI, electronic tachograph, driving aids, road pricing devices.
To incorporate the views of truck manufacturers, solution providers, consultants and fleet operators as well as of professional organisations and public authorities.
To simulate a first architecture within different fleet operators already equipped with partially-dedicated devices, and to finalise a validated architecture based on these simulations and close co-operation with the KAREN and INTACT projects.
To produce handbooks for systems architecture designers and users, fleet operators, truck manufacturers and solution providers.
Approach
and methodology to achieve project objectives
To meet the above-mentioned objectives, truck manufacturers, solution providers, consultants, fleet operators have been involved in this project, which is in addition fully supported, by professional organisations and public authorities in different project phases.
The two flow chart shown below helps understanding the methodology defined to carry out the whole project.
As described before four main phases corresponding to six work packages (see COMETA methodology chart):
This have been one of the main phase of the project, it has correspond to the work packages 2, 3 and 4.
The purpose of the work package 2 was to identify the User Needs through addressing panel of direct users. This resulted in a methodology including the " Handbook of Basic Freight, Fleet and vehicles management - Operational Functions potentially optimisable through the use of on-board systems. COMETA has produced a series of questionnaires, as investigation tools destined to the actors of the business whose needs and requirements influenced the design of the systems architecture. These actors are Fleet managers, Drivers and commercial partners (i.e. Principal, Consignor and Consignee).
The work package three consisted mainly in:
Reviewing of the " state of the art" in terms of existing tools and solutions. This included a non-exhaustive inventory of existing on board computer systems as well as any kind of software packages related to them.
Evaluating those tools integration potential and identifying the main issues for interoperability standardisation and common architecture which constitute some basic inputs for the work package four.
The work package four consisted on the Predesign of an on board systems architecture(s) for commercial vehicles. Environment, sub system structure, modularity and interoperability, it corresponds to the twofold aspect of COMETA project:
One " conceptual " part, representing (through cooperation with INTACT) the " Freight and Fleet management " and now as far as possible, in that context, " Freight intermodality ", commonalities with public transport, contribution to KAREN System Architecture.
One " operational " part, to be considered as a translation in daily management language, of what could be worked out as the prerequisites for the design of a new " transport information system " seen from the vehicle and driver side.
The objectives through this work package were the validation of the draft System Architecture to ensure the future implementation in an ATT environment, the clustering of functions to modules in order to develop a new highly integrated system architecture, the validation by our pilots of the SA regarding economical and technical benefits and finally the identification of new requirements to be considered by truck manufactures and system providers. This allows us to develop the final System architecture (WP6). We have to take in mind that the objectives were not the validation of the system architecture using a real simulation model or any kind of physical implementation at the pilot's sites and its validation.
In this work package the different provisional architectures that were designed in WP4 have been finalized exploiting the outcome of the validation through pilots. It resulted in final Cometa system architectures:
Functional and control architecture
Information and management architecture
Physical and communication architecture
Because of its close cooperation with KAREN, the COMETA project has followed the KAREN methodology in its functional and physical architecture.
This will consist in dissemination level through guidelines and recommendation to potential users (Fleet managers, truck manufacturers and solution providers, system architecture designers).
