[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 78 (Monday, April 23, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20517-20519]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-9998]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Federal Highway Administration


Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century; Critical 
Intelligent Transportation System Standards

AGENCY: Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), DOT.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) 
requires the Secretary of Transportation to identify Intelligent 
Transportation System (ITS) standards considered critical to achieving 
national interoperability. With a consensus from ITS America, the 
Secretary has identified eighteen such standards. To ensure that the 
critical standards are implemented in a timely fashion, the TEA-21 
requires the Secretary to establish provisional standards for those 
standards not adopted and published by January 1, 2001. All but two of 
the eighteen critical standards have been adopted and published. The 
TEA-21 also provides that the Secretary may waive the requirement to 
establish provisional standards if he determines that additional time 
would be productive or that establishing a provisional standard would 
be counterproductive. The Secretary has decided that more time would be 
productive to complete the standard would be counterproductive in both 
cases since many of the same individuals would be asked to assist in 
creating the provisional standards, thus further delaying the 
completion of these critical standards. Therefore, the Secretary 
decided to waive the requirement to develop provisional standards for 
the two critical ITS standards not adopted and published by January 1, 
2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For the ITS standards program: Mr. 
Mike Schagrin, ITS Joint Program Office, HOIT, (202) 366-2180, e-mail 
address [email protected]. For legal issues: Mr. Wilbert 
Baccus, Office of the Chief Counsel, (HCC-32) (202) 366-0780, e-mail 
address [email protected], Federal Highway Administration, 
400 Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Access

    An electronic copy of this document may be downloaded by using a 
computer, modem and suitable communications software from the 
Government Printing Office's Electronic Bulletin Board Service at (202) 
512-1661. Internet users may reach the Office of the Federal Register's 
home page at http://www.nara.gov/fedreg and the Government Printing 
Office's web site at http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara.

Background

    The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21), Public 
Law 105-178, 112 stat.107, states that the specific purpose of the ITS 
Standards Program is ``to promote and ensure interoperability in the 
implementation of intelligent transportation system technologies.'' The 
U.S. DOT has established cooperative agreements with five standards 
development organizations (SDOs) to accelerate the development of ITS 
standards that would promote national interoperability in ITS. These 
SDOs include: American Association of State Highway and Transportation 
Officials (AASHTO); American Society for Testing & Materials (ASTM); 
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE); Institute of 
Transportation Engineers (ITE); and Society of Automotive Engineers 
(SAE). Standards developed under this program are consensus standards 
and will remain the property of the SDO under which they were 
developed. Some ITS standards may be adopted by the Government as part 
of a rulemaking process, but that decision will not be made until the 
standard is complete and the need for rulemaking has been established.
    Further, the TEA-21 requires the Secretary of Transportation to 
identify the standards that are considered to be critical to achieving 
national interoperability. To ensure that the critical standards are 
implemented in a timely fashion, the Secretary shall establish 
provisional standards for those critical standards that are not adopted 
and published by January 1, 2001.
    The TEA-21 provides that if the Secretary determines that 
establishing a provisisonal standard is not necessary, then the 
Secretary may waive the requirement to establish a provisional standard 
if Secretary determines that additional time would be productive or 
that establishment of a provisional standard would be 
counterproductive.
    After a consensus-building process led by ITS America, the 
Secretary developed and submitted a report to the Congress. The report 
describes and explains the criteria for selecting which standards are 
critical and identifies seventeen standards that meet the criteria. One 
of the critical standards identified in the report \1\ (``High Speed FM 
Subcarrier Waveform Standard''), was subsequently divided into two 
separate standards (``Data Radio Channel (DARC) System'' and 
``Subcarrier Traffic Information Channel (STIC) System''), thus 
yielding a total of eighteen critical standards, as follows:
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    \1\ ``Intelligent Transportation Systems: Critical Standards,'' 
U.S. Department of Transportation, June 1999.

[[Page 20518]]



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              Lead SDO                        Document No.                                Title                                     Status
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ANSI................................  TS286.......................  Commercial Vehicle Credentials..................  Published.
ANSI................................  TS285.......................  Commercial Vehicle Safety and Credentials         Published.
                                                                     Information Exchange.
ANSI................................  TS284.......................  Commercial Vehicle Safety Reports...............  Published.
SAE.................................  J2353.......................  Data Dictionary for Advanced Traveler             Published.
                                                                     Information System (ATIS).
EIA/CEA.............................  EIA-794.....................  Data Radio Channel (DARC) System................  Published.
SAE.................................  J1746.......................  ISP-Vehicle Location Referencing Std............  Published.
SAE.................................  J2354.......................  Message Set for Advanced Traveler Information     Published.
                                                                     System (ATIS).
SAE.................................  J2313.......................  On-Board Land Vehicle Mayday Reporting Interface  Published.
ASTM................................  PS 105-99...................  Specification for Dedicated Short Range Comm.     Published.
                                                                     (DSRC) Data Link Layer: Medium Access and
                                                                     Logical Link Control.
ASTM................................  PS 111-98...................  Specification for Dedicated Short Range Comm.     Published.
                                                                     (DSRC) Physical Layer using Microwave in the
                                                                     902-928 MHz Band.
SAE.................................  J2369.......................  Standard for ATIS Message Sets Delivered Over     Published.
                                                                     Bandwidth Restricted Media.
IEEE................................  Std 1512-2000...............  Standard for Common Incident Management 2000      Published.
                                                                     Message Sets (IMMS) for use by EMCs.
IEEE................................  Std 1489-1999...............  Standard for Data Dictionaries for Intelligent    Published.
                                                                     Transportation Systems.
ITE.................................  TM 1.03.....................  Standard for Functional Level Traffic Management  Under Development.
                                                                     Data Dictionary (TMDD).
IEEE................................  Std 1455-1999...............  Standard for Message Sets for Vehicle/Roadside    Published.
                                                                     Communications.
ASTM................................  TBD.........................  Standard Specification on Dedicated Short Range   Under Development.
                                                                     Communications (DSRC) at 5.89 GHz Physical
                                                                     Layer.
EIA/CEA.............................  EIA-795.....................  Subcarrier Traffic Information Channel (STIC)     Published.
                                                                     System.
IEEE................................  Std 1488-2000...............  Trial-Use Standard for Message Set Template for   Published.
                                                                     Intelligent Transportation Systems.
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    Copies of the final report regarding Critical Standards submitted 
to Congress in June 1999, can be obtained by contacting the Federal 
Highway Administration, ITS Joint Program Office, Room 3401, HOIT, 400 
Seventh Street, SW., Washington, DC 20590. Alternatively, it may be 
obtained in electronic format by logging on to the U.S. DOT's ITS 
Standards home page http://www.its-standards.net.
    As of this date, sixteen of the eighteen standards identified as 
critical have been adopted and published by one or more of the SDOs. 
Two remaining standards are still under development and did not meet 
the January 1, 2001, deadline for completion. These standards are: 
Standard for Functional Level Traffic Management Data Dictionary (TMDD) 
and the Standard Specification on Dedicated Short Range Communications 
(DSRC) at 5.89 GHz (this standard development effort may ultimately 
result in more than one standard).
    The Standard for Functional Level Traffic Management Data 
Dictionary [TMDD] establishes data elements for roadway links and 
traffic-disruptive roadway incidents and events. It includes data 
elements for traffic control, ramp metering, traffic modeling, video 
camera control, traffic and parking management, weather forecasting, 
detectors, actuated signal controllers, vehicle probes, and dynamic 
message signs.
    Although the TMDD will most likely not be adopted by the SDOs that 
are developing it until sometime after June 2001, portions of it are 
already being used by the ITS community. Since it is the intent of the 
TEA-21 that standards ``promote the widespread use and evaluation of 
intelligent transportation system technology as a component of the 
surface transportation systems of the United States,'' it is reasonable 
to conclude that TMDD is already achieving this goal. Since the 
standard is already being used prior to adoption and publication, 
issuing a provisional standard would be counterproductive. In addition, 
due to the nature of the ITS standards development process, there are a 
limited number of individuals who have the ability to create such a 
standard. If the Government created a provisional standard, many of the 
same individuals would be asked to assist in its creation, thus further 
delaying the ultimate completion of the work. The establishment of a 
provisional standard in this case would also negate the consensus 
standards process that is vital to the creation of robust, useful 
standards in the area of intelligent transportation. Thus, the 
Secretary of Transportation hereby waives the establishment of a 
provisional standard for the TMDD.
    The Standard Specification on Dedicated Short Range Communications 
(DSRC) at 5.89 GHz will establish the specification for the radio 
frequency characteristics (physical layer) for DSRC operating in the 
range of 5.89 GHz. In addition, it will specify the protocol (data 
link) communications at this frequency. The DSRC standard remains under 
development by a standards committee and was not completed by January 
1, 2001. It is likely that adoption and publication of one or more 
standards for DSRC at 5.89 GHz will not occur until at least early 
2002.
    The Federal Communications Commission only recently approved the 
5.89 GHz band for dedicated short-range communications in December 
1999, which is a contributing factor in not having the standard 
completed and published by the January 2001 deadlines. Standards for 
this type of communication will greatly expand opportunities for 
integrating a variety of vehicle-to-roadside services and payment 
systems.
    The manufacturers of DSRC devices joined in ``pre-standards'' 
activities to define the requirements for devices operating at 5.9 GHz. 
However, the manufacturers face a technological challenge: existing 
silicon-based technology cannot economically operate at the higher 
frequencies, requiring devices based on gallium arsenide technology. In 
many regards this may be a benefit because all of the equipment 
manufacturers will be starting development anew, thereby ``leveling the 
field'' and circumventing the situation in the 915 MHz band where 
incompatible technologies predated the standards efforts.
    Since DSRC manufacturers are working with potential users and 
standards writers to develop interoperable 5.9 GHz DSRC standards and 
equipment, it would be impractical to establish a separate project to 
write a provisional standard. During the time required to develop and 
draft a provisional standard, these standards would be completed. As 
noted above in the case of the TMDD standard, since the interested 
stakeholders are already

[[Page 20519]]

involved in the effort, few, if any, suitable experts would be 
available to the U.S. DOT to work on a provisional standard.
    Thus, considering the mitigating factors noted above, and 
supporting the ongoing standard development efforts for the DSRC at 5.9 
GHz standard the Secretary of Transportation hereby waives the 
establishment of a provisional standard. Additionally, by allowing the 
consensus standards development process to proceed normally, the 
standards developers will produce more robust standards in the long 
run. It will give them time to work out practical details and to verify 
that the standards will lead to economical development of devices that 
work effectively.
    The Secretary will continue to monitor progress on the development 
of these two critical standards. If, within a six-month period after 
this waiver, satisfactory progress has not been made on the development 
of the two standards in question, the Secretary reserves the right to 
reevaluate the situation and decide whether establishing provisional 
standards would be beneficial to the goals of the ITS Program and the 
legislative intent of the TEA-21.

(Authority: 23 U.S.C. 315; sec. 5206, Pub. L. 105-178, 112 Stat. 
107, 456 (1998); 49 CFR 1.48)

    Issued on: April 17, 2001.
Vincent F. Schimmoller,
Deputy Executive Director, Federal Highway Administration.
[FR Doc. 01-9998 Filed 4-20-01; 8:45 am]
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