[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 92 (Thursday, May 12, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 27745-27747]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-11653]


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DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION

Research and Innovative Technology Administration


Wireless Innovation for Transportation; Request for Information

AGENCY: Research and Innovative Technology Administration (RITA), U.S. 
Department of Transportation (USDOT).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice is a Request for Information (RFI) and comments 
that will be used to help identify research and development (R&D) 
opportunities for wireless technology in surface transportation. The 
President's Wireless Infrastructure and Innovation Initiative includes 
a proposed $100M R&D investment to spur innovative wireless 
applications in surface transportation that advance the 
Administration's safety, mobility, and environmental sustainability 
agenda. Feedback and comments on any aspect of the RFI are welcomed 
from all interested public, private, and academic entities, and 
individuals. While all feedback is welcomed, the USDOT is particularly 
interested in feedback on the questions provided in the last section of 
this RFI.
    RFI Guidelines: Responses to this RFI must be submitted by June 13, 
2011. Responses to this RFI should be delivered electronically as an e-
mail or as an attachment to an e-mail sent to [email protected].
    Responses to this notice are not offers and cannot be accepted by 
the Government to form a binding contract, to issue a grant or 
cooperative agreement, or to make any other funding or partnership 
commitment. Information obtained as a result of this RFI may be used by 
the government for program planning. If you wish to submit any 
information under a claim of confidentiality, you should submit via 
email to the address given below under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, 
your complete submission, including the information you claim to be 
confidential commercial information. When you submit information 
containing information identified as confidential commercial 
information, you should include a cover letter setting forth the 
reasons you believe the information qualifies as ``confidential 
commercial information.'' (49 CFR 7.13(c)(4) and 7.17) If we receive a 
request to examine or copy this information, we will treat it as any 
other request under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552), but 
we will process the request in accordance with the procedures found in 
49 CFR 7.17.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions about the program 
discussed herein, please contact Mr. John Augustine, Intelligent 
Transportation Systems Joint Program Office (ITS JPO), 202-366-9536, 
[email protected]. For legal questions or issues, please contact 
Robert Monniere, RITA, 202-366-5498, [email protected], 1200 New 
Jersey Avenue, SE., Washington, DC 20590. Office hours for RITA are 
generally from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Eastern Standard Time, Monday 
through Friday, except Federal holidays. Additional information about 
the USDOT's planned work under the Wireless Innovation and 
Infrastructure Initiative is at http://www.dot.gov/budget/2012/budgetestimates/rita.pdf and http://www.rita.dot.gov/publications/budget_estimates/fy2012/html/detailed_justification_for_its_wireless.html.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In February, 2011, President Obama announced 
the Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative. (http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/Wi3-fs.pdf).
    As part of this initiative, a total of $3 billion raised from 
voluntary spectrum incentive auctions would be used to create a 
Wireless Innovation (WIN) Fund. This fund would aim to catalyze 
innovation by funding research and development of emerging broadband 
wireless technologies and applications. The WIN fund is intended to 
advance economic growth and competitiveness by supporting the 
nationwide rollout of the next generation broadband cellular (e.g. 4G) 
technologies, supporting development of new applications that leverage 
that rollout, and paving the way for other new technologies that result 
in accelerated benefits to the American people. Overall, the fund will 
support basic research, experimentation and testbeds, as well as 
applied development areas such as public safety, education, energy, 
health, economic development, and transportation. The transportation 
portion of the WIN Fund, which will focus on initiatives above and 
beyond the existing core Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) 
programs at USDOT, will provide an additional $100 million in funding 
over a five year period to create an ITS Wireless Innovation for 
Transportation program. This RFI seeks to obtain public input regarding 
the optimal use of the WIN funding to expedite the investment, 
development, deployment and use of broadband wireless applications to 
address our nation's transportation needs.
    Broadband wireless systems consist of several different classes of 
technology. The most commonly thought of is a wide area, potentially 
ubiquitous coverage systems such as cellular, including for example, 
4th generation cellular or ``4G.'' However, fixed or mobile local-area 
coverage such as Wi-Fi, as well as fixed point-to-point, and point-to-
multipoint wireless systems may all be used either individually or 
together to achieve the goal of providing broadband access to all 
Americans and a platform for innovation. Several complementary 
technologies may be used for each class of system. This RFI focuses on 
mobile wireless broadband technologies and applications for surface 
transportation, including both wide area and local area systems.

Wireless Innovation for Transportation--Program Description

    The Wireless Innovation for Transportation Program (WIN for 
Transportation) will provide the USDOT's ITS Program and its 
stakeholders the ability to seek new and innovative opportunities to 
pursue ground-breaking research and development toward deployment of 
wireless technology applications. It will develop and demonstrate 
innovative wireless transportation applications that deliver safety, 
mobility, emergency response, energy, and/or environmental benefits to 
both passenger, fleet and freight transportation systems. The WIN for 
Transportation program compliments and builds upon the USDOT's ongoing 
ITS research program (http://www.its.dot.gov), but will be funded 
separately from the existing ITS Program. It is proposed that the WIN 
for Transportation program will:
     Use ``living laboratories'' in a competitively-selected 
region or corridor where innovative broadband wireless communications 
methods and applications can be safely evaluated in an operating 
environment. These living laboratories will leverage other public and 
private investments.
     Create broadband wireless ``fast lanes'' for multi-modal 
transportation applications such as real-time safety inspections, 
reporting, and access nationwide, including in underserved rural areas 
and at border crossings.

[[Page 27746]]

     Work with state inspection and public safety partners, 
along with other Federal agencies, to deploy rural wireless access 
points in areas of critical need for enhanced emergency communications.
     Require that all applications discourage distracted 
driving/operations and uncover advances that can work to reduce driver 
workload.
    The USDOT has issued this RFI to help determine the most promising 
technologies and applications to pursue. Responders are reminded that 
feedback or comments on any aspect of this notice are welcomed from all 
interested public, private, and academic entities and individuals. 
While all feedback is encouraged, the USDOT is particularly interested 
in feedback on the following questions. Respondents may respond, to 
some, all, or none of these specific questions. Each question should be 
considered in the context of whether or not investment of all or part 
of the five year, $100 million Wireless Innovation for Transportation 
funding would provide incentives for innovation toward realization of 
substantial new service and public benefits and/or substantially 
accelerate the accrual of such benefits.
    1. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s National Broadband 
Plan and the President's Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure 
Initiative jointly aim to provide broadband access to 98% of all 
Americans within five years. Providing coverage for citizens and 
businesses accessing the Internet may be very different than providing 
coverage for surface transportation applications. For example, there 
may be rural highway rail intersections, border crossings in lightly 
populated areas, or roads over mountain passes that experience severe 
weather that would benefit from ITS applications.
    a. What types of rural and sparsely populated locations and what 
applications would benefit from this type of broadband deployment?
    b. What research is needed for techniques such as Machine-to-
Machine (M2M) communications that would be needed to implement these 
applications?
    c. What research is needed on alternative broadband approaches 
other than cellular that may be either more suitable or more cost-
effective to deploy broadband mobile wireless in these areas?
    2. The overall Wireless Innovation and Infrastructure Initiative 
has provisions for accelerating the implementation of a nationwide 
interoperable broadband public safety network. This network would be 
based on LTE (Long Term Evolution) cellular technology, be built to 
public safety reliability specifications (public safety grade) and 
would be capable of transmitting voice, video, images, and multimedia 
communications. Both public transit (including transit police) and 
highway maintenance and incident response personnel are eligible to use 
public safety networks.
    a. What ITS applications could be enabled on these networks that 
cannot be implemented on the existing public safety narrowband radio 
systems transportation agencies and organizations currently use?
    b. If a nationwide public safety broadband network were implemented 
allowing state departments of transportation (DOTs), public transit 
properties, and first responders to use broadband interoperable 
communications equipment, what new ITS applications, operations, and 
procedures could be implemented for emergency response, coordination 
with first responders, and disaster response?
    c. How might such a network be used to coordinate emergency 
operations such as evacuations with local, State, and Federal law 
enforcement and emergency response personnel?
    3. The growing use of alternative fuel vehicles brings new 
challenges. What innovative broadband wireless applications would 
support the use of alternative fuel vehicles? For example, traveler 
information is traditionally based on shortest route or fastest route. 
For alternative fuel vehicles, it may be more important to consider 
additional parameters such as real time routing based on High-Occupancy 
Vehicle (HOV) lanes open to alternative fuel vehicles, exemption of 
alternative fuel vehicles from tolls, authorizing access of alternative 
fuel vehicles into restricted-access, environmentally-sensitive areas 
(e.g., ``nonattainment areas'' as defined by U.S Environmental 
Protection agency, National Parks, National Monuments, etc.), special 
corridors (such as the ``Hydrogen Highway'' in California), the range 
of the vehicle, vertical terrain, and the location of potential 
stations supporting the alternative fuel source. What unique challenges 
are faced by alternative fuel vehicles, and what mobile broadband-based 
applications might best address them?
    4. In addition to addressing the unique challenges facing 
alternative fuel vehicles, how can the WIN for Transportation program 
help address issues related to reducing the use of non-renewable fuels 
and to reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transportation vehicles? 
What specific research and development areas might be undertaken with 
these reductions in mind? For example, how could innovative wireless 
broadband technology be used to monitor unnecessary idling of 
commercial vehicles, such as idling that does not occur at an 
intersection, stop sign, or at a bus stop and does not occur for power-
take-off?
    5. How would the provision of open, real-time, anonymous traffic 
and travel condition data via wireless broadband significantly increase 
opportunities for entrepreneurs to develop innovative transportation 
applications, as the provision of public, standardized transit schedule 
data has done in cities across the U.S.?
    6. Next generation broadband systems are expected to have efficient 
means of implementing Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications. One 
example is using embedded modules (small self-contained units with 
integrated sensor and communications functions) in vehicles to provide 
information on road, weather, or environmental conditions to traffic 
management centers or other centralized entities, in a manner 
transparent to the driver. In this regard, applications using M2M would 
meet the USDOT objectives concerning distracted driving.
    a. What emerging ITS applications would benefit from M2M?
    b. What applications could be prototyped or tested in a ``living 
laboratory''?
    7. What new commercial vehicle, fleet, rail, or transit safety 
applications or new methods for operations, based on the availability 
of broadband wireless that could substantially reduce the cost and 
improve the quality of regulated commercial vehicle applications? How 
might such applications be implemented? Which ones might be possible 
candidates for integration and testing in the near term? Considerations 
might include:
    a. Wireless ``fast lanes'' supporting real-time safety inspections, 
reporting, and information access, including at border crossings and in 
rural areas. Real-time multi-agency access to information at rural and 
mobile inspection points nationwide could dramatically transform the 
way freight and motorcoach safety is implemented. The types of 
information could include carrier and or operator inspection and 
enforcement data as well as critical safety and lading information 
(documents issued by a carrier to a shipper, acknowledging that 
specified goods have been received).

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    b. Development and implementation of a standardized, secure 
freight/hazardous materials electronic manifest system.
    c. Continuous automated safety monitoring with periodic reporting 
via broadband wireless, without the use of roadside inspection 
stations.
    d. Cross-agency access to standardized vehicle and operator data 
for enhanced data sharing and improved mission effectiveness.
    8. How might a future commercial broadband service address 
connected vehicle applications: (http://www.its.dot.gov/connected_vehicle/connected_vehicle_apps.htm), and what action could the USDOT 
take to ensure that industry addresses these requirements? For example:
    a. What is required from a commercial broadband service in terms of 
reliability and resilience to ensure it would be available during 
emergencies and disasters to support transportation services?
    b. What technologies such as mesh or ad-hoc networking or 
innovative use of relays, femtocells (which are small base stations 
attached to a fixed broadband connection), or Wi-Fi access points could 
be used to demonstrate an increase in network resilience for 
transportation applications?
    c. What such applications, technologies and techniques might be 
prototyped and tested in a ``living laboratory'' over the next five 
years?
    9. Security standards may need to incorporate techniques to provide 
anonymity and defeat tracking attempts against individual drivers when 
using connected vehicle applications or global positioning systems 
(GPS). Commercial broadband networks are designed to provide location 
information for emergency response (E911 and NG911) and are 
increasingly implementing applications using location-based services 
that specifically track user and/or vehicle locations. These features 
might limit the suitability of commercial broadband networks for some 
applications, especially those that may be potentially mandatory and/or 
government-sponsored
    a. What types of ITS applications, especially those that may be 
potentially mandatory or government-sponsored, might make use of 
commercial broadband networks?
    b. What policy initiatives and possible technical features will 
need to be implemented to assure users that their privacy is protected 
regardless of which communications network (or networks) is used?
    10. What actions should the USDOT take, either from a technical or 
policy perspective, to encourage development of integrated, multi-
platform wireless devices (e.g. Dedicated Short Range Communications 
(DSRC)/4G) for vehicles, mobile devices, and roadside equipment?
    11. What other broadband technologies or applications would provide 
substantial public benefits and testing or deployment of which would be 
accelerated by WIN funding?
    12. Security standards for vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-
infrastructure communications may require techniques for authenticating 
messages, including verifying the authority to send various classes of 
messages and the source of the messages. They may also include 
techniques to encrypt messages if needed.
    a. What transportation applications might require such security 
features when implemented on commercial networks, and what attributes 
might the applications require (for example, authentication, data 
integrity, non-repudiation, etc.)?
    b. Could widespread broadband wireless capability be leveraged to 
address the security requirements transportation and/or other non-
transportation applications?

    Issued in Washington, DC, on the 5th day of May 2011.
John Augustine,
Managing Director, ITS Joint Program Office.
[FR Doc. 2011-11653 Filed 5-11-11; 8:45 am]
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