October 2013

In this Issue:

79 GHz : towards Vehicle and Road Automation development

ERTICO eMagazineWelcome to the

IT(‘)S Helsinki, IT(‘)S Tokyo20th ITS World Congress & First ITS APP contest for the ‘Best trafficApplications for mobiles’ opens

Driving ITS in LithuaniaIan Bearder speaks to Dainius Diska - CEO of ITS Lithuania

Editorial

Dear Readers,

In this edition we take a closer look

at the 79 GHz frequency allocation,

ITS development and priorities in

Lithuania under the President of the

Council of the European Union and

the 2013 ITS World Congress in Tokyo.

New and complex automotive radar

applications are essential with regard

to the long term goal of zero accidents.

The European Commission defined

the 79 GHz band as the frequency

allocation for automotive SRR. Since

European car manufacturers operate

in world markets, the 79 GHz must

be regulated on a global scale. In the

first article, ERTICO’s Maria De Rycke

explains how the 79 GHz project is

effectively speeding up the global

adoption of the 79 GHz frequency

range.

In a second article, ERTICO’s Ian

Bearder zooms in on ITS development

in and the ITS vision of Lithuania under

the Presidency of the Council of the

European Union. ITS Lithuania was

the first ITS organization in the Baltic

States. Executive Director of ITS

Lithuania Mr Dainius Diska confirms

in an interview that continuous

innovation plays a central role in the

future of Lithuania’s economy and

that the country aspires to be the

innovation center of the North Baltic

region.

ERTICO’s Carla Coppola gives you the

latest news from the 20th ITS World

Congress in Tokyo taking place this

week. The Call for Papers for the

European ITS Congress in 2014 was

officially opened yesterday with a

new category of commercial papers

dedicated to near-market research.

Also the ITS App Contest 2014 will be

officially opened which will reward

the best developers and the best

traffic applications for smartphones.

Enjoy !

The Editorial Team

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The views and opinions expressed

in this magazine are solely those of

the authors and other contributors.

These views and opinions do not

necessarily represent those of

ERTICO or its Partners.

contents

Editorial

79GHz : towards Vehicle and Road Automation development

Driving ITS in LithuaniaIan Bearder speaks to Dainius Diska - CEO of ITS Lithuania

IT(‘)S Helsinki, IT(‘)S Tokyo20th ITS World Congress & First ITS App contest for the ‘Best traffic Applications for mobiles’ opens

ERTICO Partnership events

3

Speaking at the 79 GHz workshop held at ITU on 7 November 2012, Project Coordinator Jürgen Hildebrandt of

Robert Bosch GmbH of an EC co-funded project with the same name, confirmed that car radar technology is

very important because it has proven it sales lives on the road. Mr Hildebrandt expected that by the end of the

project around mid-2014, the 79 GHz frequency range will be allocated in all key regions of the world (BRIC

countries, USA, Canada, all the Gulf States and a large part of Asia). Once these targets will be achieved, he

predicts that other countries will join the fold.

The 79 GHz project is also an important step within a larger EU vision of fully automated driving. Improvement

of sensors is one of the key elements that make the automation of vehicle driving possible. China and Japan are

developing new technologies to support this evolution. But also the European Commission is looking at potential

higher frequency bands than the 79 GHz for automotive use.

The 79 GHz: Advantages

Automotive radar applications are

playing a key role with regard to the

long term goal of zero accidents. New

and complex applications require SSR

that meet demanding requirements

such as higher range resolution,

better object discrimination, high

spatial resolution and reduced

mutual interference. SSR in the

79 GHz : towards Vehicle and Road Automation development

by Maria De Rycke

New and complex automotive radar applications are essential with regard to the long term goal of zero accidents

and require short-range radars (SRR). Therefore the European Commission defined the 79 GHz band as the

frequency allocation for automotive SRR. But European car manufacturers operate in world markets and therefore

the 79 GHz frequency must be regulated on a global scale.

77 GHz to 81 GHz frequency range

are ideal for the next generation

of sensors supporting the new

requirements. Therefore in 2004 the

European Commission defined the 79

GHz band as the frequency allocation

for automotive SSR.

European car manufacturers and

their suppliers can only be truly

competitive in regional and world

markets if the 79 GHz frequency

allocation is regulated globally.

The 79 GHz band and a higher

power limitation are essential for

a wide range of safety functions :

for instance the Collision Warning

System (CWS) and Collision Mitigation

System (CMS) provide an acoustic

and/or optical warning to the driver

and may prepare the braking system

if the driver does not generate the

necessary deceleration to avoid

collision. Another example is the

Vulnerable Road User Detection

(VUD) that supports the detection

of vulnerable road users (cyclists

or pedestrians) in front in order

to enable warning or assist brake

functions.

Status worldwide implementation

A key goal of the 79 GHz project is

to speed up the 79 GHz frequency

adoption worldwide. The current

status of the allocation is illustrated

in figure 2. At the start of the project

in 2011, the 79 GHz radar equipment

was authorized in the 27 EU member

states and in most of other 21 CEPT

(European Conference of Postal and

Telecommunications Administrations)

countries. In all other countries, a

lack of any regulatory framework

for this frequency band made the

operation of 79 GHz radar devices

impossible. However various actions

taken by the 79 GHz project partners

resulted in an increased adoption

rate.

In the USA a petition to adopt and

release the 77 to 81 GHz band

is expected by the end of 2013.

Canada’s decision regarding 79 GHz

partially follows the USA due to the

cross border situation and direct

neighbourhood to the USA.

Several Gulf States are preparing

for the introduction and in Brazil

activities are ongoing. In Argentina,

the CSA 79GHz project is in contact

with relevant regulatory bodies. In

Chile, the 79 GHz band has been

regulated. China and India have no

regulation for 79 GHz but currently

discussions and initiatives are being

promoted by the CSA 79 GHz project.

In Japan, the 79 GHz band is now

regulated. A positive outcome is

expected from countries like Korea

where the legislation procedure is

amended to accept 79 GHz. The 79

GHz project had a successful meeting

with Thailand’s authorities and a

petition will be submitted to request

for the regulation of 79 GHz.

Next steps : 2013 Tokyo World

Congress

A 79 GHz project workshop will be

held at the ITS World Congress in Tokyo

on 17 October 2013. This workshop

will provide a status overview of the

project achievements globally. The

workshop will also zoom in on the

activities of the GARREG, the Global

Automotive Radio Regulations Expert

Group, to establish a worldwide

acting technical committee and

interest group for automotive

frequency allocation issues.

The Special Interest Session (SIS16)

“Automotive Radar on the Move

– Toward International Frequency

Harmonisation”, hosted on 16

October, will inform the ITS experts

on the current status of the activities

in the field of automotive radar

systems. The speakers will focus

both on the technology and the

frequency regulation / allocation,

analyzing pros and cons of the

individual frequency ranges, and on

the activities of GARREG.

More info can be found on

www.79ghz.eu

The 79 GHz frequency allocation’s

larger strategic role for the future

of ITS

The 79 GHz Coordination Support

Action is an important step within a

larger EU vision of fully automated

driving. ERTICO is currently

the Project Coordinator of the

Coordination and Support Action

“Vehicle and Road Automation

Network”, a project within the EU

7th framework program. It is evident

that automation of vehicle driving

is made possible thanks to the

improvement of sensors, power train

control as well as communication.

Vehicle and Road Automation will

improve traffic safety by reducing

the number of incidents due to

human errors, driver’s distraction or

reduced vigilance.

The reduction of traffic fatalities

is a major consideration within the

EU research plan Horizon 2020.

This explains the increased focus

on automotive radar sensors and

cameras. The European slogan of

the current decade with regard to

the direction of automotive sensor

development is : “2011-2020 – the

Decade of Action for Road Safety”.

The rollout of EuroNCAP (European

New Car Assessment Program is

Figure 2 : Overview of 79 GHz allocation status

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The Project at a glance

79 GHz

The Coordination and Support Activity (CSA) 79 GHz is a 3-year project within the 7th EU Framework Program. It runs for the period 2011-2014 and is coordinated by Robert Bosch. The basic intention and objective of this funding instrument are to establish and speed-up the worldwide harmonized frequency allocation for vehicle radars in the frequency band 77-81 GHz (79 GHz).

Expected results

From its very nature 79 GHz project initiates and promotes the 79 GHz rulemaking process in key countries of the world. The ultimate goal is to achieve for all countries the same regulation as already adopted by the European Commission Decision 2004/545/EC, which means with same emission power specification and frequency parameters. Consequently a harmonized worldwide 79 GHz frequency band can become available, a pre-requisite for large mass-market deployment.

More info on www.79ghz.eu

one of these EU road safety targets

for 2020 asking for example for

autonomous emergency braking

system (AEBS) for trucks. The planned

mandatory implementation of AEBS

for commercial vehicles in Europe

will significantly increase the take-

up rate in trucks from a few percent

in 2013 to full installation in 2015. As

indicated by Daimler in an interview

with Microwave Journal Frequency

Matters (edition 13 September 2013),

“it has to be assumed that the already

established 77 GHz technology will

be used when the AEBS function

becomes mandatory. After 2015,

an annual growth rate of 3 percent

has to be envisioned. However, other

sensor technologies or radar systems

using different frequencies may take

over parts of this huge market, which

amounts to about 1 million sensors

per annum for trucks in Europe

alone.”

China and Japan have also taken the

autonomous driving route. China

carried out a test with a driverless

car that drove over a distance of

286 km from Changsha to Wuhan.

Unlike foreign unmanned vehicles

relying on GPS information and

digital information, this car used

surround sensing systems and

intelligent decision making to control

the vehicle. This test was made

within the context of the China

Intelligent Vehicle Challenge that

wants China to have the technologies

for completed unmanned vehicles by

2015. In Japan, the Tokyo Institute

of Technology chairs the autonomous

driving initiatives with the input of

various equipment manufacturers.

The vehicle used utilizes a variety

of technologies, including GPS, mm-

wave radar, laser tracking and stereo

cameras, to achieve autonomy. Also

the European Commission is looking

into new solutions. The 76 to 81

GHz radar bands could be used on a

timeshared basis for identification

and information exchange between

closely operating cars. The use of

even higher frequency bands than

the 79 GHz range for automotive

use (i.e. 122 GHz) is currently

being investigated by the European

Commission. It seems that automotive

radars frequencies will remain on the

agenda for a considerable time to

come.

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2nd HeERO International Conference Novotel Bucharest City Centre, Bucharest, Romania 21-22 November 2013

to register : https://heero-international-conference-bucharest.eventbrite.com/

This project is funded bythe European Union

Driving ITS in Lithuaniaon 1st July 2013, Lithuania took over the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union, promising to put “new

technologies and mobility” high on the transport agenda. Ian Bearder speaks to Dainius Diska - CEO of ITS Lithuania.

Sitting in a small, pedal-powered toy car, I was joking with two Lithuanian policemen in the seaside town of Palanga whilst my Danish friend wandered inside to report the loss of his wallet.

We had hired the little red tourist vehicle to cycle 6km out of the town to reach the police station and I was trying, unsuccessfully, to convince the officers that we were going to pedal all the way across the country, to the capital city, Vilnius.

by Ian Bearder

“Good Luck” they shouted as we

cycled off again, back to the town to

collect our real car.

The drive across Lithuania wasn’t a

high-tech journey, I don’t remember

much traffic, and due to Lithuania’s

relatively small size – the journey

only lasted a few hours.

However, on 1st July 2013, Lithuania

took over the rotating Presidency of

the Council of the European Union,

promised to put “new technologies

and mobility” high on the transport

agenda. So, I was curious to find out

how the ITS industry is developing on

the ground in Lithuania, what systems

have they implemented and what

priorities are they currently working

on.

I contacted Dainius

Diska, CEO of ITS

Lithuania to find out.

ITS Lithuania, he tells me, was

established in September 2011 as the

first such organisation in the Baltic

States and represents a wide range

of sectors within the ITS community,

including the central government,

local authorities, automotive industry,

transport operators, manufacturers

and academic/research institutions.

Together they contribute to the

development and implementation of

ITS projects in Lithuania with the aim

of delivering real economic efficiency,

transport safety, and environmental

and human well-being.

“What is the current status of ITS in

Lithuania?” I asked. “Are there any

key projects taking place?”

Dainius tells me that, in the past

20 years, 35 ITS projects have been

carried out in Lithuania with a total

value of 140,5 million EUR. The

majority of the projects (82%) have

been oriented to traffic control.

These include:

The Vilnius traffic management system

In June 2007 the city of Vilnius was

the first city in the Baltic States to

introduce a city-wide intelligent

traffic management system

(TMS). The system includes many

components, such as a dedicated

Traffic Management Centre, traffic

sensors and traffic light controllers,

and a driver information and traffic

monitoring system (www.sviesoforai.

lt).

A National Traffic and Road

Information System

Forty three automated road weather

stations, with facilities to watch

weather conditions and video

cameras, as well as traffic counters

have been deployed on every road of

national importance across Lithuania.

To control the system, a Traffic

Information Centre at the premises

of Lithuanian Road Administration has

been equipped with a state-of-the-art

video (monitored around the clock)

and when the system is complete

- traffic information will be made

available both to special services and

to travellers.

E – Ticketing

Since 2007 electronic ticketing

(e-ticketing) has been in operation in

cities of Vilnius, Kaunas and Klaipėda.

The technology was implemented

with the help of EU funding. Thanks to

the project a unified e-ticketing and

passenger information system exists,

covering the networks which are

operated with buses and trolleybuses

and are open for new services such

as parking payments and bike sharing

etc.

“Who is implementing these

systems?” I ask, curious to know if

there are many local ITS companies

or manufacturers.

“We use products from all the well-

known producers in Europe and other

regions”, Dainius explains “and

they cooperate closely with local

Lithuanian companies. Certainly

there are local ITS companies as

well”.

“Hnit Baltic, for example, is the

largest and most experienced

geographic information systems (GIS)

software and solutions based on the

generating companies in Eastern and

Central Europe started its activities

in Lithuania in 1993. Affecto Lietuva

is one of the leading IT services

and solution providers in Lithuania

and the Baltic states, and Merakas

(a Lithuanian company) develops

software tools for timetable

planning.”

Lithuania is a small state with just

over 3 million people, so I ask if this

helps the development of the ITS

industry or if it make things more

challenging.

“How can a small state whose

population totals just over 3

million surprise the world?” Dainius

responds rhetorically. “Sometimes

small is more flexible, but in our

world of globalization, it looks more

challenging,”

“Continuous innovation plays a

central role in the future role of

Lithuania’s economy and the country

aspires to be the innovation center of

the North Baltic region.”

The country has prioritised road

optimisation and the provision of

traffic and travel data.

To achieve these goals, Lithuania is

contributing to EU-wide multimodal

travel and real-time traffic

information services and minimum

universal traffic information services.

The country provides information on

the tracking and tracing of freight

and is currently developing priority

actions such as EU-wide eCall

services.

Lithuania is also developing

reservation and information systems

for safe and secure parking places for

trucks and commercial vehicles and

working on projects to link vehicles

with the transport infrastructure.

This is an impressive list for a small

country, but I want to know how

Dainius would make things even

better. I ask him how he would spend

10 million Euros on ITS in Lithuania?

The answer is straightforward:

education.

“ITS is quite a new area of study”

says Dainius explains. “Our specialists

rarely participate in international

research projects due to either

insufficient experience, or too little

information about upcoming events.

So, my direction to spend money

would be the creation of a technical

base for some University, like an

ITS solution technical base center

for students, for testing relevant

ITS solutions and creating new ITS

technologies.”

Finally, I asked Dainius what his

favourite ITS system is.

“Personally, for me, the most

important issue is safety in

transport infrastructure,” he says.

“Pedestrians, drivers, cyclists and

passengers – all of them are important

participants in our transport

community. Programs like the EU’s

‘Zero Vision’ initiative, is the right

way to improve things, where we can

focus on creation new technologies

and programs to save more lives.”

If Lithuania is able to contribute to

broader European initiatives and

have an impact in this area, then

regardless of its size – I am sure it will

have a big impact on all of us, and

maybe one day it really will be safe

to cycle from Palanga to Vilnius in a

small, plastic pedal-powered car.

Read the full interview online at

www.erticionetwork.com

7

IT(‘)S Helsinki, IT(‘)S Tokyo

It’s October, time for the congress again, time for Tokyo to join the prestigious list of host cities for these large events. The 8,000 expected participants in the 20th ITS World Congress will have the opportunity to take part in 250 sessions, visit 700 booths in the exhibition area and register for the 20 different showcase demonstrations.

by Carla Coppola

But ITS Tokyo will also be the occasion

to think ahead about the upcoming

European congress next June in the

superb city of Helsinki. To start with,

the Call for Papers will be officially

opened on the first day of the Tokyo

Congress on 14 October. Attendees

will receive all the information

needed in the delegate bag, so be

sure to look for the striking “ITS in

your pocket” leaflet when scanning

the useful material provided in the

bag.

Next year for the first time, in addition

to the technical and scientific papers,

a new one for commercial papers

dedicated to near-market research

work has been included in the Call.

The Technical Papers category should

address institutional, business,

economical and technical aspects of

ITS; while professionals submitting

Scientific Papers should focus on

research in the style of an academic

essay. Papers submitted to this brand

new Commercial Papers category

should analyse and describe activities

related to the business aspect such

as how to improve existing products

or to present a new product or idea

for commercial use. The commercial

sessions will be presented in a

“commercial theatre” in the

exhibition area and will be open to

all participants.

Writing a paper is a full-time job; the

congress organising committee is well

aware of the efforts that each writer

puts into the paper and appreciates

the time spent. In order to make the

best papers even more visible, the

committee signed an agreement with

the IET Intelligent Transport Systems

journal to publish some of the finest

papers from the 2014 congress. After

the event, authors of scientific papers

considered suitable for publication,

will be invited to expand their work

to go into more detail regarding their

research and theories. Those papers

will go through a peer-review process

according to IET ITS standards and, if

accepted, they will be indexed in the

citations database.

For more information (or clarification)

about the Call and enquiries, contact

Pamela Valente, ERTICO Congress

Officer at p.valente@mail.ertico.com

or download the Call for Papers here.

Tokyo will also be the place where the

“ITS in your pocket” App Contest 2014

will be officially opened. On Tuesday

15 October, Minna Kivimäki, Director

General of the Transport Ministry

of Finland, will launch the contest

which will award the best developers

and the best traffic applications

for smartphones. Don’t miss the

opportunity to try Finnish cheese and

cheer the future congresses (Helsinki

in 2014 and Bordeaux in 2015) with

a glass of Bordeaux wine at the

9

Commercial’ Congress Papers – A New Helsinki Opportunity

Eric Sampson, Congress Senior Programme Adviser talks about the Commercial’ Congress Papers

It will be obvious to readers that ITS has moved a long way since the first World Congress in 1994. The emphasis then was on assessing emerging technologies and the outputs from research projects against cost, reliability, performance, etc. We operated a policy of not accepting overly commercial papers without defining exactly the line between acceptable and not acceptable. Today we have much more emphasis on deployment and practical solutions for users and we realised that our policy was not working for papers that deal with very applied subjects or discuss commercial products and processes. We even had cases where essentially the same material was recommended for acceptance if submitted by an academic organisation author but rejected if from a commercial organisation. This is clearly unfair and unhelpful and had to be addressed as papers from authors working for commercial companies are in principle welcome.

Our solution to the problem is based on considering the extent to which the possible practical application of the new knowledge described in the paper has been specified and we recognise two cases. First, pre-market activity in which work is aimed at generating new knowledge which, while not at present linked to the development of a specific product, is likely to be commercially exploitable in due course. The other case is near-market work where the activity has been aimed at generating or improving a specific product, device or idea for the commercial market. A paper that describes pre-market work will be treated in the usual way and will be presented in one of the mainstream Congress sessions. For papers that are near-market we are experimenting with a new Congress format for Helsinki – presentation in sessions held in a “Commercial

Theatre” within the exhibition area to emphasise the link to commercial sales and deployment.

reception hosted at the European

Pavilion from 17:00 while learning

more about the contest.

What is the contest about?

The App contest is directed at new

applications that can ease mobility in

cities as well as in rural areas. The

competition will select the best apps

in three different categories:

• applications to boost the use of

multimodal transport;

• applications for sustainable

urban mobility;

• “out of the box” innovations for

better mobility.

Submitted apps should focus on

consumers (in line with the Congress

theme “ITS in your pocket”); be

original and work on a wide range of

nomadic devices.

A special prize awarded by Nokia and

AppCampus will be given to the best

ITS enabled application on Lumia

Smartphone; while another prize will

be granted to the best application to

help mobility in the city of Helsinki.

The contest will be coordinated in

Finland by the app contest team

composed of Ville Kairamo, Tero

Piirainen and Jukka Lintusaari and

is open to companies, teams, and

individual developers from across

Europe. Developers will have the

opportunity to learn from the best

experts about intelligent traffic

systems and will get to develop their

ideas and proposals with the guidance

of experts.

Companies taking part in the contest

will benefit from extensive publicity

across Europe as well as funding for

further development of their work.

Interaction and community support

will be ensured to local

developers with a series

of webinars and

facilitated workshops

available locally in several

European cities.

Applicants will have time until April

2014 to submit their proposals and

a shortlist of selected applicants

will be published in May. Winners of

the three categories (multimodality,

sustainability, and innovation) will

be notified early June and invited

to attend the Opening Ceremony on

14 June in Helsinki. Attendees to

the European Congress will have the

chance to meet the developers and

their App in the Start up Village in the

Exhibition next June.

All questions about the app (including

the selected jury and prizes) will

be answered next week at the ITS

World Congress, where the 7.815,26

kilometres between Tokyo and

Helsinki (and the 6 hours jet-lag) will

be taken away by a cheerful reception

at the European Pavilion booth (122)

on 15 October.

For more information or enquiries on

this article, contact Carla Coppola,

Communications Officer

c.coppola@mail.ertico.com

ERTICO Partnership events

14-18 October 2013 20th ITS World Congress

Tokyo (JP)

7 November 2013 ERTICO Forum on Emergency Call: where do we go from here?

Brussels (BE)

8 November 2013 ERTICO Public Authority Sector Platform Meeting

Brussels (BE)

19 November 2013 eCall Testing Workshop

Brussels (BE)

21-22 November 2013 HeERO 2nd International Conference

Bucharest (RO)

20-21 November 2013 eCoMove Final Event Aachen,Germany (DE)

This is the �nal event20-21 November 2013

EUROGRESS, Aachen (Germany)

www.interactive-ip.eu www.ecomove-project.eu

For further information, please contact us:

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