Simulated field test of open architecture transportation controller software

The "simulated field test of an open architecture transportation controller (OATC)" accomplished an initial demonstration in a laboratory environment of the feasibility and capability of an OATC as a vital component of an advanced transportation management system (ATMS). This simulation involved the integration of the OATC with expert system software named "FRED" developed at the Institute of Transportation Studies (ITS) for real-time traffic management and control as part of a future ATMS. A cross platform interface was built for the expert system to communicate with the OATC. Software was implemented on the OATC to test the TCBLKS (traffic control blocks) software model and structure. The results of this field test demonstrated that using the TCBLKS was simple and intuitive. This field test also revealed many of the benefits of integrating the OATC and FRED such as data sharing and the potential for distributed processing.