Ohio Turnpike Maintenance and Construction Vehicles - Maint and Constr Vehicle OBE Functionality

Subsystem Description

The 'Maint and Constr Vehicle OBE' resides in a maintenance, construction, or other specialized service vehicle or equipment and provides the processing, storage, and communications functions necessary to support highway maintenance and construction. All types of maintenance and construction vehicles are covered, including heavy equipment and supervisory vehicles. The MCV OBE provides two–way communications between drivers/operators and dispatchers and maintains and communicates current location and status information. A wide range of operational status is monitored, measured, and made available, depending on the specific type of vehicle or equipment. A snow plow for example, would monitor whether the plow is up or down and material usage information. The Maint and Constr Vehicle OBE may also contain capabilities to monitor vehicle systems to support maintenance of the vehicle itself and include sensors that monitor environmental conditions such as road condition and surface weather information. This can include a diverse set of mobile environmental sensing platforms, including wheeled vehicles and any other vehicle that collects and reports environmental information. A separate 'Vehicle OBE' physical object supports the general vehicle safety and driver information capabilities that apply to all vehicles, including maintenance and construction vehicles. The Maint and Constr Vehicle OBE supplements these general capabilities with capabilities that are specific to maintenance and construction vehicles.

Functional Object: MCV Infrastructure Monitoring

'MCV Infrastructure Monitoring' monitors the condition of pavement, bridges, tunnels, associated hardware, and other transportation–related infrastructure (e.g., culverts). It includes vehicle–based sensors that directly monitor the infrastructure, communications that allow roadway–based infrastructure monitoring sensors to be controlled and read, and data communications that allows collected infrastructure condition information to be reported back to a center.

Functional Object: MCV Roadway Maintenance and Construction

'MCV Roadway Maintenance and Construction' includes the on–board systems that support routine non–winter maintenance on a roadway system or right–of–way. Routine maintenance includes landscape maintenance, hazard removal (roadway debris, dead animals), routine maintenance activities (roadway cleaning, grass cutting), and repair and maintenance of both ITS and non–ITS equipment on the roadway (e.g., signs, traffic controllers, traffic detectors, dynamic message signs, traffic signals, etc.).

Functional Object: MCV Vehicle Location Tracking

'MCV Vehicle Location Tracking' monitors vehicle location and reports the position and timestamp information to the dispatch center.

Functional Object: MCV Vehicle System Monitoring and Diagnostics

'MCV Vehicle System Monitoring and Diagnostics' includes on–board sensors capable of monitoring the condition of each of the vehicle systems and diagnostics that can be used to support vehicle maintenance. The status of the vehicle and ancillary equipment and diagnostic information is provided to the vehicle operator, repair facility, and dispatch center.

Functional Object: MCV Work Zone Support

'MCV Work Zone Support' provides communications and support for local management of a work zone. It supports communications between field personnel and the managing center to keep the center appraised of current work zone status. It controls vehicle–mounted driver information systems (e.g., dynamic message signs) and uses short range communications to monitor and control other fixed or portable driver information systems in the work zone.