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ITS SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE FOR MALAYSIA

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY


Rising population and increased economic activities in Malaysia are placing
increasing demands on the transportation network resulting in significant traffic
congestion problems. The Ministry of Works, Malaysia utilizes Intelligent
Transportation System (ITS) to better manage, operate, and optimize the
operational effectiveness of the existing transportation infrastructure. The
development of the Malaysian ITS System Architecture represents an extremely
significant step in the advancement of the transportation network and ITS
deployments in Malaysia.

The ITS Architecture for Malaysia provides a unified framework for integration to
guide the coordinated deployment of ITS programs within the public and private
sectors. It is a framework of interconnected subsystems that together provide
ITS User Services through allocated functionality and defined interfaces. It offers
a starting point from which stakeholders can work together to achieve
compatibility among ITS elements to ensure unified ITS deployments for the
country.

The Architecture defines the functions that must perform to implement the
transportation services via the definition of ITS User Services. The Logical
Architecture then defines the actual processes and data flows which support the
ITS User Services. The Logical Architecture also serves as support to the
Physical Architecture where architecture flow indicates one or more data flows.
The various processes identified in the Logical Architecture are assigned to the
subsystems and terminators defined in the Physical Architecture. In additional,
the communication channels for the architecture flows are defined in the Physical
Architecture.


With the Physical Architecture defined and established, definition of Deployment
Packages and selection of ITS standards come next. Deployment Packages
allow the ITS System Architecture developer to acquire the proper package from
the market place while ITS standards ensure interoperability of future systems.
The following diagram illustrates the planning process when establishing the
Malaysian ITS System Architecture.

Establishing ITS System Architecture for Malaysia

The ITS User Services are established from the feedbacks from various
stakeholders to represent the transportation services and needs. Each User
Service defines the ITS functions to be performed to support the ITS
applications. They are bundled into nine logical ITS Sectors and each User
Service is subdivided into a set of constituent ITS User Sub-services. The nine
ITS Sectors for the Malaysian ITS Architecture are as follows:
1. Advanced Traffic Management Systems
2. Safety Systems
3. Advanced Public Transport Systems
4. Advanced Traveller Information Systems
5. Electronic Payment Systems
6. Commercial Vehicle Operation Systems
7. Advanced Vehicle Control Systems
8. Emergency Management Systems
9. Information Warehousing Systems

The Logical Architecture presents a functional view of the ITS User Services. It
defines the functions or process specifications that are required to perform the
ITS User Services and the data flows that need to be exchanged between these
functions. Structured Data Flow Diagrams are used to illustrate the
decomposition of the functional requirements of the User Services.

The Logical Architecture consists of three elements namely Data Flow Diagrams
(DFDs), Process Specifications (P-Specs) and Data Dictionary Entries (DDEs) as
illustrated below. The DFDs provide a convenient graphical illustration of the
interactions between processes with the external inputs and outputs. The P-
Specs describe how the data that flow into the Logical Architecture is
transformed either for use elsewhere, or for output from the Architecture. The
DDEs provide a textual description of the data flow and identify any lower level
data elements that make up the data flow.

Elements of Logical Architecture


The Physical Architecture identifies the physical subsystems that enable the
defined transportation services. It assigns the processes defined in the Logical
Architecture to the subsystems. The Physical Architecture consists of four
components known as Subsystems, Terminators, Physical Architecture Flows
and Physical Architecture Interconnection. The top level Physical Architecture
diagram is illustrated below.

The subsystems are the primary structural components of the Physical
Architecture that carry out the functional processes. The terminators define the
boundary of the Architecture which represent the people, systems, and
environment that interface to ITS. The data flows from the Logical Architecture
are grouped into architecture flows in the Physical Architecture. The architecture
flows gather the processes from the Logical Architecture and assign them to the
subsystems according to stakeholder inputs. The architecture flows exchanging
between subsystems and terminators are specified by the physical architecture
interconnections. The collection of interconnections defines the communications
layer for the Architecture.











Top Level Physical Architecture Diagram




The Deployment Packages provide an accessible and deployment oriented
perspective to the Architecture. They are tailored to fit, separately or in
combination, the real world transportation problems and needs. They address
the specific service requirements of traffic managers, public transport operators,
travelers, and other ITS stakeholders.

Standardization produce benefits by promoting national compatibility, which
insures multiple suppliers and a wide range of product or service functionality.
Synergy across ITS greatly reduces the risk to public and private providers by
assuring interoperability between ITS systems. The potential standards areas for
ITS are identified to guide the future ITS deployment in Malaysia. Standards
from various Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) such as NTCIP,
IEEE, ITE, ASTM, SAE and APTA are identified to guide the exchanges of
information. The XML communications technology is recommended for center-
to-center (C2C) data exchanges to ensure the consistency and compatibility of
the interconnections and interfaces between control centers.

The ITS System Architecture for Malaysia is intended to be a living entity, new
ITS strategies and needs are required to be incorporated into the Architecture.
Maintenance strategies are required to keep it updated as the Malaysias needs
on ITS grow and change. The focus of the maintenance strategy is to guide
controlled updated to the Architecture so that it accurately reflects Malaysia
existing ITS capabilities and future plans.