Project: #193 Surtrac for the People: Upgrading the Surtrac Pittsburgh Deployment to incorporate Pedestrian Friendly Extensions and Remote Monitoring Advances Progress Report - Reporting Period Ending: Sept. 30, 2018 Principal Investigator: Stephen Smith Status: Active Start Date: Feb. 1, 2018 End Date: Sept. 30, 2018 Research Type: Applied Grant Type: Technology Transfer Grant Program: FAST Act - Mobility National (2016 - 2022) Grant Cycle: 2018 Mobility21 UTC Progress Report (Last Updated: Sept. 29, 2018, 10:48 a.m.) % Project Completed to Date: 60 % Grant Award Expended: 60 % Match Expended & Document: 0 USDOT Requirements Accomplishments During the reporting period, the following progress has been made towards upgrading the Pittsburgh deployment of Surtrac to incorporate advances and new features (referred to as Surtrac 2.0) that have have resulted from the system's first commercial deployments in other cities: (1) The Surtrac 2.0 system was extended to provide the capability to utilize tight master/slave coordination between closely spaced intersections, as was present in the original version of Surtrac that was deployed in Pittsburgh and is need at a few different locations in the Pittsburgh deployment (e.g., Centre/Penn and Kirkland/Penn; Centre/Highland and Spirit/Highland). This extension has been tested in simulation and is ready for field testing. (2) The intersection at Centre and Cypress was upgraded to Surtrac 2.0 both (a) to develop an overall intersection installation process and (b) to provide a test intersection for integrating with Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) radio capabilities for Vehicle/Pedestrian-to-Infrastructure communication. Extensions were made to Surtrac 2.0 to allow it to inter-operate with the DSRC Road Side Unit (RSU) present at the intersection for purposes of broadcasting MAP and SPaT (Signal Phase and Timing) messages and receiving BSMs (Basic Safety Messages) and SRMs (Signal Request Messages). This intersection has been operational since April 2018, and DSRC communication functionality has been tested and validated for both vehicle and pedestrian traffic (the latter through a companion DOT project aimed at assisting pedestrians with disabilities to safely cross signalized intersections). (3) Several steps have been taken toward upgrading of the remaining intersections of the Pittsburgh deployment to Surtrac 2.0. First, the underlying operating systems of all 50 Surtrac processors in the field have been upgraded to run the current Linux operating system (a pre-requisite for Surtrac 2.0). Second, new intersection configuration files that match the new conventions of Surtrac 2.0 and tested via simulation using microscopic traffic models of the Pittsburgh deployment area. The current plan is to push out the Surtrac 2.0 system (with the extensions summarized above) to all intersections next week (October 1-5, 2018), and then to incrementally turn them for testing and any necessary tuning over the next month or two. Once this step is complete, we will undertake an analysis to quantify benefits to the City. (4) Finally, although not identified as part of the proposed scope, we have also engaged with the Western Pennsylvania Regional Data Center (WPRDC) at the request of the City of Pittsburgh's Department of Mobility and Infrastructure for purposes of including Surtrac traffic data. Initial information collected by the Surtrac system was communicated to WPRDC and development of an API for data exchange is in process. Impacts Since the Surtrac 2.0 upgrade is still in-process, no attempt has been made yet to quantify its impact on traffic flow and mobility in the deployment area. Overall, we expect that this upgrade will significantly extend pedestrian walk time, with little or no negative impact on vehicular traffic flow efficiency. Once the upgrade process is complete, we will undertake an evaluation to quantify this expectation. On a broader note, this upgrade of the Pittsburgh deployment area to Surtrac 2.0 will also position the City for its planned expansion of adaptive traffic signal control technology to 150 additional intersections. Other None New Partners Rapid Flow Technologies is providing in-kind support. Issues Execution of this project has experienced delay due principally to the availability of relevant personal from Rapid Flow Technologies (the commercial supplier of Surtrac) who are providing in-kind support in the midst of their efforts to deliver new Surtrac deployments in Atlanta, Portland ME, Needham MA and Quincy MA and to further build their business.