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ARTSM Central System Interface replacement proposal

(CORBA Adapter)

UTMC has served the Traffic Industry well for some years.  However it became clear pre-covid, that the UTMC systems interfaces were insufficiently robust to cater for the needs of the future and we were all frustrated at the increasing issues around interoperability.

As such, both the industry and user communities were clear that they needed change to enable greater innovation and opportunities for interfacing as well as accessibility and removal of boundaries under procurement requirements.

Industry, under the auspices of ARTSM agreed to once again collaborate together and discuss how best to achieve outcomes to meet the current growing demands of authorities and to reach the DfT goals for a digital future.

Agreement was reached in the last quarter of 2023 and we have now begun the work for a replacement for a core service.

Detailed below is a typical example of a current city wide monitoring and control system.Image removed.

If we consider the Database and decision engine (typically referred to as a Common Database) at the core, one of the primary connections is the UTC (Urban Traffic Control) systems connection. This has traditionally been served by the CORBA service defined for UTC by the UTMC specification TS003 and its associated standards.

Industry believe that this is the most fundamental point of the system which, once developed, will enable swifter development of the remaining platform requirements.

UTC will therefore be the initial focus of the development work to replace the UTC System to system UTMC CORBA interface.

ARTSM formed its working group of industry suppliers to develop the core provision, pending updates from TTF.  A sub-group comprising the current providers of back office systems was formalised in 2023, and they are working collaboratively to ensure that the new interface will be robust and inclusive.

The sub-group members are:

  • Idox
  • Mott Macdonald
  • Swarco
  • TRL
  • Yunex

To achieve the replacement of the current standards the following steps formed the basis of the proposal for collaboration which was put together in early 2023, following discussions with DfT regarding the significant delays in movement of UDG.

  1. ARTSM form working group of industry system suppliers from the list above – achieved May 2023
  2. Working group meets regularly to publish a Communications framework by the end of 2024. The communication framework will define the new communication process and protocol to be used and any supporting functions. – commenced Q1 2024
  3. Jan 2025 working group commences defining the data objects to be used on the new interface considering current data objects in use and any new requirements. This will expect to publish a draft in Q2 2025 for consultation with the wider community.
  4. ARTSM will circulate the draft to its members, user groups and other interested stakeholders to review and provide feedback from a wider audience.
  5.  It is expected that the data objects will then be finalised in Q3 2025.

All specifications produced by the working group will be considered as open protocols and may be freely used. It is expected that the communication framework and data object specifications will be published as TOPAS specifications.

As such the goals of achievement for these new specifications will be:

  1. Use of modern technologies that provide open, secure operation with future expansion as system capabilities develop.
  2. Easily adopted and maintained by current and new industry suppliers
  3. Certified operation to confirm interoperability

We have reached out to the user community and will continue to engage and update everyone regularly.   We will work together with the user community to address protocols/interfaces in order of priority of need following our earlier consultation exercise in November 2023 via ADEPT.

If you wish to be included in communications directly, please forward your email address to general.secretary@artsm.org.uk

We will continue to keep the UDG Limited and its steering committee up to date on our work as the link to TTF.