Volpe Center: Volpe Center Highlights

Information Resources

Volpe Center Highlights - September/October 2000

Papers and Presentations

Mr. Mark Safford of the Transportation Strategic Planning and Analysis Office recently prepared a first draft of the "Interagency Transportation Infrastructure Assurance Research and Development Plan" for the National Science and Technology Council's Interagency Working Group on Critical Infrastructure Protection Research and Development (R&D). The Plan includes a summary of the nation's transportation infrastructure, its vulnerabilities and potential threats, and a discussion of current and planned R&D to improve its security.
On May 1, 2000, Dr. Aviva Brecher of the Office of Environmental Preservation and Systems Modernization organized and chaired a conference session on "Transportation, Energy, and the Environment: Progress and Promise" at the American Physical Society Annual Meeting held in Long Beach, California.
On April 27, 2000, Dr. James Hallock of the Aviation Safety Division presented a paper, "Wake Vortex Tracking Using Frankfurt Windline," at the XXV General Assembly of the European Geophysical Society meeting held in Nice, France. The paper discussed the Volpe Center's joint program with the German Aviation Safety organization (Deutsche Flugsicherung or DFS) to examine wake vortices between two parallel runways at Frankfurt, Germany. Further meetings were held from May 2 to 4, 2000, at the DFS in Langen, Germany, to discuss the progress to date and to agree upon analyses to be conducted.
Ms. Debra Chappell formerly of the High Speed Ground Transportation Division recently presented a paper, "Comparative Analysis of Innovative High-Priority Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Highway-Rail Grade Crossing Projects: Interim Report," at ITS America's Tenth Annual Meeting and Exposition held in Boston, Massachusetts, from May 1 to 4, 2000. Ms. Chappell also recently presented a paper, "Field Trials of Freight Car Reflectorization," at the Transportation Research Board's Annual Visibility Symposium held at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
On April 24, 2000, the Volpe Center delivered a draft final report, "DOT Research and Development Plan," to sponsors within the Research and Special Programs Administration. The report is mandated under Section 508 of the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century. A principal objective of the DOT Research and Development (R&D) Plan is to enable higher returns from modal R&D investments by emphasizing areas of collective DOT-wide concern such as human factors, the accessibility of transportation, and infrastructure security.
In February 2000, Mr. Donald Wright of the Economic Analysis Division published a study, "Analysis of New Entrant Motor Carrier Safety Performance and Compliance Using SafeStat," that compares the more than 40,000 new entrant motor carriers to experienced carriers (with a breakout of foreign domiciled operators from Canada and Mexico). The analysis forms the basis for a new, three-stage entrant safety qualification process drafted by the Volpe Center for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The process will be included in a rule-making that is called for under Section 210 of the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999.
The Economic Analysis Division recently delivered a draft report to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) Data Analysis Division that examines the potential benefits and costs of retrofitting Type MC-300 cargo tanks to the newer DOT-400 requirements for rollover device protection against hazardous materials cargo spills. The FMCSA is considering a requirement for retrofitting cargo tanks used in hazardous materials with stronger rollover protection devices after a review of certain cargo tanks revealed that they did not meet 300-series protection device specifications in effect when the tanks were constructed.
On June 1, 2000, the Economic Analysis Division, with support from Litton PRC, delivered a report, "Efficient Access Pricing for Rail Bottlenecks," to the Federal Railroad Administration's (FRA) Office of the Associate Administrator for Policy and Program Development. The report responds to an FRA requirement for a review of the bottleneck pricing issue in the context of the current regulatory scheme of constrained market pricing and the ongoing trend toward rail mergers.
Ms. Alexandra Kuchar of the Vehicle Crashworthiness Division recently submitted a paper for publication at the 9th American Society of Mechanical Engineers Symposium on Crashworthiness, Occupant Protection, and Biomechanics in Transportation Systems to be held in Orlando, Florida, from November 5 to 10, 2000. The paper, "A Systems Modeling Methodology for Estimation of Harm in the Automotive Accident Environment," which was co-authored by Dr. Robert Greif of the Structures and Dynamics Division and Mr. George Neat, Chief of the Vehicle Crashworthiness Division, describes a methodology for prediction of injuries across a variety of automotive crash configurations by combining a probabilistic statistical model of the accident environment and results of parametric simulation of impacts.
On June 16, 2000, Mr. Neil Meltzer of the Accident Prevention Division presented his most recent paper, "Issues in Determining Data Capacity Requirements for Volvo US Xpress Field Operational Test Evaluation," which was co-authored by Mr. John Hitz, Chief of the Accident Prevention Division, during a working meeting held in Washington, D.C. The Division is providing analytical support to DOT's Intelligent Vehicle Initiative in the design and evaluation of the Volvo U.S. Xpress Field Operational Test for the Federal Highway Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This test will verify the benefits of an advanced crash warning system, with adaptive cruise control on trucks, based on a 2-year field test by U.S. Xpress drivers.
From July 18 to 20, 2000, Mr. Gregg Fleming and Dr. Judith Rochat, both of the Safety and Environmental Technology Division, presented papers in New York, New York, at the summer meeting of the Transportation Research Board's Committee A1F04, Transportation Related Noise and Vibration. Mr. Fleming's paper was titled "Lateral Attenuation of Aircraft Sound Levels over an Acoustically Hard Water Surface: Logan Airport Study." Dr. Rochat's paper was titled "FHWA Traffic Noise Model--Validation Update."
From June 19 to 23, 2000, Mr. Brian Kim of the Safety and Environmental Technology Division presented two papers at the 93rd Annual Conference on Air and Waste Management held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The papers are titled "Development of a Modal Emissions Model Using Data from the Cooperative Industry/Government Exhaust Emissions Test Program," and "Predicting Air Quality Near Roadways through the Application of a Gaussian Puff Model to Moving Sources."
Dr. Bob Church of the Economic Analysis Division recently submitted a draft report to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's (FMCSA) Analysis Division. His report is titled "Enforcement Tools Effectiveness Study: Analysis of Statistics from the Motor Carrier Management Information System--Stages I and II, Indicators of Carrier Compliance Behavior after FMCSA Enforcement Actions." Dr. Church also prepared material for the FMCSA's Associate Administrator to use in explaining his analysis to the Office of the Inspector General as part of a continuing effort to understand the circumstances most conducive to enforcement actions, thereby having a positive impact on compliance.
On July 7, 2000, Dr. Yan Zhang and Dr. Michael Geyer both of the Surveillance and Sensors Division attended the Progress in Electromagnetics Research Symposium held in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr. Zhang presented a paper titled "Investigation of Ultra-Wideband (UWB) Technology and Its Possible Application to Aircraft Surveillance." The paper, which was co-authored by Dr. Geyer and Mr. Carmine Primeggia of the Federal Aviation Administration's Surveillance Systems Engineering Group, discusses the technical advantages and disadvantages of using UWB radar for aircraft surveillance, and assesses the capability of UWB technology to perform surveillance of aircraft. Dr. Zhang also co-chaired a session titled "RF, Microwave, and Millimeter-Wave Sensors."
From July 22 to 26, 2000, Dr. Paul Valihura of the Environmental Engineering Division and Dr. Aviva Brecher of the Office of Environmental Preservation and Systems Modernization participated in the first National Conference on Transportation and Environment for the 21st Century held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Dr. Valihura co-authored a poster paper with Dr. David Valenstein of the Federal Railroad Administration titled "Environmental Considerations for Superspeed Transit: The U.S. Maglev Deployment Program."
From May 15 to 16, 2000, Ms. Anya Carroll of the High-Speed Ground Transportation Division and Dr. Jordan Multer of the Operator Performance and Safety Analysis Division presented their respective research on high way-rail grade crossing safety and human factors at the 15th Biennial Symposium on Visibility, sponsored by the Transportation Research Board and held at the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. Part of their research has been evaluating methods for making rail cars more conspicuous to motorists by using retroreflective markings and evaluating the human performance considerations associated with the placement of these markings on rail cars. The titles of their respective presentations are "Field Trials of Freight Car Reflectorization" and "Evaluation of Four Patterns for Reflectorizing Rail Cars."

Return to Top