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Volpe Center Highlights - July 1999Economic Growth and TradeDirector's Notes |
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First Meeting of Corridors and Borders Flagship Initiative Ms. Bahar Barami, of the Policy and Technology Analysis Division, represented the Research and Special Projects Administration at the first meeting of the U.S. DOT Flagship Initiative on Corridors and Borders. The Flagship Initiatives are designed to achieve the DOT goal to "advance America's economic growth and competitiveness" by demonstrating that the activities of member agencies produce outcomes that improve "the safety and efficiency of the movement of people and goods across the U.S.-Canada and U.S.-Mexico borders through investment in infrastructure and information technology improvements." Called "Flagship" because a flagship is the "largest or the finest ship of a shipping line," these initiatives are designed to define performance indicators for measuring progress towards achieving U.S. DOT's strategic goals. At the meeting, as a follow-up to the February 1999 DOT Leadership Conference, a two-year agenda was developed to serve as an action plan drawn from each DOT assistant secretary and modal administrator's strategic plan and performance plan. Also participating were representatives from the Office of the Secretary of Transportation and other modal agencies involved in international goods movement. Volpe Center Participates in International Heavy-Haul Railroad Operations Conference (FRA) At the request of the FRA's Office of Research and Development, Mr. Brian Marquis, of the Structures and Dynamics Division attended the International Heavy Haul Association (IHHA) Specialist Technical Sessions Conference on Wheel/Rail Interface, held in Moscow, Russia. Mr. Marquis collected information in support of the Volpe Center's ongoing research into methods for predicting and avoiding derailments and strategies for minimizing wear of wheel and rail. The IHHA, established in 1983, is committed to the exchange of information between railroads involved in heavy haul operations. This conference was devoted to issues related to the wheel/rail interface and focused, in particular, on heavy-haul freight operations. Papers and poster sessions were presented at the conference by railroad organizations from countries around the world, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Russia, South Africa, and the United States. Mr. Marquis also visited the All-Russian Railway Research Institute Test Center, which has equipment for conducting tests on railroad-related components and test tracks for testing vehicles. This facility is similar to U.S. DOT's Transportation Technology Center in Pueblo, CO. Deployment of Y2K-Compliant FAA System Completed (FAA) National deployment of the Y2K-compliant version of the Federal Aviation Administration's Traffic Management System (TMS), developed, operated, and maintained by the Volpe Center for the FAA, was recently completed. The TMS is the real-time, operational computer system that the FAA uses to predict, detect, and handle air traffic congestion problems. Completion of deployment is a major milestone that culminates several years of software conversion, re-engineering, and integration with new hardware. Since the Volpe Center originally developed TMS, the system capabilities have expanded and the number of users and sites has grown. Volpe Center staff were responsible for upgrading over one million lines of code in the system to new open system software code, and for integrating the software with Y2K-compliant hardware. The Volpe Center, which houses the TMS "hubsite," was the first site to be declared operational with the Y2K-compliant system, in January 1999. Since February 1, 1999, over 70 operational FAA field sites have had their TMS hardware, software, and communications equipment replaced with Y2K-compliant equipment. In addition, Canadian and European sites are being upgraded. The field site deployment has been a cooperative activity with participating staff from the FAA and the Volpe Center. The Volpe Center has provided operations support from the hubsite and on-site training at each FAA site to ease the transition to the new system. The Y2K version of TMS affords the FAA significant improvement in processing speed, reliability, and opportunities to utilize industry-standard technology for future system enhancements. Navigational Technology Meeting Highlights Volpe Center GPS Work The Volpe Center participated in The Institute of Navigation (ION) Annual Meeting on Navigational Technology for the 21st Century, held in Cambridge, MA from June 28 to 30. Messrs. James Carroll and David Phinney, of the Center for Navigation, presented a paper entitled "Advanced Tools for Waterway Pilotage," and Ms. Karen Van Dyke chaired a session on Commercial Aviation. The conference covered a wide variety of Global Positioning System (GPS) applications and focused on the integration of navigation information in air, land, marine, and space systems. The meeting also covered issues pertaining to GPS integrity, differential GPS navigation/communications integration, interference issues, and electronic charting. Many of the papers presented directly impact the work the Volpe Center is performing for agencies and organizations such as the FAA, the Office of the Secretary of Transportation, the U.S. Coast Guard, the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation, the Department of Defense, the Panama Canal Commission, Airservices Australia, Deutsche Flugsicherung (the organization responsible for air traffic control in German airports), and the Chilean Department of Aviation. |
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