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National Science and Technology Council National Transportation Strategic Research PlanPrevious Section | Table of Contents | Next Section 4. Areas of Enabling ResearchOverviewInnovations in transportation generally result from the application of a wide range of scientific and engineering disciplines, including many that do not have a specific transportation focus. A solid foundation for developing the transportation technology needed for the 21st Century must include research in a broad spectrum of topics. The long-term and often diffuse benefits of wide-ranging research are often such that market forces may be insufficient to motivate private investment. It is in these areas that enabling research performed or funded by the Federal government can pave the way for future technological advances from the private sector. This plan uses the seven long-term research areas defined in the NSTC National Transportation Science and Technology Strategy as a structure for analyzing Federal transportation-related enabling research. They are:
These research areas provide an insight into the existing and the potential commitment within the Federal community. Figure 4-1 shows the breakdown of Federal transportation-related research funding in terms of each of the seven enabling research categories described above. Computer, Information, and Communications Systems and Energy, Propulsion, and Environmental Engineering each comprise 29 percent of transportation-related research. Advanced Materials and Structures is the other dominant category, accounting for almost one-quarter of the total. The remaining four research areas receive a substantially smaller fraction. 
Figure 4-1 FY1998 Total Transportation-Related R&D Budget Authorization by Category. As shown in the previous section, the Department of Defense, with its extensive technology requirements and long tradition of supporting basic and applied research, dominates the distribution shown in Figure 4-1. It is therefore useful to examine the DoD and civil agencies separately. Figure 4-2 shows the distribution of DoD transportation-related research activities, in terms of enabling research categories, for fiscal year 1997. Within the DoD, Computer, Information, and Communications Systems is by far the largest research area, accounting for 49 percent of the agency's transportation-related research budget. 
Figure 4-2 FY1998 Transportation-Related R&D Budget Authorizations Categorized by Area of Enabling Research (Dept. of Defense only). The picture is significantly different for the non-DoD agencies indicated in Figure 4-3. Three categories account for 84 percent of their total transportation-related R&D: energy (due largely to the substantial DOE transportation energy program), materials (predominantly NASA and NSF), and computer and communication technologies (principally DOT and NSF). 
Figure 4-3 FY1998 Total Transportation-Related R&D Budget Authorization for Selected Agencies other than the Dept. of Defense Categorized by Area of Enabling Research. Figures 4-4 and 4-5 summarize transportation-related research budgets, by agency and enabling research category. Figure 4-4 presents the data in terms of DoD and the aggregated totals for the civil agencies; Figure 4-5 provides the detailed allocations among each of the civil organizations. A description of each enabling research category is provided on the following pages. It includes the primary agencies active in the category, a discussion of its relevance to transportation, principal types of application-oriented R&D supported by the enabling research, and representative current examples of enabling research. 
Figure 4-4 FY1998 Transportation-Related R&D Budget Authorization Categorized by Area of Enabling Research. 
Figure 4-5 FY1998 Total Transportation-Related R&D Budget Authority by Agency and Area of Enabling Research for Agencies other than DoD. Human Performance and BehaviorOverview
Transportation projects seek to achieve maximum performance at a minimum cost. To achieve these goals, systems and technologies must be designed and implemented based on an understanding of user needs, as well as the many factors affecting the ways that people interact with automated systems.
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