New York Sub-Regional ITS Architecture

Element Expanded Functional Requirements: PANYNJ PATH Operations Center


Functional Area: Emergency Call-Taking
  1. The center shall support the interface to the Emergency Telecommunications System (e.g. 911 or 7-digit call routing) to receive emergency notification information and provide it to the emergency system operator.
  2. The center shall receive emergency call information from 911 services and present the possible incident information to the emergency system operator.
  3. The center shall receive emergency call information from motorist call-boxes and present the possible incident information to the emergency system operator.
  4. The center shall receive emergency call information from mayday service providers and present the possible incident information to the emergency system operator.
  5. The center shall receive emergency notification information from other public safety agencies and present the possible incident information to the emergency system operator.
  6. The center shall receive emergency notification information from public transit systems and present the possible incident information to the emergency system operator.
  7. The center shall coordinate, correlate, and verify all emergency inputs, including those identified based on external calls and internal analysis of security sensor and surveillance data, and assign each a level of confidence.
  8. The center shall send a request for remote control of CCTV systems from a traffic management center in order to verify the reported incident.
  9. The center shall forward the verified emergency information to the responding agency based on the location and nature of the emergency.
  10. The center shall update the incident information log once the emergency system operator has verified the incident.
  11. The center shall provide the capability for digitized map data to act as the background to the emergency information presented to the emergency system operator.
Functional Area: Emergency Dispatch
  1. The center shall dispatch emergency vehicles to respond to verified emergencies under center personnel control.
  2. The center shall store the current status of all emergency vehicles available for dispatch and those that have been dispatched.
  3. The center shall relay location and incident details to the responding vehicles.
  4. The center shall track the location and status of emergency vehicles responding to an emergency based on information from the emergency vehicle.
  5. The center shall store and maintain the emergency service responses in an action log.
  6. The center shall provide the capability for digitized map data to act as the background to the information presented to the emergency system operator.
  7. The center shall receive traffic images to support dispatch of emergency vehicles.
  8. The center shall provide the capability to request remote control of traffic surveillance devices
  9. The center shall coordinate response to incidents with other Emergency Management centers to ensure appropriate resources are dispatched and utilized.
Functional Area: Emergency Response Management
  1. The center shall provide strategic emergency response capabilities provided by an Emergency Operations Center for large-scale incidents and disasters.
  2. The center shall manage coordinated inter-agency responses to and recovery from large-scale emergencies. Such agencies include traffic management, transit, maintenance and construction management, rail operations, and other emergency management agencies.
  3. The center shall provide the capability to implement response plans and track progress through the incident by exchanging incident information and response status with allied agencies.
  4. The center shall develop, coordinate with other agencies, and store emergency response plans.
  5. The center shall track the availability of resources and coordinate resource sharing with allied agency centers including traffic, maintenance, or other emergency centers.
  6. The center shall allocate the appropriate emergency services, resources, and vehicle (s) to respond to incidents, and shall provide the capability to override the current allocation to suit the special needs of a current incident.
  7. The center shall receive event scheduling information from Event Promoters.
  8. The center shall support remote control of field equipment normally under control of the traffic management center including traffic signals, dynamic message signs, gates, and barriers.
  9. The center shall provide the capability to remotely control and monitor CCTV systems normally operated by a traffic management center.
  10. The center shall provide the capability to request transit resource availability from transit centers for use during disaster and evacuation operations.
  11. The center shall assimilate the damage assessment of the transit, traffic, rail, maintenance, and other emergency center services and systems to create an overall transportation system status, and disseminate to each of these centers and the traveling public via traveler information providers.
  12. The center shall provide information to the media concerning the status of an emergency response.
  13. The center shall provide the capability for digitized map data to act as the background to the information presented to the emergency system operator.
  14. The center shall provide the capability for center personnel to provide inputs to the management of incidents, disasters and evacuations.
  15. The center shall collect information about the status of the recovery efforts for the infrastructure during disasters.
  16. The center shall provide the overall status of infrastructure recovery efforts to traveler information providers and media.
  17. The center shall provide the capability to communicate information about emergency situations to local population through the Emergency Telecommunications System.
  18. The center shall provide the capability to identify neighborhoods and businesses that should be informed of an emergency situation based on information collected about incidents including their severity, impacted locations, and recovery schedule.
  19. The center shall retrieve information from public health systems to increase preparedness for, and implement a response to biological, chemical, radiation, and other public health emergencies.
  20. The center shall manage coordinated inter-agency responses to incidents at an international border.
Functional Area: Transit Center Fixed-Route Operations
  1. The center shall generate transit routes and schedules based on such factors as parameters input by the system operator, road network conditions, incident information, operational data on current routes and schedules, and digitized map data.
  2. The center shall provide the interface to the system operator to control the generation of new routes and schedules (transit services) including the ability to review and update the parameters used by the routes and schedules generation processes and to initiate these processes
  3. The center shall be able to generate special routes and schedules to support an incident, disaster, evacuation, or other emergency.
  4. The center shall dispatch fixed route or flexible route transit vehicles
  5. The center shall collect transit operational data for use in the generation of routes and schedules.
  6. The center shall provide instructions or corrective actions to the transit vehicle operators based upon operational needs.
  7. The center shall manage large deviations of individual transit vehicles, deviations in rural areas, and deviations of large numbers of vehicles.
  8. The center shall generate the necessary corrective actions which may involve more than the vehicles concerned and more far reaching action, such as, the introduction of extra vehicles, wide area signal priority by traffic management, the premature termination of some services, etc.
  9. The center shall exchange information with Maintenance and Construction Operations concerning work zones, roadway conditions, asset restrictions, work plans, etc.
  10. The center shall disseminate up-to-date schedules and route information to other centers for fixed and flexible route services.
  11. The center shall provide an interface to the archive data repository to enable the operator to retrieve historical operating data for use in planning transit routes and schedules.
Functional Area: Transit Center Information Services
  1. The center shall provide travelers using public transportation with traffic and advisory information upon request. Such information may include transit routes, schedules, transfer options, fares, real-time schedule adherence, current incidents, weather conditions, and special events.
  2. The center shall provide transit information to the media including details of deviations from schedule of regular transit services.
  3. The center shall exchange transit schedules, real-time arrival information, fare schedules, and general transit service information with other transit organizations to support transit traveler information systems.
  4. The center shall provide transit service information to traveler information service providers including routes, schedules, schedule adherence, and fare information as well as transit service information during evacuation.
  5. The center shall enable yellow pages (including non-motorized transportation) information to be output to the traveler.
  6. The center shall broadcast transit advisory data, including alerts and advisories pertaining to major emergencies, or man made disasters.
Functional Area: Transit Center Multi-Modal Coordination
  1. The center shall coordinate schedules and services between transit agencies, traffic management, maintenance and construction operations, parking management, and other surface or air transportation modes.
  2. The center shall share transfer cluster and transfer point information with multimodal transportation service providers, other transit agencies, and traveler information service providers. A transfer cluster is a collection of stop points, stations, or terminals where transfers can be made conveniently.
  3. The center shall accept requests from traffic management to change routes and schedules as part of the implementation of demand management strategies.
  4. The center shall coordinate transit services for special events, planning services for the event and managing transit services on the day of the event.
  5. The center shall provide transit operations personnel with the capability to control and monitor transit service coordination activities.
Functional Area: Transit Center Security
  1. The center shall monitor transit vehicle operational data to determine if the transit vehicle is off-route and assess whether a security incident is occurring.
  2. The center shall receive reports of emergencies on-board transit vehicles entered directly be the transit vehicle operator or from a traveler through interfaces such as panic buttons or alarm switches.
  3. The center shall support the back-office portion of functionality to authenticate transit vehicle operators.
  4. The center shall exchange transit incident information along with other service data with other transit agencies.
  5. The center shall receive information pertaining to a wide-area alert such as weather alerts, disaster situations, or child abductions. This information may come from Emergency Management or from other Alerting and Advisory Systems.
  6. The center shall send wide-area alert information to travelers (on-board transit vehicles or at stations/stops) and transit vehicle operators.
  7. The center shall coordinate the response to security incidents involving transit with other agencies including Emergency Management, other transit agencies, media, traffic management, and traveler information service providers.
  8. The center shall receive threat information and status on the integrity of the transit infrastructure.
  9. The center shall provide support to remotely disable (or reset the disabling of) a transit vehicle in service.
Functional Area: Transit Center Vehicle Tracking
  1. The center shall monitor the locations of all transit vehicles within its network.
  2. The center shall determine adherence of transit vehicles to their assigned schedule.
  3. The center shall support an interface with a map update provider, or other appropriate data sources, through which updates of digitized map data can be obtained and used as a background for transit tracking and dispatch.
  4. The center shall provide transit operational data to traveler information service providers.
  5. The center shall provide collected transit probe data to traffic management centers and traveler information service providers for use in measuring current traffic conditions.
Functional Area: Transit Vehicle Operator Assignment
  1. The center shall maintain records of a transit vehicle operator's performance. This may be done utilizing standardized performance evaluation criteria set forth by governmental regulations and transit operating company policies, assessing the transit vehicle operator's driving history, and assessing comments from the transit vehicle operator's supervisor(s) as well as noting any moving violations or accidents, supervisor comments, government regulations, and company policies.
  2. The center shall assess the transit vehicle operator's availability based on previous work assignments, accumulated hours, plus health and vacation commitments.
  3. The center shall assign transit vehicle operators to transit schedules based on their eligibility, route preferences, seniority, and transit vehicle availability.
  4. The center shall provide an interface through which the transit vehicle operator information can be maintained - either from the transit vehicle operator, center personnel, or other functions.
  5. The center shall generate supplemental vehicle operator assignments as required due to change events that occur during the operating day.
Functional Area: MCM Incident Management
  1. The center shall receive inputs from the Alerting and Advisory System concerning the possibility or occurrence of severe weather, terrorist activity, or other major emergency, including information provided by the Emergency Alert System.
  2. The center shall exchange alert information and status with emergency management centers. The information includes notification of a major emergency such as a natural or man-made disaster, civil emergency, or child abduction. The information may include the alert originator, the nature of the emergency, the geographic area affected by the emergency, the effective time period, etc.
  3. The center shall exchange incident and threat information with emergency management centers as well as traffic management centers; including notification of existence of incident and expected severity, location, time and nature of incident.
  4. The center shall coordinate planning for incidents with emergency management centers - including pre-planning activities for disaster response, evacuation, and recovery operations.
  5. The center shall respond to requests from emergency management to provide maintenance and construction resources to implement response plans, assist in clean up, verify an incident, etc. This may also involve coordination with traffic management centers and other maintenance centers.
  6. The center shall exchange road network status assessment information with emergency management and traffic management centers including an assessment of damage sustained by the road network including location and extent of the damage, estimate of remaining capacity, required closures, alternate routes, necessary restrictions, and time frame for repair and recovery.
  7. The center shall provide work zone activities affecting the road network including the nature of the maintenance or construction activity, location, impact to the roadway, expected time(s) and duration of impact, anticipated delays, alternate routes, and suggested speed limits. This information may be augmented with images that provide a visual indication of current work zone status and traffic impacts.
  8. The center shall receive information indicating the damage sustained by transportation assets, derived from aerial surveillance, field reports, inspections, tests, and analyses to support incident management.
Functional Area: MCM Roadway Maintenance and Construction
  1. The center shall maintain an interface with asset management systems to track the inventory, restrictions, repair needs and status updates of transportation assets (pavement, bridges, signs, etc.) including location, installation and materials information, vendor/contractor, current maintenance status, standard height, width, and weight restrictions.
  2. The center shall respond to requests from emergency management and traffic management centers for hazard removal, field equipment repair, and other roadway maintenance.
  3. The center shall exchange information with administrative systems to support the planning and scheduling of maintenance activities. This information includes: equipment and consumables resupply purchase request status, personnel qualifications including training and special certifications, environmental regulations and rules that may impact maintenance activities, and requests and project requirements from contract administration.
  4. The center shall provide emergency management and traffic management centers with information about scheduled maintenance and construction work activities including anticipated closures and impact to the roadway, alternate routes, anticipated delays, closure times, and durations.
  5. The center shall collect the status and fault data from roadside equipment, such as traffic, infrastructure, and environmental sensors, highway advisory radio and dynamic message signs, automated roadway treatment systems, barrier and safeguard systems, cameras, traffic signals and override equipment, ramp meters, short range communications equipment, security sensors and surveillance equipment, etc., and provide a cohesive view of equipment repair needs.
  6. The center shall collect the status and fault data from the centers that operate the equipment, including data for traffic, infrastructure, and environmental sensors, highway advisory radio and dynamic message signs, automated roadway treatment systems, barrier and safeguard systems, cameras, traffic signals and override equipment, ramp meters, short range communications equipment, security sensors and surveillance equipment, etc., and provide a cohesive view of equipment repair needs.
  7. The center shall receive equipment availability and materials storage status information from storage facilities to support the scheduling of roadway maintenance and construction activities.
  8. The center shall support an interface with a map update provider, or other appropriate data sources, through which updates of digitized map data can be obtained and used as a background for the scheduling of roadway maintenance and construction activities.
  9. The center shall collect current and forecast traffic and weather information from traffic management centers and weather service providers (such as the National Weather Service and value-added sector specific meteorological services).
  10. The center shall dispatch and route maintenance and construction vehicle drivers and support them with route-specific environmental, incident, advisory, threat, alert, and traffic congestion information.
  11. The center shall manage an interface with center personnel to accept vehicle systems control information and remotely control maintenance and construction vehicle on-board equipment.
  12. The center shall track the status of roadway maintenance and construction activities by monitoring collected data from the dispatched vehicles and equipment.
  13. The center shall report the status of field equipment maintenance activities to the centers that operate the equipment.
Functional Area: MCM Work Activity Coordination
  1. The center shall provide work zone activities affecting the road network including the nature of the maintenance or construction activity, location, impact to the roadway, expected time(s) and duration of impact, anticipated delays, alternate routes, and suggested speed limits. This information may be augmented with images that provide a visual indication of current work zone status and traffic impacts.
  2. The center shall provide status information about scheduled maintenance and construction activities including anticipated closures and impact to the roadway, alternate routes, anticipated delays, closure times, and durations. The information is provided to other management centers such as traffic, emergency, transit, traveler information providers, other maintenance centers, multimodal transportation providers, rail operations, and the media.
  3. The center shall collect and respond to feedback concerning scheduled maintenance and construction activities with other management centers such as traffic, emergency, transit, and rail operations.
  4. The center shall collect and disseminate asset restriction information levied on transportation asset usage based on infrastructure design, surveys, tests, or analyses. This includes standard facility design height, width, and weight restrictions, special restrictions such as spring weight restrictions, and temporary facility restrictions that are imposed during maintenance and construction.
  5. The center shall exchange information with administrative systems to support the planning and scheduling of maintenance and construction activities. This information includes: equipment and consumables resupply purchase request status, personnel qualifications including training and special certifications, environmental regulations and rules that may impact maintenance activities, and requests and project requirements from contract administration.
  6. The center shall exchange rail schedules and work plans with rail operations centers.
Functional Area: Emergency Environmental Monitoring
  1. The center shall collect current and forecast road and weather information from weather service providers (such as the National Weather Service and value-added sector specific meteorological services).
  2. The center shall collect current road and weather information from roadway maintenance operations.
  3. The center shall assimilate current and forecast road conditions and surface weather information to support incident management.
  4. The center shall present the current and forecast road and weather information to the emergency system operator.
Functional Area: Center Secure Area Surveillance
  1. The center shall remotely monitor video images and audio surveillance data collected in secure areas including facilities (e.g. transit yards) and transportation infrastructure (e.g. bridges, tunnels, interchanges, roadway infrastructure, and transit railways or guideways). The data may be raw or pre-processed in the field.
  2. The center shall remotely monitor video images and audio surveillance data collected in traveler secure areas, which include transit stations, transit stops, rest areas, park and ride lots, and other fixed sites along travel routes (e.g., emergency pull-off areas and travel information centers). The data may be raw or pre-processed in the field.
  3. The center shall remotely monitor video images and audio surveillance data collected on-board transit vehicles. The data may be raw or pre-processed in the field.
  4. The center shall exchange surveillance data with other emergency centers.
  5. The center shall identify potential security threats based on collected security surveillance data.
  6. The center shall verify potential security threats by correlating security surveillance data from multiple sources.
  7. The center shall remotely control security surveillance devices in secure areas including facilities (e.g. transit yards) and transportation infrastructure (e.g. bridges, tunnels, interchanges, roadway infrastructure, and transit railways or guideways).
  8. The center shall remotely control security surveillance devices in traveler secure areas, which include transit stations, transit stops, rest areas, park and ride lots, and other fixed sites along travel routes (e.g., emergency pull-off areas and travel information centers).
  9. The center shall remotely control security surveillance devices on-board transit vehicles.
  10. The center shall match traveler video images against a database from the Alerting and Advisory Systems of known images that may represent criminals and terrorists.
  11. The center shall exchange traveler images with other emergency management centers to support traveler image matching.
  12. The center shall respond to control data from center personnel regarding security surveillance data collection, processing, threat detection, and image matching.
  13. The center shall monitor maintenance status of the security sensor field equipment.
Functional Area: Incident Command
  1. The center shall provide tactical decision support, resource coordination, and communications integration for Incident Commands that are established by first responders to support local management of an incident.
  2. The center shall provide incident command communications with public safety, emergency management, transportation, and other allied response agency centers.
  3. The center shall track and maintain resource information and action plans pertaining to the incident command.
  4. The center shall share incident command information with other public safety agencies including resource deployment status, hazardous material information, rail incident information, evacuation advice as well as traffic, road, and weather conditions.
  5. The center shall assess the status of responding emergency vehicles as part of an incident command.
Functional Area: Emergency Early Warning System
  1. The center shall monitor information from Alerting and Advisory Systems such as the Information Sharing and Analysis Centers (ISACs), the National Infrastructure Protection Center (NIPC), the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS), etc. The information may include assessments (general incident and vulnerability awareness information), advisories (identification of threats or recommendations to increase preparedness levels), or alerts (information on imminent or in-progress emergencies).
  2. The center shall provide the capability to correlate alerts and advisories, incident information, and security sensor and surveillance data.
  3. The center shall broadcast wide-area alerts and advisories to traffic management centers for emergency situations such as severe weather events, civil emergencies, child abduction (AMBER alert system), military activities, and other situations that pose a threat to life and property.
  4. The center shall broadcast wide-area alerts and advisories to transit management centers for emergency situations such as severe weather events, civil emergencies, child abduction (AMBER alert system), military activities, and other situations that pose a threat to life and property.
  5. The center shall broadcast wide-area alerts and advisories to toll administration centers for emergency situations such as severe weather events, civil emergencies, child abduction (AMBER alert system), military activities, and other situations that pose a threat to life and property.
  6. The center shall broadcast wide-area alerts and advisories to traveler information service providers for emergency situations such as severe weather events, civil emergencies, child abduction (AMBER alert system), military activities, and other situations that pose a threat to life and property.
  7. The center shall broadcast wide-area alerts and advisories to maintenance centers for emergency situations such as severe weather events, civil emergencies, child abduction (AMBER alert system), military activities, and other situations that pose a threat to life and property.
  8. The center shall broadcast wide-area alerts and advisories to other emergency management centers for emergency situations such as severe weather events, civil emergencies, child abduction (AMBER alert system), military activities, and other situations that pose a threat to life and property.
  9. The center shall broadcast wide-area alerts and advisories to commercial vehicle administration centers and roadside check facilities for emergency situations such as severe weather events, civil emergencies, child abduction (AMBER alert system), military activities, and other situations that pose a threat to life and property.
  10. The center shall process status information from each of the centers that have been sent the wide-area alert.
  11. The center shall coordinate the broadcast of wide-area alerts and advisories with other emergency management centers.
  12. The center shall receive incident information from other transportation management centers to support the early warning system.
  13. The center shall present the alert and advisory information and the status of the actions taken in response to the alert by the other centers to the emergency system operator as received from other system inputs.
  14. The center shall support the entry of alert and advisory information directly from the emergency system operator.
Functional Area: Center Secure Area Sensor Management
  1. The center shall remotely monitor and control security sensor data collected in secure areas including facilities (e.g. transit yards) and transportation infrastructure (e.g. bridges, tunnels, interchanges, roadway infrastructure, and transit railways or guideways). The types of security sensor data include environmental threat (e.g. chemical agent, toxic industrial chemical, biological, explosives, and radiological sensors), infrastructure condition and integrity, intrusion and motion, and object detection sensors. The data may be raw or pre-processed in the field.
  2. The center shall remotely monitor and control security sensor data collected in traveler secure areas, which include transit stations, transit stops, rest areas, park and ride lots, and other fixed sites along travel routes (e.g., emergency pull-off areas and travel information centers). The types of security sensor data include environmental threat (e.g. chemical agent, toxic industrial chemical, biological, explosives, and radiological sensors), intrusion and motion, and object detection sensors. The data may be raw or pre-processed in the field.
  3. The center shall remotely monitor and control security sensor data collected on-board transit vehicles. The types of security sensor data include environmental threat (e.g. chemical agent, toxic industrial chemical, biological, explosives, and radiological sensors) and object detection sensors. The data may be raw or pre-processed in the field.
  4. The center shall exchange security sensor data with other emergency centers.
  5. The center shall identify potential security threats based on collected security sensor data.
  6. The center shall verify potential security threats by correlating security sensor data from multiple sources.
  7. The center shall perform threat analysis based on correlations of security sensor and surveillance data.
  8. The center shall exchange threat analysis data with Alerting and Advisory Systems and use that data in local threat analysis processing.
  9. The center shall disseminate threat information to other agencies, including traffic, transit, maintenance, rail operations, and other emergency management centers.
  10. The center shall respond to control data from center personnel regarding security sensor data collection, processing, threat detection, and threat analysis.
  11. The center shall request activation of barriers and safeguards on request from center personnel.
  12. The center shall monitor maintenance status of the security sensor field equipment.
Functional Area: Center Secure Area Alarm Support
  1. The center shall collect silent and audible alarms received from travelers in secure areas (such as transit stops, rest areas, park and ride lots, modal interchange facilities).
  2. The center shall collect silent and audible alarms received from transit vehicles, originated by the traveler or the transit vehicle operator.
  3. After the alarm message has been received, the center shall generate an alarm acknowledgment to the sender.
  4. After the alarm message becomes a verified incident, the center shall determine the appropriate response.
  5. The center shall determine whether the alarm message indicates an emergency that requires the attention of public safety agencies, and forward alarm message data to the appropriate agency as necessary.
  6. The center shall forward the alarm message to center personnel and respond to the traveler or transit vehicle operator as directed by the personnel.