Chapter 1

Intelligent Transportation Systems

Abstract Transportation systems constitute an essential part of modern life and

large urban centers. These systems have emerged as major players in enabling the
mobility of not only vehicles but also people residing in cities, playing a part in all
issues related to mobility within urban environments. Owing to the unprecedented
growth of urban centers and the introduction of new services that have emerged as a
result of technological advancements, these systems have been increasingly requir-
ing considerable support to manage resources and vehicles. Transportation systems
play a role in coordinating vehicle traffic and guaranteeing safety, which involves
tackling many challenging issues commonly observed in large urban centers. The
advancements and support of information and communication technologies have
enabled the design and implementation of transportation solutions, which led to
the development of intelligent transportation systems (ITSs) and the provision of
many innovative services, such as those related to guaranteeing safety, providing
useful information to drivers, enabling greater flow of movement on streets, and
avoiding congestion. ITSs combine various technologies and services to optimize
urban mobility and reduce both the financial and environmental damage caused by
the demand for vehicles in urban centers. This chapter describes the fundamental
concept of ITSs in the context of big cities.

1.1 Introduction

Communication and information technology are the driving force behind some
of the most notable innovations in the automotive industry and modern society.
In the last two decades, mobile communications have transformed our lives by
allowing the exchange of information, anywhere and anytime. The use of such
mobile communications systems in vehicles is expected to become a reality in
the near future, as industries, universities, and governments around the world
devote significant efforts and resources to the development of safer vehicles and
infrastructure for road transport. These investments can be verified through many
national and international initiatives dedicated to vehicular networks [3, 19, 24].

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 1

R. I. Meneguette et al., Intelligent Transport System in Smart Cities, Urban
Computing, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93332-0_1
2 1 Intelligent Transportation Systems

We can observe through these initiatives, whereby vehicles gradually incorporate

embedded features and devices, such as sensors, cameras, computers, and com-
munications resources. These features are causing vehicles to have an impact on
existing systems with the transmission and real-time interpretation of information,
supporting data acquisition and decision making to assist drivers and devices to
take proper, timely actions [14]. Vehicles have become a relevant tool for smart
cities because they have the ability to sense objects and events in the environment
and respond appropriately; they not only assist in vehicle traffic management but
also represent a tool for capturing real-time, relevant information used in resource
management.
Among its existing definitions, a smart city can be defined as an intelligent
environment that embeds information and communication technologies and creates
interactive systems. These systems bring communication to the physical world
to solve inhabitants’ problems in their urban conglomerations and ensure better
management of public resources and space. From this perspective, a smart city,
more generally referred to as an intelligent space, relates to a physical environment
in which communication and information technologies, as well as sensor systems,
are imperceptible as they become transparently embedded in physical objects
and the environment in which people live, travel, and work [21]. An intelligent
city, like any other urban center, needs careful attention to a series of mobility
and management problems, such as traffic, surveillance, natural disasters, and
sustainability. To support such solutions, many urban data need to be collected
and disseminated through communication infrastructures, which in turn require
integrated, heterogeneous, and intelligent forms of wireless communication.
Thus, in this context of smart systems, ITSs comprise the union of several
technologies with the aim of providing comprehensive optimization of the urban
mobility of a city and bringing greater safety to drivers and comfort and enter-
tainment to passengers [1]. As a result, ITSs employ data, communication, and
computation to provide services and applications for addressing and possibly
solving a wide range of transportation problems in modern large cities [5].
These applications rely on collaboration among elements that integrate urban and
transportation systems, such as sensors, mobile devices, and vehicles, to introduce
real-time awareness of the environment. The appropriate junction of all these factors
significantly contributes to the sensing and gathering of data for evaluation and
subsequent implementation of appropriate responses by a control system [6].
The services and applications provided by ITSs have particular characteristics
and peculiarities, which distinguish them from more traditional applications [15].
They are services that generate and consume a high volume of disparate data
and use specialized communication technologies with different bandwidths, reach,
and latency. These characteristics face restrictive, challenging issues since ITSs
also hold a wide range of restrictions and levels of quality of service that vary
dramatically according to each application. For this reason, designing a service that
is part of these systems represents a major challenge.
This chapter outlines the concepts of an ITS that offers services and applications
to smart cities, which includes pedestrians and vehicles. These services seek to
1.2 Intelligent Transportation System Concepts 3

provide higher road safety, efficient mobility, and comfort to drivers and passengers
of vehicles traveling on city streets. The rest of the chapter is organized as follows.
In Sect. 1.2, we describe the concepts of an intelligent transport system and present
the principal ITS architectures and applications. We also explain the various issues
involved with security and privacy in an ITS. Finally, we discuss the most significant
challenges involved in integrating ITSs into smart urban centers.

1.2 Intelligent Transportation System Concepts

An ITS comprises a set of technologies and applications aimed at improving trans-

port safety and mobility, as well as increasing people’s productivity and reducing the
harmful effects of traffic. The initial ITS concept was proposed by researchers in the
United States (US) in the twentieth century [1]. However, ITSs are now attracting a
great deal of attention from academia and industry because such systems not only
improve vehicle traffic conditions but may ultimately make the transportation sector
safer and more sustainable and efficient, avoiding the inconveniences caused by
traffic congestion and the effects of climate problems on traffic.
ITSs integrate information and communication technologies (ICT) and apply
them to the transport sector [4]. These systems collect data from sensors and
equipment implanted in vehicles and infrastructures to merge the data so that it
is possible to contextualize the information, which will allow for making inferences
about the state of the transportation system of a given city. With this information it
is possible to offer services and applications that aim to improve the management
of urban resources and increase the convenience of people through the use of
information and alert services. Thus, ITSs help to ease traffic flow in cities by
reducing the time spent in traffic jams, in turn reducing fuel consumption, CO
emissions, and monetary losses.
In the following sections, we present the main ITS architectures and their
components, highlighting the main differences between each proposed model. In
addition, some projects aimed at the development of an ITS and the challenges of
ITSs are described.

1.2.1 ITS Integration with Smart Cities

Modern vehicles come equipped with a series of sensors, cameras, processing units,
and communication resources. All these embedded capabilities enable vehicles to
collect, transmit, and interpret information to assist in the acquisition of data and in
taking some action to help the driver and devices take action. These features turn
vehicles into a valuable tool for smart cities, serving as a source for capturing real-
time, relevant information used in the management of either traffic or resources. A
smart city can be defined as an intelligent environment that embeds information
and communication technologies that create interactive environments that bring
4 1 Intelligent Transportation Systems

communication to the physical world to solve daily problems of inhabitants in their

urban conglomerations, ensuring better public management.
From this perspective, an intelligent city, or more generally an intelligent
space, refers to a physical environment in which communication and information
technologies, as well as sensor systems, disappear as they become embedded in
physical objects and the environment in which people live, travel, and work [21]. An
intelligent city requires solutions to several problems, such as traffic, surveillance,
natural disasters, and environmental monitoring. Urban data need to be collected
and disseminated through communication infrastructures to support such solutions.
This data flow, in turn, requires integrated, heterogeneous, and intelligent forms of
wireless communication.
Among the services employed in an intelligent city, we can include the coordi-
nation of traffic lights, parking, location services, weather services, tourist services,
and emergency services. All services should be integrated to improve the accuracy
of the information delivered to drivers [16]. Another useful service consists of the
deployment of sensors in streets to track and alert drivers of dangers ahead. In
addition, autonomous vehicles can make use of these sensors to guide passengers to
their destination. One framework explored the communication between sensors and
vehicles to enable a car to be moved between source and destination safely [12].
With the emergence of electric vehicles (EVs), new services have arisen to
provide shorter route planning with the aim of minimizing costs and avoiding traffic
jams, emphasizing recharging points along the way when needed [20]. Another
relevant aspect to smart cities revolves around the concern with sustainability
and related actions performed by humans to reduce their impact on the global
environment. Many traffic routing services and applications are already available
to the population to favor the movement of people, thereby decreasing fuel
consumption and vehicle emissions of carbon dioxide. Also, route- and ride-
sharing services have received significant attention and supporters [25] because
these strategies reduce the number of vehicles in circulation and, consequently,
emissions of gases into the atmosphere.
In intelligent cities, one challenge is the analysis and interpretation of data
obtained from various mobile and fixed devices that have localization and commu-
nication mechanisms, such as GPS, WIFI, 3G, and 4G. The mobility of individuals
must be taken into account in such environments to track the movement of vehicles
and pedestrians for maximizing connectivity and forecasting. Thus, this urban
dynamicity requires identifying mobility patterns, social events, routines, and the
interactions of individuals with the surrounding environment and with other indi-
viduals [18]. Equipped with the urban geographical characteristics, the microscopic
factors linked to human behavior make it possible to define macroscopic trends and
flow aspects of individuals over a period of time in a given region, evidencing critical
regions in a street network. In other words, deep analysis can identify those regions
that are most frequented and why these regions, for instance, receive a given stream
of people at a given time [18].
One of the most challenging aspects in smart cities is to design a robust and
reliable solution that can cope with the diversity and volume of data collected in
real time. Another part of the challenge relates to the precision of such a solution
1.2 Intelligent Transportation System Concepts 5

regarding the monitoring and interpretation of data that can be used in decision
making. The analysis output should be usable in a large variety of applications,
such as allocating or moving physical resources not only for citizens but also for
municipal services, such as fire departments, ambulances, and police.

1.2.2 Architecture

The recent evolution of computing and communication technologies in the last

decade has boosted the development of ITS services, matching against increasing
demands, which come with a variety of requirements. The high diversity of
factors has prompted the need for standardization to define a general method by
which devices and components can interact with each other. Among the existing
architectures, we describe the architecture adopted in Canada, the United States,
Europe, and Japan.

1.2.2.1 North American ITS Architecture

The architecture used in the United States has been developed by the U.S.
Department of Transportation [22]. Its design focuses on assisting urban mobility
through a cooperative system. The architecture is referred to as the Architecture
Reference for Cooperative and Intelligent Transportation (ARC-IT); it consists of
a set of interconnected components organized into four views, as we can see in
Fig. 1.1. We describe each of the views as follows:

Enterprise View Service

Stakeholders Relationships Packages

Enterprise View Roles Needs

Functional View
Data Flows
Service
Packages
Requirements Processes
Functional View

Physical View
Phisical Objects

Physical View Information Flows Functional Objects

Communications View Security

Standards Solutions
Security
Profiles
Communications View

Fig. 1.1 Architectural reference for cooperative and intelligent transportation [22]
6 1 Intelligent Transportation Systems

• Enterprise View deals with the relationship between users and organizations,
establishing rules that such organizations follow within the cooperative ITS
environment. Therefore, the relationships between an entity, user, and system
depend on the roles that entities receive when interacting with user services.
Enterprise View consists of a set of objects such as:
– Enterprise Object is an individual or organization that interacts with an object.
An Enterprise Object can comprise several other objects by participating
in the interaction of various functionalities. For instance, Device Developer
is a component of Auto Manufacturer, but it also participates in Standards
Body [22];
– Resource supports the execution of some object. It may be a physical or virtual
element with limited dispersion;
– Relationship defines the coordination between Enterprise Objects, for exam-
ple, a contract;
– Role consists of a set of actions, functions, and rules that an object participat-
ing in a relationship carries out or follows.
Thus, in summary, the Enterprise View is composed of Enterprise Objects that
cooperate and interact to exchange information, manage systems, and operate
actions. Also, Enterprise View establishes relationships among those Enterprise
Objects, defining the method for Enterprise Objects to interact with other objects
that may appear in the View as Resources. The relationships among Enterprise
Objects establish a contract or agreement that seeks to find common purposes
necessary to implement and deliver an ITS service.
• Functional View focuses on the functioning of the abstract elements and
their logical interactions. Therefore, Functional View defines the functional
requirements to support the needs of ITS users. For this, the data flows and
processes provide a structure of presentation of interactions and functions that
preserve the requested requirements.
The ARC-IT functional model falls under a structural analysis methodology.
The methodology employs the National ITS Architecture’s logical architecture.
The architecture applies the work of Hatley/Pirbhai and includes Yourdon-
Demarco data flow diagrams (DFDs) to illustrate the flow of data between
functional elements [22]. The functional model does not include diagrams, just
collections of processes and their data flows. The Functional View uses some
structural artifacts, described as follows:
– Process consists of a function or activity that is required to perform actions
and achieve an objective or to support actions of another process, such as to
collect data and generate data;
– Process Specification corresponds to a function primitive, which is the textual
definition of the most detailed processes, including a set of inputs and outputs
of the functions, their requirements, and an overview;
– Data Flows comprise the flow of information among processes and an object
within a process;
1.2 Intelligent Transportation System Concepts 7

– Terminator represents an external device that belongs to the architecture, such

as source and a sink for information.
The Functional View uses processes to manage and control the behavior of
the system, a type of monitoring. These processes execute a set of predefined
actions to achieve the goals of an application or to support the operations of
another process. The Functional View also provides data processing functions,
data stores, and the logical flows of information among these elements that
establishes the flow of data that move between processes.
• Physical View describes the physical elements, such as devices and systems,
that provide ITS functionality. This functionality contains the roles of elements
involved in delivering user services, the respective capabilities of such elements,
and the connections between them. Therefore, the Physical View describes the
transportation systems and the information exchanges that ITSs support. The
Physical View consists of seven main objects:
– Physical Object represents people, places, or objects that participate in the
ITS. These objects can be expressed according to their application, their
processing, and their interface with other objects. A Physical Object is divided
into five classes, as shown in Fig. 1.2:
Center defines the center of control and management of the system, which
provides application, management, administrative, and support functions
from a fixed location not in proximity to the road network;
Field encompasses all the infrastructure of the environment, such as
traffic detectors, cameras, signal controllers, dynamic message signs, and
parking. The Field class also includes communication equipment between
vehicles and the shoreline infrastructure, as well as other communication
mechanisms that provide communications between mobile elements and
fixed infrastructure;

Fig. 1.2 Diagram describing major physical components in ARC-IT [22]

8 1 Intelligent Transportation Systems

Support consists of a center that presents non-transportation-specific ser-

vices, such as security and communications facilitation;
Traveler corresponds to the devices used by people on a trip to gain access
to transport services during their journey;
Vehicle represents vehicles and embedded sensors;
Mobile encompasses all Vehicles and mobile Travelers.
– Functional Object comprises the building blocks of the physical objects in
the Physical View. Functional objects group similar processes of a particular
Physical Object together into a package.
– Information Flow contains the information exchanged between a physical
object and a view. This information meets the communication requirements
provided by the interface. The Information Flow uses flow characteristics that
imply a series of communication protocol standards, in which provision of the
agreement relationship determines the role and use of those standards.
– Triple represents the junction of a Physical Object source and destination with
the Information Flow and Physical Object destination. It is used to define an
interface.
– Subsystem consists of a Physical Object with a specified functionality inside
the ARC-IT system boundary.
– Terminator represents a Physical Object without a specified functionality,
outside the ARC-IT system boundary.
– Service Package Diagram illustrates all Physical Object diagrams.
• Communication View defines how physical objects communicate. It describes
communication protocols to provide interoperability between Physical Objects
in the Physical View. These protocols need to map the system requirements with
the constraints imposed by physical connectivity, among other aspects.
The ARC-IT can be represented as an integrated set of physical objects that
interact and exchange information to support the architecture service packages.
Physical Objects consist of subsystems and of terminators, in which they
provide a set of capabilities that can be implemented at any one place or time.
Communication between these elements is carried out by Information Flows,
in which are included the source and destination Physical Objects and the
Information Flow that is exchanged, as depicted in Fig. 1.3.
Additionally, ARC-IT includes dozens of communication profiles that support
all links defined in the Physical View. Each profile identifies standards at each
layer of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) communication stack and in
particular includes standards that support ITS communications. Security Plane
specifies security policies, authentication mechanisms, and encryption of data.
Figure 1.4 describes a three-stack configuration based on the type of network
element used by the ARC-IT architecture.

• Service Package represents a service-oriented entry point that shares each of the
four views. The Service Packages specify not only the technologies but also the
views that involve the ARC-IT architecture.
1.2 Intelligent Transportation System Concepts 9

Fig. 1.3 Difference between ARC-IT, OSI model, and NTCI

RSE Gateway
OBE status

Vehicle OBE Roadside Service Monitor

Equipement System
SecurityPlane

ITS Application ITS Application

IEEE 1609.2

Information Layer Information Layer

Undefined Undefined
Application Layer Application Layer
Undefined Undefined
Security Plane

Presentation Layer Presentation Layer

ISO ANS.1 UPER ISO ANS.1 UPER
IETF DTLS

Session Layer Session Layer Session Layer Session Layer

Security Plane

IETF DTLS IETF DTLS IETF DTLS IETF DTLS

IETF DTLS

Transport Layer Transport Layer Transport Layer Transport Layer

IETF UDP IETF UDP IETF UDP IETF UDP
Network Layer Network Layer Network Layer Network Layer
IETF IPv6 IETF IPv6 IETF IPv6 IETF IPv6
Data Link Layer Data Link Layer Data Link Layer Data Link Layer
IEEE 1609.4, IEEE 802.11 IEEE 1609.4, IEEE 802.11 LLC and MAc compatible LLC and MAc compatible
Physical Layer Physical Layer Physical Layer Physical Layer
IEEE 802.11 IEEE 802.11 Backhaul PHY Backhaul PHY

Fig. 1.4 Example of communication diagram [22]

10 1 Intelligent Transportation Systems

Fig. 1.5 Canadian ITS architecture [2]

• Security is responsible not only for the safety of the system but also for the safety
of the vehicles’ mobility on the roads. The ARC-IT handles security holistically,
addressing security concerns spanning all four views.
The USA architecture provides the framework for the description of ITSs, which
defines the functions that must be performed by Physical Objects. Although the
architecture supplies several services to its users, it does not clarify the support of
the simultaneous use of various communication technologies to meet the needs of
its users. Another limitation of this architecture is related to the flexibility of the
system with respect to using new computing paradigms, such as cloud computing
and fog computing.

1.2.2.2 Canadian ITS Architecture

Transport Canada introduced the Canadian ITS architecture [2] and provided a
framework for planning, defining, and integrating ITSs. The architecture contains
the follows elements:
• The functions reflect the actions required for ITS, such as gathering traffic
information or requesting a route;
• The physical entities or subsystems correspond to the elements affected by the
functions, such as the field or the vehicle;
• The information flows and data flows are the connections between these functions
and physical subsystems together in an integrated system.
This framework contains a clear description of each element and subsystem. The
architecture is divided into five distinct components, as shown in Fig. 1.5. We review
each component in what follows.
1.2 Intelligent Transportation System Concepts 11

• User Services describe the services offered in the platform and accessed by users.
The platform provides 37 services to its users. These services present a set of
functions that allow the user to travel quietly and securely. Among the provided
services, we mention Traffic Management, Traveler Information, and Emergency
Management;
• Logical Architecture defines the functions and activities of each process to
meet the requirements of the user services. This architecture also seeks to
help identify the system functions and information flows and attempts to guide
the development of functional requirements for new systems. The Logical
Architecture provides a graphical view that shows the fit between processes
and data flows. However, this architecture does not define where or by whom
functions are performed in the system, nor does it describe how to implement a
function.
Therefore, in the Canadian framework, the architecture defines the set of informa-
tion and data flows and processes that meet user service requirements. Processes
and data flows are grouped to form particular transportation management func-
tions and are represented graphically by bubble charts, which decompose into
several levels of detail.
• Physical Architecture describes the physical entities that define subsystems
and Terminators. The architecture specifies Architecture Flows that detail the
integration of subsystems and Terminators in the system. However, this architec-
ture provides agencies with a physical representation of how the system should
provide the required functionality. Thus, the architecture takes the processes
identified in the Logical Architecture and assigns them to physical entities.
The subsystems represent a set of capabilities, corresponding to the principal
structural elements of the ITS physical architecture. These subsystems are
divided into four classes, as shown in Fig. 1.6. Center defines the control
and management center of the entire system, which executes the services.
Field encompasses all the infrastructure of the environment, such as roadside
units (RSUs), monitoring sensors, and cameras. Vehicles represent vehicles and
onboard sensors. Travelers correspond to the devices used by people during a
trip. Terminators describe the boundary of an architecture and represent people,
systems, and the general environment that interface to an ITS.
Physical Architecture also uses an entity called Equipment Packages that divides
the subsystems into deployment-sized pieces. Equipment Packages serve to
group functions of a particular subsystem together into an “implementable”
software package and hardware capabilities.
• Service Packages consist of slices of the Physical Architecture that deal with
specific services related to transportation problems, such as surface control. A
service involves a set of Equipment Packages required to work together and
deliver a given transportation service. Therefore, a service collects different
information from many subsystems, Equipment Packages, and Terminators to
provide the required service output.
• Standards are methods that facilitate the deployment of interoperable systems at
local, regional, and national levels without impeding an innovation as technology
12 1 Intelligent Transportation Systems

Centres
Travellers Traffic Emergency Toll Commercial Maintenance &
Vehicle Construction
Management Management Administration Administration Management
Remote
Traveller
Support Information Emissions Transit Fleet and Archived Data Border
Service Management Management Freight Management Inspection
Personal Provider Management Administration
Information
Access
Wide Area Wireless (Mobile) Fixed Point - Fixed Point
Communications Communications

Vehicle Roadway

Emergency Security
Vehicle Monitoring

Commercial Toll
Communications

Communications
Vehicle - Vehicle

Vehicle Collection

Field - Vehicle
Transit Parking
Vehicle Management
Maintenance & Commercial
Construction Vehicle Check
Vehicle
Intermodal
Freight Intermodal
Equipment Terminal
Border
Inspection
Systems
Vehicles Field

Fig. 1.6 ITS architecture for Canada subsystems and communications [2]

advances and new approaches evolve. Therefore, Standards are fundamental to

the establishment of an open ITS environment.
The Canadian architecture provides a standard structure for the design of ITSs,
defining functions that must be performed by components and subsystems. The used
information flow employs a communication mechanism that allows for the mapping
of the requirements of each function with the need for each service offered to its
users. Although the architecture provides several services to its users, it is unclear
how the architecture allows for the simultaneous use of various communication
technologies to meet user needs. Another limitation of this architecture relates to
the availability of the resources; all services lie in Centers, and the communication
between the two Center and Vehicle classes occurs through an interface, which
limits the use of new paradigms.

1.2.2.3 European ITS Architecture

The ETSI Technical Committee on Intelligent Transport Systems [7] is responsible

for the development of the European ITS architecture, which consists of four
subsystems, as shown in Fig. 1.7.
• Personal provides access to service in ITSs from mobile devices to users, such
as by smartphone;
1.2 Intelligent Transportation System Concepts 13

Vehicle ITS Station

ITS-S Host
Vehicle ITS Gateway
ITS-S Router
Personal ITS Station

Internal Network

Personal ITS Subsystem ITS peer-to-peer Vehicle ITS Subsystem

communications
Central ITS Subsystem Roadside ITS Subsystem
Central ITS Station Roadside ITS Station

ITS-S Host ITS-S Host

Vehicle ITS Gateway Vehicle ITS Gateway
ITS-S Border Router ITS-S Router ITS-SBorder Router

Internal Network Internal Network

Fig. 1.7 European ITS architecture: communication subsystems [7]

• Vehicle corresponds to devices embedded in a vehicle, such as the onboard unit

(OBU), which hosts ITS applications. These applications consider information
about the vehicle and the environment in which it is located. They receive
information from, send it to, and exchange it with other drivers;
• Central defines a central device that manages, monitors, and makes available
ITS services to users;
• Roadside represents devices installed along the roadside that drive ITS applica-
tions. These devices collect information about vehicle flow and road conditions;
they also control roadside equipment and establish communication among
vehicles with the objective of enabling the exchange of information between
them.
These subsystems comprise a standard architecture known as an ITS station (ITS-
S). This architecture is based on the OSI model for which it establishes layers of
communication. However, this architecture includes one more layer interfacing with
ITS applications. Figure 1.8 describes the ITS-S architecture and shows how it is
divided into six elements.
• Access corresponds to layers 1 and 2 of the OSI protocol and contains a function
to establish access to communication channels;
14 1 Intelligent Transportation Systems

Fig. 1.8 ITS-S reference

architecture [7] Applications
MA FA SA

MF

SF
Facilities

Management
NF

Security
Networking &

WN

SN
Transport
IN

SI
MI
Access

MS

• Networking and Transport define the addressing and routing of network infor-
mation, as well as the sending of information over the network. This module
corresponds to layers 3 and 4 of the OSI model;
• Facilities comprise layers 5, 6, and 7 of the OSI model and are intended to
assist ITS applications that share functions and information according to their
functionality and application. They manage all data coding and application
sessions;
• Applications refer to ITS applications. These applications may contain features
of more than one service, and one service may be the result of a combination of
other applications;
• Management is in charge of managing communications within the ITS-S;
• Security Entity provides security services.
Therefore, an ITS-S hosts a variety of ITS applications and communicates with
other components within the subsystem and other ITS-Ss [7]. An ITS-S can be
composed of the following functional elements:
• ITS Station Host provides access to ITS applications through personal devices;
• ITS Station Gateway supports external communication. It connects two differ-
ent OSI protocol stacks at layers 5–7;
• ITS Station Router establishes a vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) or vehicle-to-
infrastructure (V2I) communication or communication between ITS-Ss, meaning
an interconnection between OSI layer 4 (transport) and 3 (network) of the OSI
model;
• ITS Station Border Router provides nearly the same functionality as ITS-S
routers, with the difference that the external network may not support the same
management and security principles of the ITS [1].
The European architecture presents a set of subsystems that offer ITS services.
Like the architectures mentioned previously, this one also has limitations, such
as the use of a centralized control element and the lack of integration with new
1.2 Intelligent Transportation System Concepts 15

communication paradigms. These restrictions reduce its flexibility with respect to

the inclusion of new technologies, which may emerge in the future, or even current
technologies, such as cloud computing and fog computing.

1.2.2.4 Challenges in ITS Architectures

Nowadays we see a significant dynamism in urban mobility due to the number

of vehicles on urban roads and the daily routines and particular characteristics of
urban road networks. The growth of traffic flows has led to an increase in issues
related to transportation systems, such as congestion and higher rates of traffic
accidents. Advancements in communication technology, in loco sensing, and in-
vehicle monitoring have engendered a host of smart services that rely on more
immediate and dynamic communication, enabling an abstraction of the state of
mobility in a given city.
ITSs can use heterogeneous means of communication, including mobile devices,
that are not restricted to vehicular networks. This broader access to networks allows
for greater scalability and a reduction in delays in sending and receiving information
regarding services related to the transport system. However, the architecture for such
systems faces several challenges in acting efficiently and guaranteeing quality and
safety, entailing additional costs, which means the implementation of such services
will not always be feasible.
As with previous descriptions of existing ITS architectures, we can highlight
several critical components in these architectures, such as sensors, OBUs, RSUs,
GPS, intelligent traffic lights, access points, portable devices, satellites, and spe-
cialized servers. Communication among the devices and even subsystems of this
architecture is critical and largely determines the feasibility and performance of
ITS solutions. The heterogeneity of communication requires dealing with several
adopted technologies, such as Wi-Fi, WiMAX, LTE, GSM, 3G, 4G, satellite, and
Bluetooth, which directly increases the flexibility and complexity of the design.
The communication and abstraction of data between technologies of different
networks represent one of the great challenges in designing a transport system
architecture. This challenge stems from the complexity of establishing a hetero-
geneous connection, as mentioned earlier. For a system to operate collaboratively,
it needs to develop standards that facilitate the integration of components. Also,
the distinct characteristics of the urban environment and high mobility of vehicles
require additional attention for an adequate implementation of the infrastructure,
taking into consideration the transportation system as a whole, as well as tolerance
for delays and failures.
An ITS, which includes vehicles, devices, and infrastructure, can contain a
diversity of wireless communication technologies that allow communication over
more than one data channel. The work presented in [8] confirms the importance and
role of the Internet’s infrastructure in the context of vehicular networks. According
to the study, the benefits of the Internet’s infrastructure are that it is ubiquitous,
provides ready access to services in several urban environments, and establishes
16 1 Intelligent Transportation Systems

interconnections among vehicles. Future trends for the Internet consist of peer-
to-peer (P2P) wireless communications and a support infrastructure for the proper
provisioning of applications and services. In what follows, we highlight some works
that make use of infrastructure integrated with ad hoc networks, demonstrating
how an ITS can become complete and more efficient through the use of hybrid
architectures, and discussing the challenges that need to be overcome.
An analysis of the impact of urban features [9] has shown that the appropriate
placement and installation of RSUs, together with the corresponding communi-
cation configurations, could ensure successful V2I communications. The study
made use of tests in a real urban scenario, the city of Bologna, where experiments
employed the IEEE 802.11p protocol for V2I communication. The obtained results
demonstrated that the use of the IEEE 802.11p protocol was strongly affected by
the layout of the streets, elevation of the terrain, traffic density, presence of heavy
vehicles, and other obstacles, such as trees and vegetation. These enforced the
suggestion that these environmental elements must be taken into consideration for
adequate deployment of RSUs and for the configuration of radio communication.
We may observe in several works in the literature [10, 11, 17, 23] the use of infras-
tructure in the design of ITSs in which RSUs extend the primary communication
mechanisms to serve as devices with the computational power to assist in the ITS
architecture. More recent works show a growing trend toward merging vehicular
networks with cloud computing. This merging of the two technologies aims to
provide greater scalability for transportation services. These joint technologies also
make it possible to increase the computational power of ITS architectures through
mobile cloud communication brought about dynamically among devices, vehicles,
and the static cloud, which corresponds to control centers or data centers [14].

1.2.3 ITS Applications

With the ease of communication between vehicles and with a road infrastructure,
vehicular networks provide diverse applications and services for users. The design
of ITS services and applications aim to assist drivers and passengers during their
travels, with a focus on reducing accidents and managing traffic in large cities. In
addition, other types of applications help and promote services to drivers, making
their travel more peaceful and enjoyable. The main applications focused on ITS are
as follows:
• Safety applications are intended to alert drivers to the possibility of imminent
collisions with other vehicles or with obstacles ahead. In some scenarios, a driver
needs to react by making a quick decision to avoid a collision. For this reason, this
type of application has severe restrictions on delay and reliability. Some types of
this class of applications involve alerting drivers to hazards on highways, warning
of collisions, notifying about accidents on the road, and informing drivers about
construction work ahead. All services aim at avoiding collisions between vehicles
and supporting efficient access for first responders;
1.2 Intelligent Transportation System Concepts 17

• Traffic efficiency applications aim to improve the flow of vehicles, reducing

travel time and traffic congestion. These applications also indirectly provide
economic and environmental benefits. They typically use data dissemination
techniques and roadside infrastructures to obtain and propagate traffic condition
information from vehicles. This class of applications includes adaptive electronic
traffic signs, route guidance and navigation services, traffic flow optimization
services, and management of hazardous goods vehicles;
• Entertainment and comfort applications attempt to make passengers more
comfortable in their vehicles by reducing the driving burden. In such applica-
tions, network elements, such as vehicles, sensors installed on highways or traffic
lights, access points, and mobile/pedestrian devices, sense the environment and
provide traffic information on streets, avenues, and highways. After collecting
this information, it is disseminated to vehicles by the system. Applications in this
class include interactive games, content sharing, yellow pages, and notification
services.
Applications classified in these three major classes have been explored in a
wide variety of works, and all these works, in their particular context, attempt to
improve efficiency and comfort in urban mobility. Chapter 7 explores and describes
these applications in detail, discussing the challenges they face and future trends.
However, in this chapter, we would like to emphasize an especially challenging
issue, which is present not only in ITS applications but also in any current smart
mobile application: information security. This particular aspect involves access
to systems and the information contained in applications; it also concerns the
introduction of erroneous information into the system.

1.2.4 Security and Privacy in an ITS

Concerns about ITS safety focus on information protection and the transportation
infrastructure. More than ever, information-based transportation systems have
become inherently accounted for to detect, collect, process, and disseminate data
and essential to improving the efficiency of moving goods and people, enhancing
the safety of our transportation system, and providing travel alternatives. The vast
collection and dissemination of information raises significant security and privacy
issues due to the large-scale exchange of sensitive data.
Security concerns have been addressed in the ITS architecture using two
approaches [22]:
• ITS Security Areas discretize and classify security issues that might arise in ITS
environments. As previously described, ITSs can be used to improve the safety
of the surface transportation system. Figure 1.9 shows eight security applications
defined for an ITS that can be used to detect, respond to, and recover from threats
against the transport system.
18 1 Intelligent Transportation Systems

Fig. 1.9 Abstraction of main

Freight and Commercial

Infrastructure Security
aspects relevant to ITS

ITS Wide Area Alert

Disaster Response

HAZMAT Security

Traveler Security
Vehicle Security
architecture

Transit Security
and Evacuation

Transportation
Rail Security
ITS
Security
Areas

Information Security
Securing ITS Personal Security
ITS Operational Security
Security Management

• Securing an ITS addresses the issue of protecting information from the ITS to
safeguard ITS applications so that they are reliable and available when needed.
Owing to the nature of communication, the information exchanged between the
elements of an ITS is subject to tampering and unauthorized use, in which false
or erroneous information can cause a severe accident to the driver or passengers
in a vehicle. Thus, security is concerned with not only preventing unauthorized
disclosure of confidential information but also covering a wide range of threats
that may disrupt or change the operation of the system. For these aspects,
information security is one of the great challenges for an ITS operating in a city.
When considering the security aspect of information in an ITS, the safety
components need to be explicitly established. Some research works, such as that
presented in [13], describe several components that smart transportation systems
need to consider. These elements include keeping the system secure, addressing the
threats faced by the system, and providing security services to protect against threats
while allowing the system to perform in line with its objectives.
In securing an ITS, we can highlight the following contextual aspects:
• Confidentiality aims to ensure that data and the system are not accessible to
unauthorized entities, processes, or systems;
• Availability refers to allowing access to data and the system to authorized
entities, as well as other processes and even systems;
• Integrity involves ensuring that ITS data retain their meaning, completeness, and
consistency.
The design of an ITS must be such that possible threats are avoided so that
the aforementioned security requirements are met. We can broadly define a threat
as anything that might cause an issue in the system and arise accidentally or
intentionally due to a natural disaster. Threats are also present in ITSs, and the
following list summarizes the major ones in the context of ITSs:
1.2 Intelligent Transportation System Concepts 19

• Disclosure entails the interception of sensitive data by unauthorized entities. In

the context of an ITS, data disclosure can occur, for example, when vehicles
exchange information between each other or with the infrastructure, which
creates vulnerabilities in the ITS that can be exploited;
• Information change relates to adding, modifying, or removing system infor-
mation to produce unauthorized system effects. An example of the negative
potential of this threat in an ITS consists of the change of information displayed
on highways to incorrect or inappropriate content;
• Masquerading refers to the unauthorized access of a user or process to the
system so that it perceives the access as authentic. If unauthorized users gain
access to the system, they can obtain confidential information and unique
permissions to change the system. In an ITS, unauthorized users may, for
example, change data on highways, send erroneous information to system users,
and even interrupt the proper functioning of the system;
• Repudiation consists of denying an action. Repudiation enables the transmitter
or receiver to block the execution of an action. Repudiation can usually occur
in electronic transactions. For instance, suppose that the payment of a toll is
automated. In this case, nonauthorization of the toll payment, even if accidental,
may occur, which will result in the user’s being denied further passage;
• Denial of service (DoS) happens when actions are taken to block access to or
disrupt the proper functioning of a system. Usually, a DoS is caused by the
introduction of malicious code or the execution of unauthorized actions that make
the system unavailable. In the context of an ITS, DoS can be critical; for example,
accidents are most likely to happen if a safe direction detection system becomes
unavailable;
• Replay involves the repetition of valid information under invalid circumstances
to bring about unauthorized effects on the system. This type of threat can impact
system integrity, especially with respect to the meaning and consistency of
information within the system. In the context of an ITS, this threat can be used
to relay identity and credit data from valid users to benefit those who illegally
obtained valid information.
After threats are identified and properly managed, it is natural to develop
protection mechanisms to establish system confidentiality, availability, and integrity.
Although a single tool or service cannot eliminate security threats, the application
of security services, such as those described in what follows, can prevent or mitigate
threats.
• An access control service aims to provide distinct permissions for each entity,
given the function it serves in the system. Usually, an access control service runs
after user authentication, so rules that limit access to system information apply.
This service aims to reduce disclosure, information changes, and DoSs.
• An authentication service consists of a means of verifying the identity of entities
that operate in the system. Typically, the identity itself is a form of identification
to the system.
20 1 Intelligent Transportation Systems

• An integrity service supports the analysis of the integrity of information flowing

through the system and aims to minimize the manipulation of information.
In addition to these services, it is also possible to use cryptographic mechanisms
to mask the original information that ITS applications transmit.

1.3 Final Discussion

In this chapter, we have described the concept of an ITS. First, we described

the concept of smart cities and how they relate to ITSs. We discussed the main
architecture used in an ITS, presented its main components and the main features
of each architecture, and described the challenges encountered in proposing an
architecture. Finally, we identified the main functions of ITS applications and the
security requirements that these applications need to meet.

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