The system called COMBAT, which stands for Central Ohio Management–Based Applied Technology, tracks weather and operational data in real–time to help maintenance fleets run more efficiently and environmentally sound. Currently, both Columbus and Franklin County share the system which tracks things like the air and road temperatures, vehicle speeds, fuel and salt dispense, and maintains the rate of ice–melting brine application. COMBAT uses radio frequencies to stay in contact all the time. The system reduces environmental impact by reducing vehicle idling and by allowing closer control of ice–melting material application rates.
The Mid–Ohio Regional Planning Commission helped secure $4.1 million from the Federal Highway Administration to help fund the project. The city will spend an additional $522,000 and $237,000 will come from the county. Other agencies are currently showing interest in adding their fleets to the system.
| Functional Object | Description | User Defined |
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| MCM Environmental Information Collection | 'MCM Environmental Information Collection' collects current road and weather conditions using data collected from environmental sensors deployed on and about the roadway. In addition to fixed sensor stations at the roadside, this functional object also collects environmental information from sensor systems located on Maintenance and Construction Vehicles. It also collects current and forecast environmental conditions information that is made available by other systems. The functional object aggregates the sensor system data and provides it, along with data attributes to other applications. | False |
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| MCM Environmental Information Processing | 'MCM Environmental Information Processing' processes current and forecast weather data, road condition information, local environmental data, and uses internal models to develop specialized detailed forecasts of local weather and surface conditions. The processed environmental information products are presented to center personnel and disseminated to other centers. | False |
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| MCM Maintenance Decision Support | 'MCM Maintenance Decision Support' recommends maintenance courses of action based on current and forecast environmental and road conditions and additional application specific information. Decisions are supported through understandable presentation of filtered and fused environmental and road condition information for specific time horizons as well as specific maintenance recommendations that are generated by the system based on this integrated information. The recommended courses of action are supported by information on the anticipated consequences of action or inaction, when available. | False |
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| MCM Roadway Maintenance | 'MCM Roadway Maintenance' provides overall management and support for routine maintenance on a roadway system or right–of–way. Services managed include landscape maintenance, hazard removal (roadway debris, dead animals), routine maintenance activities (roadway cleaning, grass cutting), and repair and maintenance of non–ITS equipment on the roadway (e.g., signs, gantries, cabinets, guard rails, etc.). Environmental conditions information is also received from various weather sources to aid in scheduling routine maintenance activities. See also MCM Field Equipment Maintenance for maintenance of ITS field equipment. | False |
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| MCM Vehicle Tracking | 'MCM Vehicle Tracking' tracks the location of maintenance and construction vehicles and other equipment. Vehicle/equipment location and associated information is presented to the operator. | False |
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| MCM Winter Maintenance Management | 'MCM Winter Maintenance Management' manages winter road maintenance, tracking and controlling snow plow operations, roadway treatment (e.g., salt spraying and other material applications), and other snow and ice control operations. It monitors environmental conditions and weather forecasts and uses the information to schedule winter maintenance activities, determine the appropriate snow and ice control response, and track and manage response operations. | False |
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| TIC Data Collection | 'TIC Data Collection' collects transportation–related data from other centers, performs data quality checks on the collected data and then consolidates, verifies, and refines the data and makes it available in a consistent format to applications that support operational data sharing between centers and deliver traveler information to end–users. A broad range of data is collected including traffic and road conditions, transit data, emergency information and advisories, weather data, special event information, traveler services, parking, multimodal data, and toll/pricing data. It also shares data with other transportation information centers. | False |
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| TIC Situation Data Management | 'TIC Situation Data Management' manages connected vehicle situation data collection, quality controls, filtering, aggregation, and storage. Through this process, raw data reported by connected vehicles are transformed into information products that can be accessed and used to support transportation operations and traveler information. The distribution of the connected vehicle–derived information products is handled by other functional objects. | False |
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| TIC Traveler Information Broadcast | 'TIC Traveler Information Broadcast' disseminates traveler information including traffic and road conditions, incident information, maintenance and construction information, event information, transit information, parking information, and weather information. The same information is broadcast to all equipped traveler interface systems and vehicles. | False |
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