SYSTEM ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT PLAN

 

 

for the

 

 

 

I-680 SMART LANE PROJECT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Contract No: _________

 

Date Submitted: December 6, 2006

 

 

 

 

 

JPA Approval

Signature

Date

 

 

 

FHWA Approval

Signature

Date

 

 

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

1.     Purpose of Document

2.     Scope of Project

3.     Technical Planning and Control

4.     Systems Engineering Process

5.     Transitioning Critical Technologies

6.     Integration of the Smart Lane System

7.     System Operations and Maintenance

8.     Conclusions

 

 

 

 

APPENDICES

 

 

A.   Quality Management Plan Guidelines

B.   System Development Plan Guidelines

C.   Data Security and Safety Plan Guidelines

D.   Configuration Management Plan Guidelines

E.   System Integration Plan Guidelines

F.    Verification (Test) Plan Guidelines

G.  Deployment Plan Guidelines

H.  Electronic Toll System Requirements

I.      Concept of Operations (under separate cover)

J.     Communications Plan (under separate cover)

K.  Enforcement Plan (under separate cover)

L.   ETS Requirements Test Verification Document (under separate cover)

TABLE OF ACRONYMS

 

 

ACCMA

Alameda County Congestion Management Agency

AVI

Automatic Vehicle Identification

AVC

Automatic Vehicle Classification

BATA

Bay Area Toll Authority

Caltrans

California Department of Transportation

CCTV

Closed Circuit Television

CHP

California Highway Patrol

CCTV

Closed-Circuit Television

CMP

Configuration Management Plan

CSR

Customer Service Representative

CTOC

California Toll Operators Committee

DDD

Detailed Design Documents

DDR

Detailed Design Reviews

DMS

Dynamic Message Sign

DRDS

Dynamic Rate Display Sign

DOS

Denial-Of-Service

DSRC

Dedicated Short Range Communication

ED

Executive Director

ETC

Electronic Toll Collection

ETS

Electronic Toll System

FasTrakTM

FasTrakTM is the Electronic Tolling System that is utilized in California

FAT

Factory Acceptance Test

FIFO

First In First Out

FHWA

Federal Highway Administration

FMAS

Facility Management and Accounting System

GUI

Graphical User Interface

HOT

High Occupancy Toll

HOV

High Occupancy Vehicle

Integrator

ETS Contractor

ISO

International Standards Organization

IT

Information Technology

ITS

Intelligent Transportation System

JPA

Joint Powers Agency

LED

Light Emitting Diode

LOS

Level of Service

MER

Mobile Enforcement Reader

MF

Mixed Flow (lanes)

MOMS

Maintenance On-line Management System

NTCIP

National Transportation Communications for ITS Protocol

OICT

On-site Integration and Commissioning Test

PDA

Personal Digital Assistant

PDD

Preliminary Design Document

PDF

Portable Document Format

PDR

Preliminary Design Reviews

PM

Project Manager

PMD

Project Management Document

PQM

Project Quality Manager

QA/QC

Quality Assurance/Quality Control

QM

Quality Management

QMP

Quality Management Plan

RCSC

Regional Customer Service Center

RTMS

Remote Traffic Microwave Sensor

RF

Radio Frequency

RFID

Radio Frequency Identification

RFP

Request For Proposals

RSE

Roadside Equipment

SEMP

System Engineering Management Plan

SOV

Single Occupant Vehicle

SSD

Software Specification Document

Tag

In-vehicle FasTrakTM Transponder

TCP/IP

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol

Title-21

Mandated standard that all ETSs in California must adhere to

TDC

Toll Data Center

TMC

Traffic Management Center

TP

Transaction Processor

TPS

Transaction Processor System

Transponder

Small in-vehicle electronic device that is used to pay tolls

TZ

Tolling Zone

TZC

Tolling Zone Controller

UPS

Uninterruptible Power Supply

VDS

Vehicle Detection System

VPN

Virtual Private Network

WAN

Wide Area Network

WBS

Work Breakdown Structure

 

 

 GLOSSARY

 

·         System requirements – are those specific requirements that must be met by the equipment and/or system provided by the Integrator as described in the RFP and other contract documents.

·         Functional requirements – are those requirements defined by functional attributes. These requirements, which are also defined in the RFP and contract documents, shall be met by the equipment and/or system provided by the Integrator.

·         Life-cycle – is the period of time in which ETS hardware is expected to operate within the stated requirements of the Integrator’s Proposal.

·         Phase – is a step in the ETS systems engineering process that must typically be completed and deemed acceptable prior to commencing work on the next phase.

·         Tasks – are the intermediate steps that collectively constitute a phase.

·         Activities – are the steps required to complete a task.

·         Milestones – are specific dates assigned to the planned accomplishment of activities, tasks, or phases in order to measure whether or not the schedule requirements have been met.

·         Overall Project Schedule – is the schedule that includes all task completion milestones for the entire Smart Lane Project, including all of the required roadway design and construction work.

·         Integrator Project Schedule (Development and Deployment Plan) – is the schedule that presents the various ETS completion tasks with dates and milestones that shall be met by the Integrator and must adhere to the important dates in the Overall Project schedule.

·         Installation Plan Schedule (Deployment Plan) – is the schedule that indicates how the Integrator will install equipment and deploy software on the Smart Lane Project.  Specific step-by-step sequenced scenarios for the installation of roadside equipment, communications network, TDC equipment, enforcement equipment, and the TMC subsystem shall be provided in this schedule, which will be a sub-schedule of the Integrator Project Schedule.

·         Internal quality audits – are periodic audits that will be performed by the Integrator either on their own or upon request by the JPA ED.

·         Threats – are external actions and/or circumstances that if and when they occur might adversely impact the performance of the ETS.

·         Vulnerabilities – are ETS design features that might be susceptible to unpredictable or even adverse performance in the presence of a threat.

·         Risks – are any potential issues, including the combination of threats and vulnerabilities, that could jeopardize the Smart Lane Project, or more specifically jeopardize the ETS operation, its individual components or various subsystems. 

·         System Development – is the process of developing the actual ETS, including the development, test and integration of the ETS software.

 

1.     purpose of document

The System Engineering Management Plan (SEMP) and associated documents have been developed as guidelines to define the various technical planning and control, systems engineering process, transitional critical technologies, and the integration of the Smart Lane systems engineering effort.  This engineering effort will be the full contractual responsibility of the chosen Electronic Toll System (ETS) Integrator.

The engineering process that will be implemented in support of the design, development, testing and deployment of the I-680 Smart Lane (Smart Lane) ETS will be important to ensure a successful project.  That engineering process is identified in this SEMP and the guidelines presented in these documents will be clearly conveyed to the selected ETS Integrator (Integrator) through the Request for Proposals (RFP) and other contract documents.  The work of the selected Integrator will be monitored closely to ensure project success.

The ETS will include the implementation of various technologies, including FasTrak electronic tolling equipment, vehicle detection equipment, system enforcement devices, and various types of communications systems.  The Integrator will be selected to perform the ETS design, development, integration, testing and deployment.  The Joint Powers Agency (JPA) will be responsible for ensuring that the delivered ETS operates according to the RFP and the other contract requirements.  The JPA will use consultants to provide tolling system technical and project monitoring assistance to ensure that the Smart Lane system operates as planned.

2.     scope of project

The Smart Lane is the conversion of the I-680 southbound High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane to a High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lane.  The Smart Lane project limits are from just south of the State Route (SR) 84 Interchange near Pleasanton in Alameda County to just south of Calaveras Boulevard (SR 237) in the City of Milpitas in Santa Clara County.  The California Legislature under AB 2032 and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) authorized this conversion as a pilot project to improve travel efficiency in the corridor and provide more options to individual travelers.  The JPA has been authorized to administer, design, construct, operate and maintain the Smart Lane.  The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is responsible for the design and construction of the southbound I-680 standard HOV lane.

 

This portion of I-680 was selected for a HOT implementation because it is expected to experience significant traffic congestion during the morning peak period at the time in which the Smart Lane will be opened to traffic.  Conversion of the I-680 southbound HOV lane to  the Smart Lane will be accomplished using proven technology, traffic engineering expertise, and dynamic pricing to more efficiently use existing roadway capacity to improve traffic flow and travel times in the corridor as well as optimize revenue for future transportation improvements, including transit, in the corridor.

 

Currently, the southbound HOV lane allows continuous access for eligible vehicles to and from the mixed-flow (MF) lanes.  In addition, the current southbound HOV lane serves as a mixed flow (MF) lane during off-peak travel periods.  Under the new Smart Lane configuration all eligible users (HOVs, motorcycles, buses and toll-paying Single Occupant Vehicles (SOVs) will be able to access the Smart Lane at designated locations during the hours of operation.  HOV vehicles will continue to use the Southbound I-680 Smart Lane for free. 

 

Solo drivers who want a more convenient and reliable trip can choose to use the Smart Lane for a fee.  The fee will vary depending on the traffic operating conditions in both the Smart Lane and the MF lanes.  Two-axle, delivery-type trucks will also be allowed to use the new converted facility for a fee, but trucks with three or more axles will not be allowed to use the Smart Lane.

 

Under this Smart Lane concept:

·         The number of access points to and from the Smart Lane will be limited to pre-designated locations.

 

The overall toll system will be owned and operated by the JPA and will consist of the roadway equipment, the Toll Data Center (TDC), and various system enforcement tools.  The Smart Lane concept will utilize the following proposed technology solutions:

 

·         Dynamic pricing will control the toll rate based on the level of congestion in the Smart Lane and in the MF lanes.

·         Approximately 12 VDS locations will be used along the southbound I-680 Smart Lane and in the MF lanes to continually monitor traffic density and speed in the Smart Lane and travel time information in the MF lanes.

·         The technology configuration will involve the use of DMSs that will display the current toll rate ahead of the Smart Lane access points.

·         A communication network will be implemented to support the Roadside Equipment (RSE) sites that read FasTrak transponders.  The RSE sites will be equipped with a Tolling Zone Controller (TZC).  The TZCs, which will include a computer, will manage the transponder detection process (FasTrak antennas and readers), vehicle detection, system communications, data collection at each Tolling Zone (TZ), data storage and the periodic transmission of tolling zone data to the TDC.

·         The Transaction Processor (TP) subsystem will reside at the TDC and will merge individual transaction records into single, one-way trips.

·         The TDC will collect the tolling zone Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) transactions, develop trips from the transaction records and transfer toll trip data from the I-680 Smart Lane system to the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) Regional Customer Service Center (RCSC) for FasTrak account processing.  Smart Lane trip data will be sent on, at least, a daily basis.  BATA will provide payment to the JPA based upon the toll payments that are embedded in the Smart Lane trip records that were sent for processing.

·         Tolls will be collected through the use of FasTrak transponders and account management services will be performed by BATA’s RCSC.  The RCSC will handle FasTrak account management activities, distribution of transponders, payment processing, security/access and other ETC system financial functions.

   

3.     technical planning and control

The JPA will be responsible to ensure that the ETS is properly designed, developed, integrated, tested and deployed.  The JPA shall use the services of consultants to make sure that this takes place.  Even though the Integrator shall be contractually responsible to develop and closely adhere to their own engineering practices, the JPA and their consultants will have the capability to review and approve the Integrator’s engineering practices and closely monitor these activities to ensure full compliance of the various procedures.  It was determined that the best way to ensure successful system implementation was to develop various systems engineering guidelines that will be submitted to and discussed with the Integrator.  The Integrator will be required to submit their planning and design work consistent with these guidelines.  In order to convey to the Integrator the types of system engineering practices that they should utilize, various SEMP guideline documents have been developed. 

Provided below is a list of the SEMP documents that have been developed in support of the engineering process for the Smart Lane Project:

 

1.Quality Management Plan Guidelines;

2. System Development Plan Guidelines;

3. Data Security and Safety Plan Guidelines;

4. Configuration Management Plan Guidelines;

5. System Integration Plan Guidelines;

6. Verification (Test) Plan Guidelines;

7. Deployment Plan Guidelines; and

8. Electronic Toll System Requirements.

 

The Concept of Operations document, the Communications Plan, the Enforcement Plan, and the ETS Requirements Test Verification document were previously submitted for review; comments have been incorporated and the documents approved.  Although they are part of the system engineering documents, these documents are under separate cover and are not included with this SEMP submittal, since they have already been submitted in final form to all of the relevant organizations. 

 

The other above referenced documents were submitted individually for review and comment by the FHWA and Caltrans.  The final JPA approved versions of each of these SEMP documents are attached as appendices.  As described above, the SEMP documents have been developed to be used as guidelines to define the various technical planning and control, systems engineering process, transitional critical technologies, and the integration of the Smart Lane systems engineering effort.  This engineering effort will be the full contractual responsibility of the chosen ETS Integrator.

Presented below is a brief description of each document.

·   System Concept of Operations Plan – This document provides a high-level system operational overview of the Smart Lane Project.  This Plan describes the operating parameters of the Smart Lane, which organization will be responsible for the Smart Lane construction (JPA), which group will construct the HOV lane (Caltrans), how the ETS will be designed and developed, the various external interfaces to the Bay Area Toll Authority (BATA) Regional Customer Service Center (RCSC) for FasTrak account management processing, the interface to the Caltrans Traffic Management Center (TMC), the system enforcement process, etc.

 

·   Communications Plan – This report assesses the different communication options that could be deployed between the various tolling system nodes.  The actual design and deployment of the ETS communications system shall be the responsibility of the Integrator.  The purpose of this Plan is to provide information to the Integrator to allow them to design the communications system properly.

 

·   Enforcement Plan – This document provides the details pertaining to how the Smart Lane system will be enforced by the California Highway Patrol (CHP) officers.  The actual enforcement equipment, software, integration testing and installation plans will be provided by the Integrator as part of their systems engineering documentation submittals.

 

·   Quality Management Plan Guidelines – This document provides various guidelines that need to be implemented by the Integrator to ensure that all necessary quality assurance (QA) and quality control (QC) processes are identified, maintained and adhered to by the Integrator in order to ensure that the delivered ETS operates according to the system performance requirements that are presented in the RFP and the other contract documentation.

 

·   System Development Plan Guidelines – This document provides details regarding how the Integrator will conduct the actual hardware and software design, system development, shop testing, integration and factory testing of the ETS to ensure that it is designed and developed properly. These guidelines will be used as the basis for the Integrator to develop their more detailed ETS Development Plan, including proper management controls such as internal reviews, schedules and a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS).

 

·   Data Security and Safety Plan Guidelines – This document includes various built-in data security measures that need to be incorporated into the ETS.  This Plan will also identify the ways in which the system design, development and deployment will be performed to ensure that the work is conducted in a safe manner.

 

·   Configuration Management Plan Guidelines – This document provides various guidelines pertaining to the ETS configuration and how the Integrator should develop, maintain and adhere to internal configuration management procedures and processes to ensure that system design, development, enhancements and modifications are deployed in a manner that prevents additional problems from affecting the system operation.

 

·   System Integration Plan Guidelines – This document provides the required details regarding how the various equipment, subsystems and overall system will be fully integrated and tested by the Integrator to ensure that a fully integrated and operating system is deployed that meets all of the functional requirements that are presented in the RFP and the other contract documents.  This pertains to the hardware and software components of the Smart Lane system.

 

·   Verification (Test) Plan Guidelines – This document provides the various system testing and validation requirements that will be implemented by the Integrator to ensure that the delivered ETS meets all of the system requirements that are presented in the RFP and the other contract documents.

 

·   Deployment Plan Guidelines – This document provides all of the details pertaining to how the Smart Lane system will be prepared for installation, installed, tested and opened to traffic.  The actual equipment and software development, integration testing and installation plans shall be provided by the Integrator as part of their required documentation submittals.

 

·   Electronic Toll System Requirements – This document describes the functional ETS requirements, various operating business rules, and interfaces to other external systems.  The ETS requirements shall be used by the Integrator as the basis for developing their proposal and to effectively design, develop and implement the new Smart Lane ETS.

 

The Integrator will also be responsible for the development of a comprehensive training plan.  The training plan will include all required training activities, for the JPA customer service representatives, the Toll Data Center staff, JPA operations staff, Caltrans Traffic Management Center staff, ETS maintenance technicians, etc.  The training plan will be submitted for review and approval by the JPA ED.  This plan is discussed in more detail in the Deployment Plan.

 

4.     systems engineering process

The JPA will utilize a systems engineering process that ensures that the Integrator develops and closely adheres to a design process that is acceptable to the JPA.  The design process approach to be used on this Project for the software development process is the V-Cycle Model, which is described subsequently in both this document and the appendices.  The V-Cycle System Engineering process includes engineering for the ETS equipment, software development, integration testing, documentation development, and installation and deployment of the ETS.  The JPA will utilize the services of consultants to ensure that this process is followed.  Presented below are the four areas of engineering analysis that will be implemented by the JPA:

1.      System Requirements Analysis – As described previously in this document, the Smart Lane System Concept of Operations document has been developed and approved by the JPA.  The information presented in this document will be provided to prospective Integrators as part of the RFP submission.  The information presented in the Concept of Operations document was used during the development of the various Smart Lane requirements, which are functional in nature.  The JPA provided the draft system requirements document to the experienced tolling system design staff at Caltrans and BATA to obtain important feedback and make certain that the requirements can be met by prospective ETS bidders.  The system requirements will be provided to prospective Integrators as part of the ETS RFP package.

2.      Sub-System Functional Analysis – As part of the system requirements development process, the JPA consultants will expand on the system requirements to the sub-system level.  The consultants will ensure there are no conflicts between the system and the sub-system related requirements.  It is expected that the various external interfaces, including to the BATA RCSC, the Caltrans TMC, and the enforcement system equipment, will be identified at this point in the requirements development process.

3.      Design Synthesis – The Integrator will then use the various system and sub-system related functional requirements as the basis for designing the ETS.  The JPA and their consultants shall closely oversee the Integrator’s design process and will conduct several rounds of testing to ensure that all identified requirements are being met.  It is envisioned that the JPA’s consultants will utilize the comprehensive requirements trace matrix, which will be developed by the Integrator, as the guide to ensure that the Integrator is designing the ETS correctly.

4.      System Analysis – During the Integrator’s ETS design process, the JPA’s consultants will monitor this activity to quickly identify possible technical problems with proposed equipment, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware or software, and Integrator application software.  If technical trade-offs need to be implemented, the Integrator shall follow these procedures, which will be clearly identified in the ETS RFP.  The JPA will be required to approve the requested technical trade-off as proposed by the Integrator and recommended by the consultants.

The JPA will develop and implement an internal document and drawing review and approval process that will be applied to the systems engineering process of the Smart Lane Project through system acceptance.  The JPA’s Executive Director (ED) will have the contractual and legal authority to sign off on all system engineering related aspects of the Project.  The typical approval process will be as described below:

1.      The Integrator shall be required to provide a particular document and/or drawing within a certain timeframe as will be stated in the ETS RFP.

2.      The ED, or his/her designee, and the JPA’s consultants will carefully review and provide comments and/or suggested modifications on the document or drawing.  The consultants will then compile all of the comments into a matrix/database.

3.      The consultants will provide a recommendation to the ED, which might be to approve the document/drawing or ask the Integrator to make changes and re-submit the document for a second round of review.

4.      The ED will then make the decision whether or not to officially approve the document/drawing and will inform, in writing, the Integrator Project Manager of that decision. 

To enhance the ability for the JPA to closely track the Integrator’s system engineering process, the Integrator will be required to provide a document management tool.  This program will support the storage and retrieval of all types of project documents, including correspondence and e-mail messages.  The program will also have the capability to segregate JPA documents from general project documentation that can be accessed exclusively by JPA and consultant staff.  It is envisioned that this system will be web-based to allow the users to access the documents and files remotely to better facilitate the Integrator Contract oversight task.

5.     transitioning critical technologies

The JPA ED and Smart Lane consultants are aware of the risks associated with the potential technology transitioning process.  Much time has been spent during the project documentation development process to consider this important factor.  Based on the specific technology considerations for the Smart Lane Project, most of the technologies to be incorporated into the ETS are all very mature and have been in successful operation for many years.  These ETS technologies include the use of a Title-21 mandated Dedicated Short Range Communications (DSRC) FasTrak transponder detection process, vehicle detection equipment, devices to determine vehicle travel times, tolling zone beacons, Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) equipment, and DMSs.

One of the ETS technologies that will require detailed analysis is the system enforcement equipment, which includes mobile enforcement readers (MERs) and hand-held enforcement devices.  Both of these pieces of equipment, and their associated software, are currently in the early stages of use at other facilities.  A procedure to deal with possible technology swapping will be clearly identified in the ETS RFP.  The JPA shall have approval rights for the technology transfer process and for the technology that is ultimately chosen by the Integrator.  The JPA’s consultants will be involved in this process and will provide technology recommendations to the JPA.

6.     integration of the smart lane system

The ETS RFP will clearly describe the various system integration requirements.  The Integrator shall explain very clearly in the Integration Plan the various methods that they will use to ensure successful integration of the developed components into a fully functioning ETS that meets the requirements from the RFP and the other Contract documents.  The various systems engineering process steps shall be detailed and adhered to by the Integrator during the design, integration, verification/testing, deployment and training phases required to support the operation and maintenance of the new Smart Lane ETS.  The Integrator shall provide information that confirms that they will adhere to each of these engineering steps.  The JPA and their consultants shall closely monitor the integration process to ensure that it is being performed correctly.

7.     system operations and maintenance

The Smart Lane ETS operations and maintenance requirements will be clearly described in the ETS RFP.  The Integrator will be required to prepare and submit an Operations and Maintenance Plan, which will be reviewed and approved by the JPA.  The Integrator shall clearly explain in the Operations and Maintenance Plan the methods that will be used to effectively operate and maintain the ETS consistent with the RFP and other contract document requirements.  This Plan will be followed by the Integrator who will be responsible for Smart Lane system operations and maintenance during the 12-month warranty period.  The JPA and their consultants will closely monitor the operations and maintenance effort to ensure that it is being performed correctly.

8.     conclusions

In conclusion, the Smart Lane engineering process that will be used during the ETS design, development, integration, testing and deployment phases of this project is critical to ensure success.  The processes identified herein will be described fully in the ETS RFP.  The JPA and their consultants will make certain that the chosen Integrator closely adheres to the guidelines and requirements that are presented in this SEMP and its appendices.