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Innovation & Technology Request

ICT partner sought for managing information on transportation mobility in road networks

Country of Origin: Spain
Reference Number: TRES20210412001
Publication Date: 15 April 2021

Summary

The Department for infrastructure and land development of the regional government of Biscay (Basque Country, north of Spain) has launched a challenge through an open-innovation platform: How can users of the road network make the most of the mobility information available gathered from road sensors’ data which will result in positive impacts on the local economy and environment of the region? A commercial cooperation with technical assistance or a research cooperation shall address this issue.

Description

The road system in Biscay is made up of 1,273.1 km, with an overall traffic volume of 4,757.2 million vehicles. The high capacity network (trunk route) of over 245 kms, takes care of 60% of traffic in the region, followed by the basic network (non-trunk) of 209 km with a 26% of traffic. 

Most of this vehicle circulation is centered around Bilbao and its metropolitan area, where the largest motorways A-8, AP-8 and AP-68 connect the city with the Atlantic corridor and the Cantabrian corridor of the trans-European transport network.



Over the last few decades, the road system in Biscay has been extended to meet the demands of modern traffic: incorporating more lanes to motorways and widening accesses to routes leading to Bilbao.

Real-time information allows users to organise journeys in public or private transport, both in terms of selecting a time slot and scheduling a route. This involves a better use of the existing infrastructure which in turn, has a positive effect on the environment and the economy such as:



• Improvement of the road network overall effectiveness

• Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions 

• Shorten times when traffic burdens build up or in case of accidents



Information is available from the different sensor-based collection systems of mobility data placed on trunk routes:

•	A collection of traffic detectors consisting of 106 remote stations are placed on lanes at the entrance and exit of every motorway. Those sensors provide information on vehicle classification, average speed, density and traffic jam alerts.

•	Network of 62 RSU (road side units) beacons  containing 3 bluetooth sensors that provide information on: travel time between beacons, wasted hours in traffic jams, behavior patterns between beacons, automatic alerts for incidents with real-time travel information, trip origin-destination matrixes.

•	A closed circuit of 125 TV cameras covering the main links in the trunk routes.



These three systems send the collected data to a mobility centre for their later visualization, management and storage in a data base. Road users can consult the information via a platform and a mobile app that provides traffic situation, incidents, viability in road ports, road works, static images (updated every 4-5 min).



With the aim to improve the current situation, the Department for road infrastructure has launched this twofold objective: a) standarise the information gathered on traffic in a way that users can consult it through just one portal, avoiding confusion and b) receive accurate mobility images in real time. 



Schedule: submission of candidacies starting on 12th April, deadline: 14th May (18:00 GMT+1). The winning company will develop a pilot project of € 15,000 at most for a period of 6 months. There is an information link with indications on how to proceed with potential solutions. It will be provided to interested candidates upon reception of EOIs.

Partially or totally developed solutions may come from any kind of organization worldwide in the form of a commercial with technical assistance or a research type of agreement.

Expertise sought

The main development areas for technologies the challenge can accommodate are related to sensors, IOT, instrumentation, communications…



It is preferable that candidates have a sound knowledge of road infrastructures and traffic-related matters.

The partner should be able to develop a solution that integrates new sensor systems for mobility parameters and include the results in an information portal for the users.

Requested partner

The task of the partner sought is to develop a web and a mobile-based architecture pilot version that will generate routes, traffic alerts, inform about travelling times, provide road images, maps of roads and alternative routes. 



The solution must be light on resources, interact with users and allow the incorporation of new data sources. It can be partially or wholly developed.



Such a partner can be an SME, a startup, a university division, a technology centre. Any organization involved in sensor science, environmental, communication, instrumentation technologies, IOT- Internet of things, etc, might submit a solution via the open-innovation platform.