July 16, 2006

OmniAir Proposal to Develop/Test Specification for Toll Interoperability Wins I-95 Corridor Coalition 1st-Round Approval

Coalition’s Electronic Payment Services Program Track Committee votes to move OmniAir proposal to next stage during June meeting in Boston, MA.

The OmniAir Consortium EPS Committee reached a key objective by receiving a positive nod from the I-95 Corridor Coalition’s EPS Program Track Committee for its proposal to develop and test an Electronic Payment Services National Interoperability Specification (EPSNIS). OmniAir will be partnering with members New York State Bridge Authority (test site host), Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (project oversight), Caseta Technologies (integrator), and MTA Bridges and Tunnels (EPS Committee chair) to define the interface protocol standards for transaction processing and test the specification on both legacy and 5.9GHz DSRC prototype systems. Throughout the 18-month project beginning when funding is secured, the committee will work with banks and other payment systems stakeholders.

“The vote from the EPS Program Track Committee was the result of a long process and significant work performed by many OmniAir members. This recognition - from an important entity like the Coalition – is very much appreciated and we believe shows how important interoperability is at the back-office level, “said Charlie Fausti, PANYNJ. EPSPT approval is the first in a multi-step process. Next, the proposal will be sent to the Coalition’s Steering Committee and ultimately it’s Executive Committee for final consideration. The value of the proposal is approximately $300,000 supplied by the Corridor and the rest of the costs contributed by OmniAir members.

“OmniAir and its members will be developing an essential component of nationally- interoperable toll systems – publicly available transaction processing protocols. This, in addition to device standards, is what is needed for truly interoperable deployments and a more open market for transaction services,” said Tim McGuckin, Executive Director of OmniAir.

The EPSNIS Proposal in Summary

The project entails developing a vehicle-to-roadside electronic payment services national interoperability specification (EPSNIS) and confirming that the specification and use thereof supports a legacy environment (clearing transactions from toll roads and merchants through a toll authority) as well as one where the payment media and customer accounts are managed by non-agency financial services companies. The goal is, through standardizing the application, to prepare for the future and provide a path to national interoperability for EPS. Once written, a Reference Implementation Test will be conducted to validate the EPSNIS standard and the model’s architecture. The deliverable will be a managed-source specification maintained by the OmniAir Consortium and available to any financial services entity or electronic payment services provider who wants to participate.

Task Details: this is a series of tasks divided into general phases: outreach, functional requirements definition, specification development and reference implementation testing.

Outreach: the development of the EPSNIS requires experienced input from both inside the toll industry, and peripheral to and outside of it due to the national application of the EPSNIS and the extension of the EPS paradigm outside of the familiar boundaries. Therefore, the first set of activities capture OmniAir members goals for an EPSNIS and identifies the like-minded organizations from the payments industry (i.e., NACHA, EPCGlobal, bankcard associations) who are valuable subject matter experts (SME).

Requirements: after identifying the correct stakeholders, the next set of tasks encompass collaboration with them on defining the functional requirements of an EPSNIS, refining them and then confirming them as the building block for the specification.

The Specification: this is an extensive process of specification development that begins by creating, with SMEs, a preliminary draft specification and presenting this for approval by OmniAir. Next is cooperation with organizations to extend and become compatible with related industry payment specifications that advance the development and acceptance of the OmniAir EPSNIS. Following this is another review and approval process, a second commenting process, and then a final, draft Specification which will be tested in-lane. This will result in a reference implementation test which can be used to replicate the test at other test sites. Several OmniAir operator members have expressed interest in doing so.

Key personnel on the project include: Timothy McGuckin, Program Coordinator; Charlie Fausti, Director of E-ZPass Programs, PANYNJ, for project oversight; Frank Mazzella, Bridge Manager, New York State Bridge Authority, test site host; Glenn Deitiker, CTO of Caseta Technologies, test integrator; Jules Madey, Director, Technology Development, NYSTA, technical support; and, Japjeev Kohli, MARK-IV IVHS Senior Systems Engineer, prototype units. The EPS Committee, which will be heavily involved, is co-chaired by Kai Chen, Project Manager, ETC Systems, MTA Bridges and Tunnels, and Doug Kavner, DSRC Program Manager, Raytheon HTMS, and leader in IEEE DSRC standards groups.

About the I-95 Corridor Coalition

The I-95 Corridor Coalition is an alliance of transportation agencies, toll authorities, and related organizations, including law enforcement, from the State of Maine to the State of Florida, with affiliate members in Canada. The Coalition provides a forum for key decision and policy makers to address transportation management and operations issues of common interest, focusing on the deployment of technology to improve mobility. The Coalition has successfully served as a model for multi-state/jurisdictional interagency cooperation and coordination for over a decade.

About the OmniAir Consortium

OmniAir is a non-profit association founded in January 2003. Its member-defined mission is to foster and promote the deployment of interoperable dedicated short-range communication systems. The consortium and its members are the foremost advocates of ‘True Interoperability’ and advance this goal through the development of the certification solutions and protocol specifications. With a diversity of interests and experience, members range from operators, device suppliers, integrators, state DOTs and others. Common goals are to improve mobility, increase efficiency, ensure safety for the traveling public and create cost savings and market opportunities for the operators and suppliers of current and next-generation DSRC systems.

OmniAir and True Interoperability are trademarks of the OmniAir Consortium, Inc. Any other trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective owners.