ETSI plugfest to feature live road tests in Italy
A two-week live test event in Livorno, Italy, will put intelligent transport systems from a number of global companies on the road and under scrutiny for interoperability and standards conformance.
The plugfest, focused on vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure communications, will be held under the auspices of ETSI, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute. This is ETSI’s fifth plugfest focused on intelligent transportation systems, but its first live trial of ITS technologies, according to the group, which said that the event will advance ITS deployments, test interoperability and “[demonstrate] the convergence between ITS and the ‘internet of things.’ ”
ETSI said it has been working with partners including Telecom Italia, European ITS partnership ERTICO, the regional government and port authority, and local highway authorities for several months to set up the testbed in Livorno. A cruise terminal will serve as headquarters for the event, and includes a test-drive path that will be used for quick setup of testing equipment in the field. The infrastructure also will include a 10-minute test drive on the Livorno-Florence highway IoT testbed for large-scale distributed sensing and actuation, ETSI said. The site also includes traffic lights, IoT sensors, cameras, variable message signs and connectivity with a highway control center in order to test traffic sign violation, road hazards, intersections and collision warnings, and loading zones. Participants will be able to deploy roadside units along the road as well as within the port to test both RSUs and on-board units within vehicles.
The ETSI plugfest will focus in particular on conformance to ETSI’s ITS Release 1 standard and radio equipment interoperability. Marco Annoni, ETSI ITS vice-chair, said in a statement that “the fact that companies from different ITS sectors are increasingly involved and ready to test under real-life conditions shows the high level of maturity of ITS standards and implementations.”
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