Week 4 - ITS architecture

ITS architecture provides a view of how an ITS implementation will look from a system design perspective. ITS architectures are primarily about data exchange and the control instructions that pass between the different ITS components and the external interfaces (operators, stakeholders and other systems). It needs to reflect the real-world constraints that operate on transport agencies and the requirements these impose on the ITS implementation. An ITS architecture may show where existing organizational structures need to be modified and changed. These viewpoints might include:

• the logic (or functionality) of the system describing how various items of data should flow and be processed (the “logical” or “functional” viewpoint);
• how the ITS functionality will reside in the physical components of the system (the “physical” viewpoint);
• what communications are needed between the physical components – and between the outside world and the physical components (the “communications” viewpoint);
• how the system components, communications and responsibilities are to be assigned to providers and recipients of the ITS services (the “organisational” viewpoint).