I am very pleased to submit this report covering the activities of the University of Idaho’s National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology during fiscal year 2000. This report illustrates in detail how we continue to concentrate on the three focus areas we described in our Strategic Plan and our success in meeting the goals of the University Transportation Centers program.

The number of graduate students studying transportation engineering continues to grow. Through the participation of the state of Idaho, we have added a new faculty member to our traffic operations center staff. We have upgraded our facilities to provide for the new work that we are undertaking in traffic operations and clean vehicle technology.

The University of Idaho and its College of Engineering continued their support of NIATT’s programs. Our electric car continues to be used as a major recruiting tool. The annual design Expo, cosponsored by NIATT, drew more than 200 exhibitors and displays, showcasing transportation and other engineering design projects.

We opened a new vehicle engine bay, the largest facility that we have ever had for our electric vehicle program. The university also provided new space for our Idaho Engineering Works program. Installing our chassis dynamometer will provide us with advanced capabilities that only a handful of universities in the country possess. We upgraded our highway design and traffic controller laboratories, providing one of the best facilities in the country for the study of traffic signal controllers.

Our greatest ambassadors are our students. They presented results of their research to our peer review panels, they actively participated in our programs, and they enthusiastically tell the stories of their success in this report. The common theme in their stories is that working on NIATT projects provides the kind of real world engineering experience that is so valuable in today’s ever-changing field of transportation. Our Advanced Vehicle Concepts Team includes more than fifty students from all engineering disciplines working on the next generation hybrid electric vehicle. Idaho Engineering Works provides our students with a model for customer focus, peer-to-peer training, and commitment to excellence, as students develop and complete senior capstone design projects.

We have transferred our technology to the marketplace. A national traffic manufacturer will market our controller interface device, a tool for traffic engineers to develop and test advanced traffic control strategies, early next year.

And we have continued to benefit from our unique form of peer review, receiving crucial feedback and guidance from our two external peer review panels.

I hope that you will enjoy reading about these accomplishments in this report.

Michael Kyte, PhD, PE

National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology

introduction and background

In 1991, the National Institute for Advanced Transportation Technology—NIATT (then known as NCATT) was established under the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) to contribute to the development and transfer of new transportation technology. In 1998, NIATT received approval of funding from the US Department of Transportation, Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA), through the University Transportation Centers (UTC) Program. Although the UTC program primarily supports the work of NIATT’s Center for Traffic Operations and Control and the Center for Clean Vehicle Technology, the UTC funding has a positive impact on the entire institute and our ability to deliver transportation technology to the world.

Our first task under the UTC program was to develop a Strategic Plan, which received RSPA approval in March 1999. In the Strategic Plan, we reaffirm our mission, formulated when NIATT was established under the 1991 Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act. Our mission is to work with industry, government, and research institutions to develop, evaluate, and market technologies that will improve the design and operation of transportation vehicles and systems. Our institute’s uniqueness is due in part to our determination to go beyond research, beyond publication. We pride ourselves on the fact that, because we deliver technology to end users, our work has a positive impact on the local, state, and national engineering community. At the end of our second year of funding from UTC, we are pleased to have significant successes to report in all areas addressed in our Strategic Plan.

NIATT Projects Meet National and State Priorities

In our Strategic Plan, we explain that our research and technology projects address national priorities or those of the state of Idaho. Due to its geographic location, NIATT serves a large portion of the country that has population centers significantly smaller than in other parts of the country. As a result, we made a decision that the Center for Traffic Operations and Control would address a particular type of customer: local government agencies and practicing engineers in medium to small cities (up to a population of approximately 150,000). Our location in the Northwest also places us close to national parks and other pristine areas where the work of the Center for Clean Vehicle Technology can have a positive impact on the environment.

We identify three specific focus areas for our work:

v Traffic control system technologies that are essential to national intelligent transportation infrastructure

v Technologies that support the development of the new generation vehicle

v Capacity building for transportation engineering professionals working in both vehicle and traffic control technology industries.

Technologies for Intelligent Transportation

Faculty and students in our Center for Traffic Operations and Control are working on three projects to develop technologies for the intelligent transportation field. The Idaho Transportation Department first expressed interest in the methodology being developed under the Actuated Coordinated Signalized System project and the system will be site-tested in the downtown area of Idaho Falls, Idaho. The Traffic Tracker software that we developed and are now upgrading also responds directly to needs of the Idaho Transportation Department (see Binu Abraham).

We began the development of the Controller Interface Device (CID II) at the request of Federal Highways Administration (FHWA) as a key element in their long-term Intelligent Transportation infrastructure research and development agenda. NIATT’s CID II has attracted the attention of both federal and local transportation officials and will likely be marketed by spring of 2001 (see Peers Involved in Evaluation of Program). The University of Idaho and McCain Traffic Supply, Inc., Vista, California, have drafted a Memorandum of Understanding that will allow McCain to produce, market, sell and support the CID. The MOU is under review at this time and patent issues are being resolved. Raj Ghaman, Research Engineer for FHWA and a peer panel member, characterized the CID project as “a fine example of FHWA, the University and McCain working together to bring a product to reality.”

Technology for the New Generation Vehicle

The FutureTruck platform provides the focal point for several projects conducted in the Center for Clean Vehicle Technology. These projects respond directly to DOT strategic goals in the area of mobility, economic growth and trade, and human and natural environment. The University of Idaho’s participation in the FutureTruck 2000 competition (sponsored by the US Department of Energy and General Motors Corporation) is highly visible nationally as well as at the state and local level. The project helps direct public attention to clean vehicle issues and to UI’s transportation programs. It also draws significant financial support from both the private and public sectors. (see Outside Funding Increases).

The Center for Clean Vehicle Technology has also been active in exploring alternative, low-emission fuels for next generation vehicles. One area of emphasis involves the combustion of ethanol/water fuel with the help of catalytic igniter technology (see NIATT Investigator Receives DEPSCoR Award of $384,000). In this effort, we have collaborated with Automotive Resources, Inc., of Sandpoint, Idaho. (ARI is a special products supplier to the automotive industry. In addition to catalytic igniters, ARI also sells programmable fuel injection systems.) Recent successes include conversion and demonstration of a variety of small engines, a general aviation aircraft engine, and a transit van. A second area of emphasis is the production of biodiesel fuel for over-the-road use.

Capacity Building

The Traffic Signal Summer Camp (TSSC) serves as a prime example of NIATT’s efforts in capacity building for transportation engineering professionals. This innovative weeklong program, conducted by the Center for Traffic Operations and Control with UTC funds, will bring together transportation engineering students, industry practitioners and university faculty in a modern traffic controller laboratory. NIATT’s camp is intended to serve as a hands-on training model that can be used to train young professional traffic engineers and practicing professionals in the use of advanced transportation technology. During a teleconference on February 22, 2000, the camp counselors agreed to develop a case study around which many of the camp activities will be constructed. The camp will be held August 14 through 18 in Moscow, ID.

A second UTC-funded project in the Center for Traffic Operations and Control (Development of Internet-Based Laboratory Materials) also responds to the need for capacity building. In the first year of the project, an online lab manual was completed, providing over 300 pages of supplemental material for the junior level beginning transportation engineering course (http://niatt.uidaho.edu/niatt/education/labmanual/). Transportation faculty at Portland State University, University of Oregon, and University of Idaho initially developed the materials under a grant from TransNow. TransNow’s UTC funds, supported the initial work, and NIATT’s UTC funds supported preparation of a final version of the materials for use on the Internet—an example of cooperation between two transportation centers. The site is still being evaluated and the ownership agreement negotiated. During the second phase of the project, computer-based training materials are being developed to assist traffic engineers in using traffic analysis models.

Second year activities

Our Strategic Plan further describes how our activities within the three focus areas discussed above support the six goals identified by the US DOT: Education, Human Resources, Diversity, Research Selection, Research Results, and Technology Transfer. Our success in these areas is described in the following report of NIATT activities during this second year of UTC funding.

NIATT CONTINUES PATTERN OF GROWTH

The UTC funds have had a synergistic effect on the institute. The number of graduate students in transportation engineering is increasing; a new transportation position in the civil engineering department has been filled; and a visiting assistant professor, Dr. Ahmed Abdel-Rahim, will be joining our transportation engineering staff in the fall. NIATT-affiliated faculty numbers continue to grow and increasing numbers of undergraduates are becoming substantively involved in the programs of the institute, helping achieve our human resource goals.

Our Highway Design and Traffic Controller laboratories have been upgraded and the renovation of the Gauss-Johnson Engineering Laboratory with vehicle garage has been completed, and the amount of external financial support—both through grant dollars and donations of equipment—continues to increase.

University and College of Engineering Continue Support of Transportation Engineering

The University of Idaho continues to recognize the importance of developing and disseminating new transportation information and technology and also recognizes that NIATT is in a unique position to do so. Transportation is one of five key areas selected as part of the university’s multi-year research initiative to take higher education outside its proverbial ivory tower to benefit business, industry, and citizens. To support the initiative, UI received special state funding as part of Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne’s Initiative for Excellence in Idaho Higher Education. The governor’s initiative supported hiring a new transportation engineering faculty member for the Department of Civil Engineering to support NIATT’s work. Dr. Zaher Khatib (BS, Louisiana Tech; MEngr, Pennsylvania State University; PhD, University of Illinois), already on the staff, was selected to fill the open position. That, in turn, opened a position in the Civil Engineering Department that was filled by Michael Dixon (BS, MS, Brigham Young University; PhD., Texas A & M University), who joined the transportation faculty in June 2000.

NIATT Faculty and Students Serve on Presidential Task Force

The university community utilizes NIATT’s cutting edge capabilities in unique ways. Donald Blackketter, director of the Center for Clean Vehicle Technology, and NIATT civil engineering graduate student, Binu Abraham, were appointed to serve on the multidisciplinary University of Idaho Presidential Task Force on Parking and Transit. That task force has been charged with developing a best-case prototype scenario to meet one of the University of Idaho’s long-range strategic plans to

v Develop and implement innovative shuttle buses on the UI campus

v Connect campus systems effectively to other transit options external to campus

v Create alternatives to traditional, single-occupancy vehicles as the primary means of transportation access to the UI campus

Electric Vehicles Used for UI Recruitment

The university uses the high visibility of the Advanced Vehicle Concepts Team (AVCT), to enhance the UI image and to attract students, first with their hybrid electric vehicle, which took first-place in the 1999 Arizona Electrics Race, and now with their groundbreaking FutureTruck 2000. The university’s recruitment video features footage of the FutureTruck. The College of Engineering calls upon the student members of the team in their recruitment efforts. The undergraduates display their vehicles and talk about their work on clean vehicle technology when high school students and other visitors stop by the UI campus. This year, the team demonstrated their hybrid vehicle at the state legislature in Boise, Idaho, and before the city’s mayor and council members and county transportation department officials. This trip generated media coverage from CNN, local television, and KREM2 (Spokane, Washington). In addition, the team has taken their vehicles to high schools, technical expositions, and community events in the Northwest. This contributes to a wider understanding of DOT’s goal to demonstrate new environmentally friendly technologies. It also makes engineering appealing and exciting to students contemplating career choices.

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