DIAMOND website
Objectives
DIAMOND is developing and improving ITS services on the basis of the stable DAB technology, as well as GSM and positioning technologies where appropriate. The project will build on the state-of-the-art in order to prove that a wide range of services can be successfully delivered using the DAB standardised technology and the roll-out of DAB infrastructure.
Through the positive results of on-going demonstrations in Hannover, Turin, Paris and southern Germany, DIAMOND aims to show that the European potential for advanced traveller information services - such as in-car navigation and traffic information – totalling €26 billion annually (based on a joint European Commission/ERTICO study) is realistic.
DIAMOND is providing the technological basis to show that DAB is particularly suited to ITS applications because it offers mobile reception. Vehicle manufacturers are now developing multimedia applications for future products. To achieve this DIAMOND is:
- Creating a wide range of ITS services for use in a vehicle, at home, in the office, at with DAB stand-alone kiosks or combined with GSM and/or GPS.
- Identifying those services that are most likely to emerge as winners - such as traffic information (including weather-related information), travel and tourist information, broadcast websites and on-demand route guidance.
- Identifying likely winning functionalities such as filtering of relevant Traffic Message Channel messages, software download (including open access to services when roaming), payment functionality, and broadcast/personalised digital maps.
- Reviewing the scope for other interesting applications such as multimodal trip planning/comparison and on-trip public transport information, other route guidance and navigation, broadcast public files, personalised personal files and Internet access.
- Showing how value-added services need to be reserved and paid for electronically.
DIAMOND's results will lead to substantial commercial services foreseen for introduction in 2003-2005. In order to accomplish this mission efficiently, extensive use of existing know-how from various projects, trials and demonstrations will be made. In particular, DIAMOND takes into consideration the emerging structure for commercial provision of ITS services.
Approach
DIAMOND extends over 24 months and is divided into six work packages, including WP1 Project Management. Two contracts, with support from the EC’s Information Society Technologies Programme form the DIAMOND Project:
IST-1999-11161 for the research and technological development
IST-1000-71161 for the demonstration
WP2 Technical Realisation will create the technical specifications for the applications in the three different modes (broadcast, interactive and dynamic navigation), creating a laboratory model and prototype end-user terminals to supply the demonstration sites. All the relevant technical requirements - such as a proper transfer mode within DAB, signalling in the Fast Information Channel, filtering technology for applications and payment functionality – will be developed and specified/standardised. These requirements feed all the other major activities of the project.
The proven MEMO technology platform will be evaluated and optimised for ITS applications on DAB. Appropriate exchange formats and other parameters will be developed to ensure the easy insertion of services. The specification and harmonisation of a Human Machine Interface approach for ITS services in different environments is an important part of the work, with HMI Application Protocol Interface and guidelines as major outputs. This ensures that the project’s results can be safely and effectively adopted by the end-users. An agreed final technical architecture and guidelines on their interpretation and application will also be produced.
WP3 Service Distribution will identify and elaborate key requirements for developing and operating successful services using DAB + GSM. Target applications will be identified in order to develop a service architecture, refined through a number of subsequent processes, which will; then serves as the basis for the demonstration site architectures. User needs will be identified and quantified in order to establish key criteria for the success of future commercial services, leading to successful choices based on a global analysis and validation through optimisation in the demonstration sites.
Operational and quality procedures for the future commercial services will be developed and fine-tuned in the demonstration sites. A global document will combine all of the outputs as a "Services Guidebook" to ensure easy understanding and exploitation of the results.
WP4 Assessment and Evaluation will analyse and recommend appropriate remedial measures on the basis of the assessment of the impact and quality of services in the DIAMOND demonstration sites. These assessments will include the user acceptance and how services affect user behaviour, using tools within an evaluation framework. Service quality assessment should determine that services meet a required minimum quality through a combination of detailed questionnaires, physical tests and the collation and analysis of log-files within the demonstration sites. The project also needs careful assessment to determine that it meets its objectives.
WP5 Dissemination and Implementation will develop the business model and disseminate the project results in order to convince the ITS community and other major actors of DIAMOND's benefits. Issues will be identified to secure a better regulatory framework in order to raise the profile of data services within the DAB ensemble and convince regulators to make appropriate additional frequencies available.
WP6 Demonstration sites will determine which services and applications form the demonstration. The scope of the demonstration will be specified with applications which need detailed description and all the actors in the chain must be identified, with comprehensive agreements formulated between them. The service architecture definition will take the user and service architecture requirements from WP3 into account, creating and agreeing the demonstration site architecture while incorporating local infrastructure constraints. Each individual system’s overall design will need detailed specification based on WP2 outputs and overall operational performance indicators and operational procedures adapted to the demonstration site requirements. Quality management requirements must also be adapted. In addition, any specific terminal requirements for local needs must be specified with DAB channel capacity set against application requirements.
A marketing plan will be developed for each demonstration site with a separate strategy to identify its transition to commercial operation. The impact of services will be assessed in the demonstration sites. The impact of services on safety and transport efficiency will be assessed in co-operation with the relevant traffic authorities. Socio-economic evaluation should be undertaken using classic methods to estimate the net economic benefits of services against the existing situation; any reference studies for services using other technologies should be used for comparative purposes. Appropriate criteria must be agreed upon for system performance, reliability and quality. These criteria and their framework must be adapted to match the overall project framework to ensure comparability between demonstration sites, where appropriate.
A mechanism to link the demonstration sites will identify key issues for demonstration sites, establish co-ordination meetings and progress monitoring. The mechanism will also determine the consequences of actions and distribute information arising from within the project to the Demonstration sites and vice-versa.
The aims of the demonstration sites are:
- Early demonstration site (Hannover) to act as a proving ground for the overall concepts and provide the other sites with valuable information for fine-tuning their activities
- Main demonstration sites (Paris, southern Germany, Hannover, Turin) to provide comparable data - but with specific differences - (see comparative table at the end) to ensure that the data is relevant at the European level and that different modes of transport, services, applications and operational cultures can be incorporated
- Showcase demonstration site (Turin) to provide specific publicity for the concepts (rather than the project itself) at wide levels.
DIAMOND believes that when new services are launched to the general public, it only demands those services they are actually familiar with used. For example, if people were asked ten years ago (1989) if they would pay extra money for a phone they could carry with them to be reached at all times, there probably would have been a negative response. Thus, the demonstration sites are important to the project as they will create public demand much better than any market survey or business model. This is essential if DIAMOND is have meaningful figures for assessment and evaluation.
The attractiveness of the DIAMOND concept is echoed by the strong commitment of organisations which are not project contractors. In particular, BMW, BMT, BR, SWR and Panasonic have all indicated their willingness to participate in the demonstrations without consuming contractual resources. In addition, several demonstration sites rejected during the negotiation phase (London to Eurotunnel in UK/France, Nantes in France) and other interested sites (Saxony-Anhalt and Poland) may go ahead with pilot services.
The various sites will address interoperability issues - Hannover will be a proving ground as it is the earliest demonstration. It will test interoperability issues arising from the first results out of WP2 and WP3 and provide feedback. Further work will be carried out after the main demonstration, including interoperability tests at the other sites. In Paris, interoperability issues will be addressed by choosing protocols and specifications determined by WP2, and validating that terminals will respect these protocols and specs. WP4 will validate that some basic similar services will be available on the V-Media site and other demonstration sites. The different terminals and technical chains on these sites will enable interoperability.
Evaluation statistics
HANNOVER
During the 150 days of EXPO 2000, 500 test users are possible:
-- 1000 existing DAB test users in Saxony-Anhalt
-- 5-10 fully equipped demonstration cars
In addition, the following can be included - albeit outside of contractual obligations - as the public transport operators are not able to commit contractually to the project:
-- 144 equipped public transport vehicles (trams)
-- 18 portable kiosks (mainly public transport)
PARIS
Two six-month trials involving 260-360 users:
-- Trial 1 - 240 testers in 40 vehicles for a one-month period
-- Trial 2 - 120 new testers in 20 vehicles for a one-month period, plus an extension of first trial to some users in the other 20 vehicles if necessary
SOUTHERN GERMANY
Existing equipped testers and new testers:
-- Audio - 1000 existing adapted
-- Monochrome display - 500 existing adapted
-- ¼ VGA colour - 500 existing adapted plus 20 new
-- High resolution handheld/integrated in a car – 20 new
-- PC-based - 100 existing plus 10 new
TURIN
Up to 5000 users attending the 2000 ITS World Congress using:
-- multimedia kiosks - at least 10
-- at least one prototype in-car
-- at least one prototype new generation bus stop display
-- displays installed on-board shuttle buses
Consortium
DIAMOND has good contacts with the European Commission and external bodies important for achieving consensus (WorldDAB Forum, Eureka-147, EBU, EACEM, etc.). This has been aided by the Consultation Group, comprising all bodies that are not contractual partners but who have an interest in early access to project results (subject to normal contractual and IPR restrictions) in order to promote their rapid exploitation. This Consultation Group is expected to increase in but already includes a number of transport ministries, vehicle manufacturers, receiver manufacturers, public broadcasters and service providers.
Milestones
| December 2001 |
Service quality assessment based on the results from the demonstration sites |
| December 2001 |
Business model to enable commercial and technical implementation |
| December 2001 |
Service guidebook |
| December 2001 |
Technical architecture and guidelines |
| December 2001 |
Test platform |
| September 2001 |
Operational and quality procedures for services |
| April 2001 |
Service architecture based on user needs leading to a list of successful choices of applications |
|
April 2001 |
Services commence at the southern Germany demonstration site |
| March 2001 |
Application Protocol Interface for the Human-Machine Interface with a set of guidelines |
| March 2001 |
Agreed set of technical specifications for services relying on a navigation system |
| January 2001 |
Services commence at the Paris demonstration site |
| December 2000 |
An agreed set of technical specifications for uni- and bi-directional services |
| November 2000 |
Services commence at the Turin demonstration site |
| June 2000 |
Services commenced at the Hannover demonstration site |
Public Documents
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