UMD to Host Advanced Transportation Technologies Day

College Park, Md.—On Thursday, Aug. 28, the University of Maryland A. James Clark School of Engineering will host an Advanced Transportation Technologies Day open house to showcase its state-of-the-art transportation research facilities, home to some of today’s most cutting-edge performance monitoring, real-time analysis and modeling technologies.

In line with the upcoming Labor Day holiday weekend, the UMD Center for Advanced Transportation Technology (CATT Lab) will also release its first-ever holiday weekend forecast, derived from both archived and real-time data analysis, as part of the I-95 Corridor Coalition project. Event participants will have the opportunity to tour the CATT Lab, as well as UMD's Traffic Safety and Operations Lab and National Transportation Center. Additionally, participants are invited to go behind-the-scenes of the Metropolitan Area Transportation Operations Coordination (MATOC), which works in partnership with UMD and transportation agencies throughout the region to improve safety and mobility in the D.C. area.

The UMD Advanced Transportation Technologies Day event will run from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. While attendees are invited to tour each of the technology facilities listed below during their designated times, representatives of each lab will be on hand for the duration of the event to answer questions and respond to media inquiries. Members of the media are encouraged to book an appointment by calling or emailing Alyssa Wolice at 301-405-2057 or awolice@umd.edu. All other attendees are invited to register online for this free event.

Featured labs and technologies include:

CATT Lab and Traffic Safety Operations Lab
(8:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.) Jeong H. Kim Engineering Building Suite 3105

The Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory (CATT Lab) was originally established in 2002 as an academic applied research and development lab to support national, state and local efforts to solve important transportation, safety and security problems. The CATT Lab accomplishes this mission through innovative technology deployments and user-centered design of software and information visualization systems. The CATT Lab's work spans many disciplines including Intelligent Transportation Systems, law enforcement, network security, private business, defense and homeland security.

Real-time transportation performance monitoring

Transportation system management and operations

Visual analytics and information visualization tools

Data fusion integrating information from emergency operations centers, transportation management centers, thousands of sensors, cameras and sub-systems throughout the country

Systems engineering

Real-time incident and work-zone monitoring

Archived data analysis and forecasting

The Traffic Safety and Operations Lab works to advance the theoretical development in traffic sciences and convert valuable research findings into operational projects to improve local traffic safety and mitigate ever-increasing congestion in main commuting corridors. Traffic Safety and Operations Lab researchers have also programmed major research results as software tools to support the operations of the Maryland State Highway Adminsitration and local traffic agencies. Examples of projects that have been implemented for use in practice include:

Real-time traffic monitoring and emergency evacuation for Eastern Shore region

Innovative designs of unconventional intersections to contend with recurrent congestion

A multi-modal emergency evacuation system for Baltimore City on-line and off-line systems

Integration of variable speed control and ram-metering operations for US100

Integrated off-ramp and arterial signal control for I-495 traffic congestion

A real-time, intelligent system for incident response, clearance and traffic management for SHA CHART operations

An intelligent dilemma zone protection system for intersection traffic safety

National Transportation Center
(9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.) Glenn L. Martin Hall

With a focus on the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) strategic goal of "Economic Competitiveness," the UMD National Transportation Center aims to promote strategic transportation policies, investment and decisions that bring lasting and equitable economic benefits to the U.S. and its citizens. Capabilities and resources include:

A multi-modal approach to measure and analyze passenger travel mobility, reliability and sustainability

System operations during periods of both recurring and non-recurring incidents, including response to major emergencies

Advanced and applied research promoting economic competitiveness, with the aims of addressing nationally and regionally significant transportation issues to provide practice-ready solutions

Advanced technologies addressing congestion issues, freight transportation and intercity passenger travel facilities

Long-term visioning with a focus on state investment and economic development interests

Light Refreshments (10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.)

Metropolitan Area Transportation Operations Coordination
(11:00 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.) Technology Ventures Building Suite 3121

In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board partnered with nearby major transportation agencies to create MATOC to provide situational awareness of transportation operations in the National Capital Region (NCR). Following its launch in 2009, MATOC established an organizational home with the University of Maryland. Program objectives and strategies include: