The Advanced Transportation Controller (ATC) Standards are intended to provide an open architecture hardware and software platform that can support a wide variety of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) applications including traffic management, safety, security and other applications. The ATC Standards are being developed and maintained under the direction of the ATC Joint Committee (JC) which is made up of representatives from the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO), the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE), and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA).
The ATC 5401 Application Programming Interface (API) for the Advanced Transportation Controller (ATC) Standard is one of three ATC standards efforts. It defines a software platform that operates on an ATC controller unit (as defined by the ATC 5201 Advanced Transportation Controller Standard. The API Software that is developed according to the standard provides management capabilities and functional interfaces for the ATC unit's Front Panel, Field Input/Output Devices, and Real-time Clock. When combined with the ATC units's Linux operating system, the API Software provides a universal interface for application programs to operate on any ATC unit regardless of the manufacturer. In addition, it allows multiple application programs to operate concurrently on a single ATC unit by sharing the controller's computational resources, its Front Panel, its Real-time Clock, and access to the Field I/O devices of the cabinet system.
The ATC 5401 has been prepared by the ATC API Working Group (WG), a technical subcommittee of the ATC JC. It establishes a common understanding of the user needs, requirements, and specification of the interface for:
Other standards within the ATC program include the ATC 5201 Advanced Transporation Controller Standard, and the ATC 5301 ATC Cabinet Standard.
The Application Programming Interface (API) Standard for the Advanced Transportation Controller (ATC) Version 2 (v02.17) was published as a Joint Standard of AASHTO, ITE and NEMA on September 1, 2011. On September 12, 2013, it was republished with the “ATC 5401” identifier in the name for administrative purposes and without modification to the technical content of the standard. Following this, the ATC JC requested funding to build a software reference implementation of the ATC 5401 Standard that could discover and correct any deficiencies in the standard and provide API software that manufacturers could use freely in their controller units. This approach would provide the best opportunity for portability, compatibility, and interchangeability of ATC application software. This decision was supported by all controller manufacturers involved in the ATC program. Funding from the USDOT was received and resulted in the API Reference Implementation (APIRI) project (see https://www.ite.org/technical-resources/standards/api-reference-implementation/).
ATC 5401 v02A.35 represents a significantly improved version of the standard and rectifies the deficiencies in the previous version. This version of the standard correlates to the current status of the APIRI project. Improvements included:
The API WG submitted ATC 5401 Standard v02A.35 to the ATC JC for review as a Proposed Recommend Standard (pRS). The ATC JC accepted the document as a Recommended Standard during their teleconference on June 20, 2019 with a vote of 8 yeas, 0 nays, and 0 abstentions.
Notice of Intent to Adopt ATC 5401 Standard v02A |
02/12/20
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03/13/20 |