ICM System Architecture and Design

Over a period of several months, the Connected Corridors development team worked with Caltrans to refine the high-level design for the ICM Core System. This system comprises the majority of the IT infrastructure for the I-210 Pilot, with its three major components being the data hub, decision support system, and corridor management system. The proposed system design is characterized by:

  • Cloud-based design for flexibility, on-demand scalability, redundancy, and lower deployment and operational costs
  • Multiple database technologies for optimized performance
  • Separate data management, decision support, and control functions for configurability
  • State, regional, and local layer design with flexibility for future scaling to other corridors

The following table summarizes the components:

Component Description

Field elements- green

The green elements in the diagram represent the various corridor field data sources and field element controls, including state, regional, and local transportation systems, regional transportation data networks, and private information providers.

  • On the left side of the diagram, these elements represent the various data sources for information input and processing by the ICM system.
  • On the right side, they represent the various control interfaces to execute response plan elements selected by operators of the ICM system.

Data Hub- red

Shown in red in the diagram, the data hub is a key component of the system. It includes:

  • Multiple input channels (REST, Streaming, and ETL--Extract, Transform, & Load) based on the type and characterization of the data being received
  • High-speed, high-volume computing platforms
  • Multiple data storage technologies optimized for the type and usage of the data being stored

The primary functions of the data hub are:

  • Receive field data from local and regional providers
  • Process, analyze, and verify quality of received data
  • Data messaging and communications within the system
  • Data storage
  • Data security

Decision Support- blue

The decision support system, shown in blue, provides:

  • Corridor traffic state determination
  • Corridor traffic state prediction
  • Response plan development and evaluation
Corridor Management- purple The corridor management system, in purple, is expected to be a commercial off-the-shelf component that provides:
  • Primary user interface
  • Corridor and asset state visualization, control, and management
  • Response plan lifecycle management, including:
    • Initiation
    • Development
    • Evaluation
    • Selection
    • Modification
    • Approval
    • Execution
    • Monitoring
    • Close
    • Post-incident/event analysis
  • ICM System management, including:
    • Rules configuration and management
    • Response plan configuration and management
    • System monitoring
    • Security
    • System configuration

The design of the system is based on experience the Connected Corridors development team has gained developing the modeling components of the decision support system. The modeling system is a similar decoupled design based on single-purpose services connected by messaging technology. It is fully based in an Amazon cloud environment, using multiple database technologies optimized for the type of data being processed.