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Developing New ITS Professional Capacity - a South African perspective

Developing New ITS Professional Capacity - a South African perspective. Johann Andersen University of Stellenbosch ITS World 2012, Vienna. Overview. ITS in South Africa – relevance of subject area The ITS professional ITS programme at Stellenbosch University Academic programme

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Developing New ITS Professional Capacity - a South African perspective

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  1. Developing New ITS Professional Capacity- a South African perspective Johann Andersen University of Stellenbosch ITS World 2012, Vienna IBEC Sunday Workshop: ITS Professional Capacity Building 21 October 2012

  2. Overview • ITS in South Africa – relevance of subject area • The ITS professional • ITS programme at Stellenbosch University • Academic programme • Research programme • Industry training

  3. ITS in South Africa • Extensive transport technology investment in major cities since 2008 • Freeway management systems • Rapid Rail Systems • Bus Rapid Transit Systems • Urban Traffic Control

  4. ITS in South Africa • Establishment of Transport Management Centres • Value of ITS systems deployed > R4.0 billion

  5. ITS in South Africa • Deployment ongoing • Major challenge: ensure sustainability of systems deployed • Operations • Maintenance • Industry need: • Education • Training

  6. The ITS Professional • Today’s ITS professional: • Either Civil Engineer (Transport) with some technology “know-how” and IT skills, or • Electric/Electronic engineer picking up on transport engineering • But what should he/she look like?

  7. The ITS Professional • Some thoughts w.r.t. developing this professional: • Why don’t we just teach transport with a strong ITS focus? • Why not devise a single university course in ITS? • Can a novice jump into this field with no previous exposure? • Is formal teaching alone enough?

  8. Stellenbosch ITS Programme • Three components: • Engineering education • Research • Industry training • Multidisciplinary approach • Civil Engineering (Transportation) • E & E Engineering • Industrial Engineering • Geographic Information Systems

  9. Academic Programme: Engineering Education • Undergraduate • Formal teaching: • Selected classes in ITS as part of traffic engineering & transportation planning courses (Civil Engineering) • To be expanded to guest lecturing at E&E undergraduates • Research: • Fourth year projects in ITS • Civil engineering and E&E engineering • Continue awareness

  10. Academic Programme: Engineering Education • Post-graduate • Course in ITS (also attended by industry professionals) • Duration: one week • Contents • Systems design approach, technology, communications, operations, maintenance, legal and contractual, procurement • Exposure in related disciplines (including communications, database development, GIS applications) • Homework and project requirement for registered students

  11. Academic Programme: Engineering Education – typical graduate course programme

  12. Academic Programme: Engineering Education • Post-graduate • Masters in Civil Engineering (ITS) • Courses: • ITS, various transportation, some industrial engineering (OR, database development etc) • E&E focus? • Filling the gap from a transportation engineering perspective • Industrial engineers do Masters in Civil Engineering • E&E engineers – interact on projects and informally • Some administrative challenges

  13. Academic Programme: Engineering Education • Short courses • Duration: 1-2 days • Typical topics: • ITS Tools for analysis • Incident Management and ITS • Electronic Payment in Transport • Aimed at professionals • Needs driven

  14. ITS Research Programme • Partnership with implementating authorities and ITS industry • Emphasis on developing country environment • Research areas: • Centralised Database development to facilitate Sustainable Modal Integrated Systems • Enhanced Incident Management Systems through technology deployment • Reliability of Travel time measurement • Use of cellular platforms for traffic information. • Use of cellular networks for real-time data collection • Minibus occupancy sensor development • Vehicular ad-hoc networks (connected vehicle) • Intersection collision detection with Radar • Vehicle-based remote (image and video) sensing

  15. ITS Research Programme • Local Industry collaboration • Establishment of “Smart Travel Lab” • Hardware & software, Traffic controllers, microscopic simulation software • Access to real time data from Freeway Management Systems and BRT data • Laboratory environment for students • Expose undergraduates to ITS field • Invited industry to become partners • Sponsor equipment/software /hardware • Sponsor research

  16. ITS Industry Training • Address industry needs • Establishment of training programme for non-engineering ITS industry • 5-day Certificate course in ITS operations • 3-day course in Incident Management Systems • Response to needs of industry to ensure sustainability

  17. Some random final thoughts • Should we think wider than the ITS programme? • We need special people to make this work • Form an ITS interest group at the University • Be flexible in putting a programme together (different entry routes) • Do not push or align the programme with a specific department

  18. Thank You! jandersen@sun.ac.za

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