INTEGRATION PLATFORM-AS-A-SERVICE IN THE

INTEGRATION PLATFORM-AS-A-SERVICE IN THE TRAFFIC SAFETY AREA Slađana Janković, Snežana Mladenović, Vesna Radonjić, Aleksandra Kostić-Ljubisavljević, Ana Uzelac University of Belgrade, Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, Belgrade, Serbia ABSTRACT Cloud application infrastructure services, also known as Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) form the foundation of a cloud computing platform. The key role of PaaS is to enable development, execution, management and life cycle control for cloud-based application solutions. Integration platform as a service (iPaaS) is a suite of cloud services aimed at addressing a wide range of cloud, Business-to-Business (B2B), and on-premises integration and governance scenarios. This paper proposes iPaaS approach in the field of traffic safety. The proposed framework is based on combining information integration and portal integration in the cloud computing technological environment. Information integration is carried out in a common SQL Azure database. The portal integration is enabled with Windows Azure hosted services. The proposed model was implemented in a case study of integration of information systems that are used for the railroad crossings management in the Serbian Railways.

I.

INTRODUCTION Improving state traffic safety data systems is critical to state efforts to use data-driven approaches to improve traffic safety and reduce traffic fatalities and injuries. Transportation Systems Management (TSM) includes strategies designed to improve traffic flow while increasing the efficiency, safety, and capacity of existing transportation systems [1]. Many TSM strategies fall in to a broad category of technologybased solutions known as Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS). ITS includes any approach that applies data gathering, data processing and data communications in the transportation network – for operators and for users. Our research represents an attempt to contribute to the field of ITS, using cloud computing technologies. Integration moved into the cloud years ago as traditional electronic data interchange value-added networks joined more contemporary IT providers to deliver Integration-as-a-Service (IaaS). Early IaaS solutions focused on IaaS for traditional e-commerce scenarios (for example, supply chain integration), but contemporary offerings are focused on solving integration problems more directly related to Softwareas-a-Service (SaaS) and other cloud scenarios (for example, cloud service to cloud service, or cloud service to on-premises service integration). Businessto-Business (B2B) gateway software vendors have traditionally targeted their solutions to companies implementing e-commerce projects. However, this same software, enhanced with multitenant and other cloud capabilities, is finding its way into the data centers of SaaS and cloud computing providers. Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) is to cloud what middleware is to on-premises application systems. To deliver on this role, PaaS offerings implement in cloud context, the core application infrastructure (middleware) capabilities found on-premises in

application servers, integration platforms, business process management (BPM) suites, database management systems (DBMSs), portals, and other user experience technologies, development, management and governance tools. In PaaS renditions, these technologies are delivered as software services, although, in some cases, the technology that is powering a PaaS offering is also made available as a cloud-enabled product (for private cloud projects and aspiring cloud service providers). When offered as a product, the technology is referred to as cloud-enabled, for example: cloud-enabled application platform (CEAP) or cloud-enabled integration platform (CEIP). An integration PaaS (iPaaS) is an integrated and colocated (i.e., implemented through software running on the same data center) suite of cloud services providing a development and execution platform to support application, data and process integration and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) governance projects. It provides a range of capabilities to develop, execute, manage and govern integration flows (that is, customdeveloped software and metadata implementing the integration logic needed to connect multiple applications, processes and data sources). Basically, an iPaaS provides - as a cloud service - a combination of capabilities typically found in Enterprise Service Buses (ESBs), data integration platforms, B2B gateways, managed file transfer (MFT) products and SOA governance platforms. Our approach is based on the assumption that iPaaS would enable the efficient integration of data and services in the traffic safety area. The background section of paper has to show that there is a need for the integration of traffic safety data systems. Also, in the background section we describe some of the existing approaches in the field of traffic safety systems integration. In the third section of paper will be proposed cloud computing framework for B2B integration that can be used on the traffic safety area. That framework is based on integration Platform-as-aService. The fourth section describes the implementation of the proposed integration Platform-as-a-Service in the case study of traffic safety on the railroad crossings in the Serbian Railways. Finally, the paper concludes the most important results achieved by the integration of traffic safety data systems, using the proposed iPaaS. II. BACKGROUND The traffic safety is based on autonomous or standalone systems, and there is no possibility of reaching a high level safety without cooperation among the standalone systems, so the improvement is limited. In order to overcome the visible limitations of the previously discussed systems, there is a need for another type of solution: Cooperative Transport Systems [2]. Cooperation of traffic and transportation systems caused by the automated exchange of data [3].

We propose the integration of ITS and safety information systems based on iPaaS. Gartner has forecast the consolidation of many of the specialist PaaS offerings into PaaS suites that will be integrated and collocated collections of application infrastructure functionality targeting the prevailing cloud computing project types [4]. Application PaaS (aPaaS) and integration PaaS (iPaaS) are the two most prominent PaaS suites that are emerging. A cloud-enabled integration platform (CEIP) is an application infrastructure product implementing, as licensed software, the capabilities of an integration platform as a service (iPaaS). Those capabilities include a combination of integration features typically found in Enterprise Service Buses - orchestration engines, data integration tools, B2B gateways, SOA governance platforms - on top of a multitenant, elastically scalable cloud foundation. Simply put, a CEIP and an iPaaS offer the same set of capabilities. However, an iPaaS provides them as set of integrated and colocated cloud services. A CEIP provides these capabilities in the form of a software product that users can license and deploy in their data centers. The combination of ITS and safety information systems can have a positive effect on the emergency preparedness, response effectiveness and overall safety of state highways [5]. For example, information technology has been used to assist in decreasing the amount of crashes and therefore injuries experienced throughout communities (e.g., automated speed enforcement, traffic management systems). ITS has also been used to reduce the amount of time it takes for Emergency Medical Services (EMS) to respond to a crash and consequently increase the chances of patient survival (e.g., automatic crash notification, next generation 911). While these systems exist in many areas, there are still many questions about whether “crash avoidance” or “crash readiness and response” is more productive in the impacts they make. To help identify priorities for highway and traffic safety programs, states maintain six core types of traffic safety data systems: vehicle, driver, roadway, crash, citation and adjudication, and injury surveillance (Table 1). Organizations responsible for implementing and maintaining these systems vary among states, but generally include highway safety offices, law enforcement agencies, motor vehicle offices, courts, EMS providers, and others. In [6, 7] the authors propose a new method to achieve Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Center-To-Center (C2C) data exchanging and interoperation by combining Traffic Management Data Directory (TMDD) and Message Set for External Traffic Management Centers Communication MSETMCC standards with Web Service technology. The advantages of this option include its low development cost, good compatibility with existing Datex and Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) technologies, and its flexible deployment and migration (e.g., not requiring significant changes of existing ITS system software). Table 1: Traffic safety data

Type of traffic safety data

Description

Vehicle

Includes information on the identification and ownership of vehicles registered in the state. Data should be available regarding vehicle make, model, year of manufacture, body type, and vehicle history (including odometer readings) in order to produce the information needed to support analysis of vehicle-related factors that may contribute to a state’s crash experience.

Injury surveillance

Incorporates information from pre-hospital (i.e., emergency medical services), trauma, emergency department, hospital in-patient/discharge, rehabilitation, and morbidity databases to track injury causes, magnitude, costs, and outcomes. This system should allow the documentation of information that tracks magnitude, severity, and types of injuries sustained by persons in motor vehicle related crashes.

Citation and adjudication

Includes information on tracking a citation from the time of its distribution to a law enforcement officer, through its issuance to an offender, its disposition, and the posting of conviction in the driver history database. Information should be available to identify the type of violation, location, date and time, the enforcement agency, court of jurisdiction, and final resolution.

Driver

Includes information about the state’s population of licensed drivers, as well as data about convicted traffic violators who are not licensed in the state. Information about persons licensed in the state should include: personal identification, driver license number, license status, driver restrictions, certain convictions in prior states, crash history whether or not cited for a violation, and driver education data.

Crash

Documents the time, location, environment, and characteristics (sequence of events, rollover, etc.) of a motor vehicle crash. Through links to other data systems, the crash component identifies roadways, vehicles, and people (drivers, occupants, and pedestrians) involved in the crash and documents the consequences of the crash (fatalities, injuries, property damage, and citations).

Roadway

Includes roadway location, identification, and classification, as well as a description of a road’s total physical characteristics (e.g., type of surface, presence of traffic control devices, and intersections) and usage (e.g., travel by vehicle type). Roadway information should be available for all public roadways, including local roads.

Especially, it could provide a cost-effective ITS system solution for medium and small communities with limited funding and information infrastructure. CORBA is specification of an architecture for middleware technology called an Object Request Broker that provides interoperability among clients and servers distributed over a heterogeneous environment. CORBA has been used by many states to manage their Traffic Operation Centers [8]. A direct benefit of the wide deployment of intelligent transportation systems is the accumulation of a huge volume of field traffic data that would otherwise be unavailable. Issues such as data exchange and archiving are increasingly critical. Fortunately, XML provides a decent solution to these problems. A number of applications of XML in the transportation field have been identified. In the transportation community, areas such as planning, design, construction, maintenance, and

operation are potential consumers of XML for exchanging large volumes of data. Take transportation simulation, for example. Traffic analysts have been bothered by the lack of a universal methodology that facilitates transfer of data between simulation programs of different vendors. In [9] the authors addressed the development of a XML-based language, TrafficXML, for data representation of traffic simulations. TranXML is proposed as a standard in the logistics industry for ecommerce–related transactions between shippers and carriers. To facilitate the development of more efficient traffic software, and to reduce the potential for data coding errors, a common data file format with which all programs are compatible is needed. Traffic Model Markup Language (TMML) was developed at the University of Florida as a common language for data representation and exchange in traffic modeling. In [10] the authors described the specification of such a format for use in the traffic modeling arena. It also provides some examples of the use of this format. In [11] the authors propose a simulation model for estimating total costs of traffic accidents. The proposed model is based on data on past traffic accidents costs. Traffic accidents costs are categorized as costs for people injuries, vehicle damage, road and equipment costs, as well as other types of costs. Gathering of such data is not simple, because only state institutions have it. By exchanging information between interoperable information systems of relevant institutions, data gathering should be automatized. In [12] studied the impact of traffic control elements on the number of traffic accidents. When defining traffic control elements in practice, two entities are involved: the first one in charge for road infrastructure maintenance, and the second one in charge for traffic control. To have a clear idea of effects of road maintenance and the chosen way of traffic control, both systems must have interoperable information systems which will exchange necessary information. Only after that condition is met, it would be possible to actually implement methodology proposed in Kinderytė-Poškienė research in practice. Previously mentioned examples confirm claims from [13] that the “Safety in Numbers” principle is indeed relevant in the area of traffic safety. However, to implement this principle in real circumstances, “Numbers” must be product of interoperable information systems, as opposed to manual calculations done by researchers. III. DESCRIPTION OF THE IPAAS IN THE FIELD OF TRAFFIC SAFETY The delivery of iPaaS capabilities to user organizations or service providers can be in the form of an integrated set of cloud services (an iPaaS offering), or in the form of a cloud-enabled software product called a cloud-enabled integration platform (CEIP). For the integration of data and services in the field of

traffic safety, we propose an integrated set of cloud services hosted on the Windows Azure Platform. The Windows Azure Platform is a Microsoft cloud platform used to build, host and scale web applications through Microsoft data centers. The platform consists of various on-demand services hosted in Microsoft data centers and commoditized through three product brands. These are Windows Azure (an operating system providing scalable compute and storage facilities), SQL Azure (a cloudbased, scale-out version of SQL Server) and Windows Azure AppFabric (a collection of services supporting applications both in the cloud and on premise). Database platforms as a service (dbPaaS) is engineered to run as a scalable, "elastic" service that is available on a cloud infrastructure. They are available as a one-to-many service, not necessarily relational and offer some degree of self-service. In our approach we propose to integrate the traffic safety data in fully relational dbPaaS - Microsoft's SQL Azure (Figure 1).

Figure 1. Data integration in SQL Azure database

Our iPaaS provides the capabilities to support, in a public or private cloud, a variety of integration scenarios within the same enterprise, e-commerce B2B integration, and the appropriate governance aspects. Figure 2. shows cloud to cloud, cloud to on-premises, on-premises to onpremises, deployment scenarios for iPaaS that we propose at the traffic safety domain. The obvious benefit for users is that they don’t need to procure, deploy and manage hardware and application infrastructure software in their own data centers, as they would when adopting traditional, on-premises integration and governance platforms.

Figure 2. Deployment scenarios for iPaaS at the traffic safety domain

IV. CASE STUDY: SERBIAN RAILROAD CROSSINGS MANAGEMENT In order to properly determine the appropriate safety measures for a railroad crossing, it is necessary to dispose of data about its current state, the actual volume of traffic and safety parameters. All these information categories are merged into a single SQL Azure database named Serbian railroad crossings. One of 16 database tables is shown in Figure 3. Windows Azure platform hosts the service calles Serbian railroad crossings, supplied with domain http://srrc.cloudapp.net. This service is developed as WindowsAzureProject in IDE Visual Studio 2010. A Windows Azure application can be created using three kinds of roles: Web roles, intended primarily for running Web-based applications; Worker roles, designed to run a variety of code like a simulation, or

video processing; VM roles, which can run a userprovided Windows Server 2008 R2 image. In our case study, the Windows Azure application is realized as WebRole ASP.NET application called SERBIAN RAILROAD CROSSINGS PORTAL (SRCP). The web role provides support for presenting a user facing frontend through IIS. SRCP uses the ADO.NET Entity Framework - a set of technologies in ADO.NET that support the development of data-oriented applications. The EntityDataSource control allows us to bind Web controls on a page to data in our Entity Data Model. Client Web application SRCP allows users to view and/or update content of the SQL Azure Serbian railroad crossings database. The main application menu consists of: Railways, Roads, Railroad crossings, Traffic and Traffic Safety. Figure 4. shows Web application page designed for viewing the data on traffic accidents that occurred on railroad crossings.

Figure 3. SQL Azure database manager: Traffic accident table

Figure 4. Serbian railroad crossings portal: Traffic accidents on Serbian railroad crossings

V. CONCLUSION Based on the experience on implementing and evaluating the proposed approach, we can make the following conclusions: • the usage of cloud could enable mid-sized urban transport operators to co-operate with one another more effectively and cut costs through greater interoperability; • it can also reduce the barriers to entry for new operators, ultimately benefiting customers through more competitive ticket pricing; • in the longer term, cloud computing also offers major potential benefits to national transport operators such as the major rail operators, provided they can first move towards greater standardization of their currently fragmented and largely bespoke systems; • for companies that don't want to be bothered with SaaS integration, iPaaS is a viable alternative to onpremises B2B software or complex Web application programming interfaces to integrate SaaS functionality with on-premises software; • many vendors provide online hosting or SaaS models to transportation organizations. SaaS essentially allows the customer to rent the software and access it online for a monthly fee. While these tools can benefit the business side of the transportation industry, the real value comes when the cloud intersects directly with fleet management devices. Bypassing SaaS and simply passing data directly from the device to the cloud saves time and also money; • the device cloud is a term to describe how organizations can bring data from device to business application with an integrated solution to turn bits of data into valuable and actionable information. By storing device data in the cloud, both public and private transportation agencies can access data in near real-time; • traditional transportation IT departments are set up with an IT director and staff, a network infrastructure, and local data centers. For many years, the transportation industry has been exchanging information, such as passenger counts and vehicle diagnostics, through a local network. Using cloud services to store fleet data may be where Web-based capabilities can have the largest effect in the transportation industry; • public IT cloud services are Internet browser-based and are available to any person or entity. Cloud services are off-site from a customer standpoint and do not require any dedicated, application-specific or proprietary client-side hardware or software to support access. Since cloud services are stored offsite, they provide a level of backup and redundancy that is beneficial to any industry, but they can also improve efficiency significantly in the transportation market.

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