The Accelerated Masters Program in Systems Engineering Capstone Project

Designed expressly for technical professionals and managers, the Accelerated Master's Degree Program in Systems and Information Engineering is a hands-on, practical program of study designed to give engineers and technical managers the problem-solving and analytical skills needed to maximize existing resources and uncover breakthrough opportunities for their organizations. The Program's dual emphasis on engineering and business skills places graduates in a unique position to further their company's strategic goals.  This unique program of study is completed in just one year by attending classes every other weekend on Friday and Saturday.  Most graduates find that they are able to take much of what they learn and apply it at work immediately.

This unique, accelerated, one-year program was created by senior faculty at the University of Virginia's School of Engineering and Applied Science in collaboration with the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration -- coupling courses in business strategy and functionality along with mathematics and modeling.

Each year, the Accelerated Master’s Program in Systems Engineering concludes with a comprehensive team-based design effort involving a large scale system of national significance. This project provides a culminating experience through which students bring together the systems analysis and design skills they have learned over the course of the year and apply them to a real-world problem using real data and presenting their results to an evaluation panel comprised of seasoned practitioners, academics, and client representatives. The 2006-07 AMP cohort is addressing a problem related to the nation’s ability to provide safe and secure transport of hazardous materials over our nation’s highways.  The project, sponsored by the Transportation Security Administration, is described below.  The project was completed by four teams of 9-10 students each during the week of April 2-6 with presentations to the sponsor on Friday, April 6.  Selected presentations were also given during the annual Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium held at the University of Virginia.

Background

It is the mission of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to protect the Nation’s transportation systems to ensure freedom of movement for people and commerce.  The TSA plans to accomplish this mission by increasing domain awareness, focusing on the prevention of terrorist incidents in transportation and enhancing response capabilities by promoting methods that ensure coordinated agile incident responses to terrorist threats and incidents.

Trucks transport and exchange cargo with all modes of transportation and regularly access and carry shipments into and out of airport operations, rail facilities, military installations, retail establishments, government buildings, maritime ports, and residential neighborhoods.  The pervasive and ubiquitous nature of the trucking industry underscores the need to ensure that highway cargo transportation system’s security vulnerabilities are effectively assessed and mitigated to prevent terrorists from exploiting this vital component in our Nation’s supply chain. 

A critical part of securing the Nation’s supply chain involves the rapid engagement of first responders at state and local levels to facilitate agile and effective responses to emergency incidents that may pose an immediate security threat to human life and/or the flow of commerce.  As such, methods to ensure first responders have the ability to track and intercept cargo conveyances deemed to be a significant risk to national security must be developed and evaluated.  Efforts to coordinate state and local responses with the proper federal authorities and intelligence data will enhance and expedite National response plans to actual live terrorist threats.

The Transportation Security Administration has awarded two contracts relating to HAZMAT truck tracking.  Together, these two contracts will accomplish the following:

  1. Identify, test and evaluate at least three technically different, but commercially available solutions to track trucks in all 50 states
  2. Develop and demonstrate a prototype for a centralized truck tracking center
  3. Develop and demonstrate a non-proprietary universal interface system or set of protocols that will allow alerts and tracking information to be transmitted from all commercially available tracking systems to a prototype truck tracking center;
  4. Evaluate the feasibility of utilizing the developed universal set of protocols or interface system to pass truck tracking information between a truck tracking center and a 24 hour government intelligence operations center
  5. Provide an independent analysis of the recommendations and validate the results of (2), (3), and (4).    

The two separate contracts awarded by TSA are as follows: one contract seeks to accomplish (1) and (5) above, and another seeks to accomplish (2), (3) and (4).  The requirements of the proposed contracts are to be accomplished using existing off the shelf, or slightly modified technology.  Neither is a research and development contract.

Key requirements of the proposed pilot contract include the ability to: continually track truck locations and load types in all 50 states; and develop a set of protocols capable of interfacing with existing truck tracking systems, a truck tracking center, a Government intelligence operations center, state, local and Federal law enforcement agencies, and first responders.   Both of these contracts are currently underway.

Previous studies, including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) Field Operational Test, demonstrated and evaluated multiple technologies that could support HAZMAT truck tracking.

Legislative Foundations

The 109th Congress introduced S. 1052, Transportation Security Improvement Act of 2005 which stated that “the Secretary of Homeland Security, through the Transportation Security Administration and in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation, shall develop a program to encourage the equipping of motor carriers transporting high hazard materials (as defined in section 305(g) of this Act) in quantities equal to or greater than the quantities specified in subpart 171.800 of title 49, Code of Federal Regulations, with wireless communications technology that provide (A) continuous communications; (B) vehicle position location and tracking capabilities; and (C) a feature that allows a driver of such vehicles to broadcast an emergency message.”

That legislation was not acted passed during 109th Congress, but the 110th Congress has introduced similar legislation, namely S. 184, Surface Transportation and Rail Security Act of 2007, which contains similar language in Sec. 202:

SEC. 202. MOTOR CARRIER HIGH HAZARD MATERIAL TRACKING.

(a) Communications--

(1) IN GENERAL- Consistent with the findings of the Transportation Security Administration's HAZMAT Truck Security Pilot Program and within 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary, through the Transportation Security Administration and in consultation with the Secretary of Transportation, shall develop a program to encourage the tracking of motor carrier shipments of high hazard materials as defined in this Act with communications technology that provides--

(A) frequent or continuous communications;

(B) vehicle position location and tracking capabilities; and

(C) a feature that allows a driver of such vehicles to broadcast an emergency message.

(2) CONSIDERATIONS- In developing the program required by paragraph (1), the Secretary shall--

(A) consult with the Secretary of Transportation to coordinate the program with any ongoing or planned efforts for motor carrier or high hazardous materials tracking at the Department of Transportation;

(B) take into consideration the recommendations and findings of the report on the Hazardous Material Safety and Security Operation Field Test released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on November 11, 2004;

(C) evaluate--
(i) any new information related to the cost and benefits of deploying and utilizing tracking technology for motor carriers transporting high hazard materials not included in the Hazardous Material Safety and Security Operation Field Test Report released by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on November 11, 2004;
(ii) the ability of tracking technology to resist tampering and disabling;
(iii) the capability of tracking technology to collect, display, and store information regarding the movements of shipments of high hazard materials by commercial motor vehicles;
(iv) the appropriate range of contact intervals between the tracking technology and a commercial motor vehicle transporting high hazard materials; and
(v) technology that allows the installation by a motor carrier of concealed electronic devices on commercial motor vehicles that can be activated by law enforcement authorities and alert emergency response resources to locate and recover security sensitive material in the event of loss or theft of such material.

(b) FUNDING- There are authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to carry out this section $3,000,000 for each of fiscal years 2008, 2009, and 2010.

The HAZMAT Truck Security Pilot

The HAZMAT Truck Security Pilot (HTSP) study currently underway demonstrates the technical and operational feasibility of tracking HAZMAT trucks based on a controlled test of tracking technology, a truck tracking center, and limited criteria for identifying incidents and alerts, including violations of postulated exclusion areas.  The purposes of the HTSP are:

  • Test and evaluate commercial truck tracking and identification systems capabilities in all 50 states
  • Test and evaluate theft detection and alert systems (examples)
    • Unexpected change in weight of the cargo.
    • Failure of a shipment to arrive within a specific period around the estimated time of arrival.
    • Unexpected separation of a trailer from its tractor
    • Deviation of a shipment from its expected route
    • Driver declared emergency
  • Develop and demonstrate a prototype for a centralized truck tracking center
    • track shipments of interest truck locations and load types in all 50 states
    • coordinate response between the truck tracking center and first responders
  • Develop and demonstrate a non-proprietary universal interface system
    • a set of protocols that will allow cargo information, alerts and tracking information to be transmitted from all commercially available tracking systems to the prototype truck tracking center.

The elements of the HAZMAT Truck Security Pilot are:

  • A certified emergency dispatch center manning the Truck Tracking Center to coordinate response to a Transportation Security Incident (TSI)
  • The Universal Communications interface based on web services and the IEEE 1512 XML message set, implemented using the Intelligent Information Integration Broker (I3B).
  • The Transportation Event Acquisition and Management System (TEAMS) software application used to obtain, organize, and display information associated with a Transportation Security Incident (TSI) using the Universal Data Interface and made available to users (dispatchers, first responders, government agencies at all levels and carrier dispatch) through a browser-based interface.
  • The FreightDesk Technologies’ FDfolio™ software application used to manage/retrieve data associated with cargos, standard response for hazardous materials, and supply chain management relevant to an incident.

The Truck Tracking Center (TTC) is comprised of two major components, one that provides data associated with cargo (using FreightDesk Technologies’ FDfolio™) and the other for obtaining, organizing, and displaying information associated with a Transportation Security Incident (using TEAMS software).

The TEAMS software is designed to provide the following functions:

  • Software application to support monitoring transportation events and coordinating emergency response
  • Data communication interface to collect data from other transportation management systems
  • Personnel notification (email, cell phone, pager) of new events based on geographic location and event data
  • Responder identification and notification based on geographic location of event
  • Correlation of disparate data from multiple sources (filtering)
  • Browser based interface for remote access
  • GIS visualization of event locations
  • Secure access control
  • HTTPS and user id / password
  • Access restrictions (authorization, geographic location, data, time)
In addition, a concept of operations has been developed that describes how various entities are to collaborate when a potential transportation security event is identified, including communication and coordination with the appropriate public safety answering point (PSAP).

Context and Scope of the Study

As the national HAZMAT truck tracking concept scales up from a pilot project to full scale deployment, the number of trucks being tracked and the associated volume of tracking signals received in the National Truck Tracking Center (TTC) will grow considerably.  One of the critical questions to be addressed in implementing the national HAZMAT truck tracking system is how best to manage, process, and respond to the volume of tracking data received at the center.  The current operational concept provides the framework for managing events once they are identified; however, identifying an “event” may itself be a challenging task.  Clearly, some events will be easily identified based on a driver’s emergency signal or when pre-established security boundaries are violated (e.g., when a geofence is breached).  However, other circumstances may be of interest as well and the TTC will need a mechanism to filter the large volume of information that will be arriving at the TTC to ensure that events of potential interest are identified with a high probability, yet the number of potential events is not so large that it overwhelms the ability of the dispatcher to manage to observe, detect, decide, respond cycle appropriately.

The scope of this analysis is limited to the activities of the Truck Tracking Center and the information processing and decision support functions that will occur at that center.  However, the TTC operates within the context of the national HAZAMT truck tracking system and, therefore, must be considered within that context.

Objective and Tasks

Objective

The objective of this effort is to develop the operational concept and functional requirements for processing truck tracking signals that arrive at the Truck Tracking Center in support of identifying real and potential transportation security incidents and, to the extent possible, implementing this concept through the use of pilot study data scaled up to demonstrate the likely cost and performance of a national system.

Tasks

Task 1:  HAZMAT Truck Security Decision Support System Concept of Operations.  Develop a concept of operations for managing the incoming stream of HAZMAT truck tracking signals such that the dispatcher is most likely to identify real and potential transportation security incidents in a manner that provides an appropriate decision and response cycle, including collaboration with the TSA watch officer and others to identify opportunities for interventions that either prevent or mitigate the effects of such incidents.  In developing this concept of operations, identify what is or might be consider a real or potential security incident and the necessary decision cycle to intervene appropriately. 

The concept of operations is a high level description expressed in user-oriented language that describes how the system will work to achieve the system level objectives.  The concept of operations leads to functional requirements and specifications that permit preliminary design and development.  The concept of operations should reflect the perspectives of major stakeholders and demonstrate an understanding of stakeholder roles and responsibilities and system priorities and constraints.

Task 2:  Functional Requirements for the HTS DSS.  Based on the concept of operations develop the system requirements that must be achieved to provide information to the dispatcher and other parties such that they can identify anomalies that may indicate the potential for or the occurrence of a transportation security incident.  The requirements should include measures of performance and evaluation criteria to be used in determining how well the system requirements are met so that alternative approaches can be evaluated and the deployed system can be assessed with respect to system requirements.  The requirements should address both technical requirements (e.g., technical performance) and procedures (e.g., institutional arrangements).

Task 3:  Integration with Tracking Operational Concepts.  Describe how the proposed operational concept and functional requirements can be integrated with the nominal truck tracking systems used during the FMCSA HAZMAT FOT and the HTSP.  Demonstrate how the proposed concept of operations will scale up to a national level system that will accommodate the anticipated level of activity, taking into account the inherent variability in both the volume and nature of tracking activity and related events.

Task 4:  Institutional/Legal/Regulatory Considerations.  Identify the institutional, legal, and regulatory issues and considerations that are likely to affect design, deployment, and operation the proposed operational concept for managing the HAZMAT truck tracking data and identify ways to mitigate such issues.  These may include economic incentives/ disincentives, jurisdictional authority, response resources, legislative or legal restrictions, proprietary concerns, or other factors that might affect implementation or effectiveness of the tracking system.

Task 5:  Findings and Recommendations.  Document findings and recommendations in a professional report suitable for submission to TSA that includes the following elements (individual reports will likely include additional material and subsections within these major headings):

  • Title page
  • Disclaimer (similar to that offered in this document noting that the report contains no proprietary information or security sensitive information)
  • Acknowledgement (recognizing agencies or individuals who provided information or advice)
  • Executive Summary
  • Background
  • Study Objective
  • Technical Approach
  • Analysis (this will be the major part of the report where each task is addressed and systems engineering tools and methods are applied)
  • Findings and Recommendations
  • References
  • Appendices as necessary
Summarize study approach and findings and recommendations in a briefing to be given to TSA and other evaluators in a session not to exceed 30 minutes including a 10 minute discussion and question and answer period following the presentation.   Presentations will occur between 2:00pm and 4:00pm on Friday, April 6th.  One or more presentation may also be considered for presentation during the annual Systems and Information Engineering Design Symposium held at Newcomb Hall at the University of Virginia on Friday, April 27th. 

Evaluation Criteria

The criteria used to evaluate the final briefing and report are as follows, listed in decreasing order of importance:

  1. Demonstrated effective application of systems engineering principles and approaches in defining the problem; formulating appropriate performance indices and metrics; identifying and characterizing key stakeholders’ perspectives; developing functional requirements and design specifications; identifying and evaluating feasible alternatives; assessing and mitigating technical, operational, and economic risks; establishing the basis for and selection of the preferred alternatives (including staged or evolutionary development or deployment); and formulating a plan for implementing the preferred alternative.
  2. The thoroughness of the analysis used in completing the project as evidenced by the data obtained and information sources explored; the type and rigor of the analyses conducted; the extent to which assumptions are identified, documented, assessed, and properly applied; and the validity of conclusions drawn from the analysis.
  3. The overall practicality of the recommended system design and concept of operations in light of institutional, operational, technical, and economic considerations.
  4. The professional quality of the report and final briefing in capturing and communicating the nature of the problem, the analysis, the system design and operational concept, and the recommended course of action.

Links to Team Reports (links to full reports in PDF format – Adobe Reader required)

Red Team (Combustible Engineering)
Green Team (Dukes of HAZMAT)
Blue Team (HAZMATadores)

     
     
   
       
         
   

    Home :: Apply :: Contact :: Site Map :: About UVA