One of the biggest hopes for moving goods quickly and cost-effectively around the world, while beefing up security, rests with a little-known standard named WAVE and an equally little known Federal Communications Commission (FCC) decision of December 2003.

WAVE stands for Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments and represents the convergence of dedicated short-range communication technology (DSRC)-of the sort already in place for pass-through toll collection-with the Internet and data-based computing. It will be the underpinning of a new device called a transceiver, now under development by a consortium of transponder manufacturers, which will allow two-way communication from your vehicle to the roadside.

But what's really making waves isn't WAVE alone. The FCC's decision last December to create a separate bandwidth for DSRC technology at 5.9 gigahertz-along with a mandate that all United States manufacturers build equipment to the WAVE standard and 5.9 spectrum-is considered highly significant. Senior officials with the federal Department of Transportation (DOT) say the new spectrum and mandate to build to one set of standards is the underpinning of technology that will function nationwide and in doing so creates a national wireless roadway communication system that may be extended to the NAFTA region.

DOT officials like Bill Jones, technical director of the DOT's ITS Joint Program Office, are not only backing efforts to unite key transponder manufacturers to build to the new standard, but is working with auto giants like Daimler-Chrysler to encourage them to embed the new devices directly into autos and trucks rather than the glue-on approach used for today's transponders. Once a transceiver is built sometime at the end of the decade, particularly one embedded in vehicles, he envisions a wide array of benefits for trade, security and consumers.

According to Jones, the new equipment will not only speed transit of goods, but promote safety on the highways and allow for additional tracking and tracing of cargo nationwide and at border crossings. Drivers should be able to download information from the Internet wirelessly while in motion, and from as far away as a kilometer from toll booths or border crossings. Or they will be able to do the same while stopping at 'hot spots' located at truck stops and highway rest areas.

DOT losing no time backing design

The DOT is losing no time in not only developing the transceiver, but in promoting a NAFTA-wide WAVE standard so the same transceiver can work in the U.S., Canada and Mexico. Last spring, says Jones, the DOT commissioned the DSRC Industry Consortium-made up of transponder giants like Transcore, Raytheon, Mark IV and Sirit-to start development of a tag built to the new 5.9 gigahertz-dedicated band.

Besides making it unnecessary for truckers and other drivers to carry more than one tag for applications like toll collections, weigh-in-motion and highway safety, Jones says the new tag-not due to be out in product form until sometime after 2007-might be used for expedite border crossings, as well. Right now, truckers in the U.S. have to carry different tags to participate in the Free and Secure Trade (FAST) program, which allows expedited border crossings for those who meet federal security requirements, and the Commercial Vehicle Information Systems (CVISN) program that allows truckers with proper credentialing to by-pass weigh stations.

One of the biggest boons to shippers and truckers would be the merger of the FAST and CVISN programs, which is under discussion right now, says Jones. Although he has no timetable for such a merger, let alone creation of a NAFTA-wide WAVE standard, he says the DOT is hoping to have the first transceiver prototype tested by August 2005.

"We could see operational tests in the 2006 or 2007 timeframe," says Jones, who sees "literally hundreds of applications" for new devices built to the 5.9 spectrum. What the new spectrum allows, he says, is the implant of software that can be programmed, which means that any number of applications can be added. "The tags built to the WAVE standard will be "very different from the toll tags we have today. You'll be able to add applications whenever you want, as compared to the toll tags of today designed to do only one thing," he says.

Wai Cheung Tang, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer for Canadian-based Mark IV, agrees that the 5.9 band provides more options for constructing a sophisticated tag that can carry many applications. "In the future, the 5.9 tag will have more capabilities and memory to transmit more information from the vehicle to the roadside," he says.

Jones notes that the FCC has agreed to dedicate the spectrum to ITS for both safety and commercial use, which he says is opening a floodgate of ideas for any number of commercial and safety applications. Banks, for example, could use the band for wireless banking. Oil companies could team with auto manufacturers to provide wireless gas payment and video download for customers a gas station island, he explains.

Automakers coming to the table

The DOT is already in discussion with U.S. automakers about ways to apply the new spectrum and new tag-in-development for safety and commercial purposes. Safety issues that could be covered include, for cars and trucks, intersection collision, curve speed and roll-over warnings, to name a few applications reported by the DSRC Industry Consortium. On the commercial front, Jones says Daimler-Chrysler is exploring an option the company calls InfoFueling, which would allow customers to perform wireless gas payment and video download at a service station. Auto makers are also considering relaying information to customers about upgrades or safety information whenever they pass a reader.

That would require large numbers of readers to be deployed nationwide, which Jones says becomes economically feasible with commercial demand for the new tag. "We're talking about the possibility of deploying DSRC readers at most high accident intersections, for example, and across the interstate high system. It's in the talk phase right now, but we're working with the state and local governments and the auto industry, to see if this all makes sense. The talk is for real. Everyone thinks it's worth figuring out how to do this as there would be a tremendous pay off from a safety and consumer standpoint," he says.

To date, DaimlerChrysler, General Motors, Nissan, Ford, Toyota, BMW and Volkswagen have been the major auto/truck manufacturers actively involved in developing the new short-range communication standard. Daimler-Chrysler is currently working on the business case for the new standard and 5.9 band right now, according to Christopher Wilson, Vice President of ITS, Strategy and Programs at DaimlerChrysler's Palo Alto-based research and technology North America division.

What's moved the manufacturers from speculation to actually drafting a business case is the opportunity to embed additional safety features in vehicles, and promote commercial services like InfoFueling down the line. Referring to the transceiver under development, Wilson says he's "glad to see real hardware coming down the pike" to be utilized in the Vehicle Infrastructure Integration (VII), or networked car, that the corporation has under design.

For Wilson, the issues to come will be financial and bureaucratic, not the technology. For the transceiver to meet supply chain and security functions there will be the need for deployment of thousands of antennas, or readers, along state and federal highways. He says if state DOTs put readers "in place in 5,000 locations, we'll back them up with embedding transceivers in 80 percent of our vehicles late in the decade-maybe 2008 and beyond."