Software Solutions for Connected & Autonomous Vehicles

Driverless cars, connected vehicles and other technologies are revolutionizing transportation. However, this leads to new challenges with both communications and management of vehicles. Historically, the driver was responsible for this. With the driver going away, new solutions are required.

eTrans Systems specializes in the development of secure autonomous and connected vehicle systems.

Our Autonomous Vehicle solutions include:

  • Flowz - Autonomous Fleet Command, Safety and Optimization System
  • Connected Vehicle Autonomous Sensor

Our Connected Vehicle solutions include:

  • PnP RSU - Plug and Play Roadside Unit
  • V2x Solutions
  • V2x Applications
  • VSDP - V2x Software Development Platform
  • VCAP - V2x Comprehensive Analysis Platform

Our areas of expertise include:

  • Software Engineering
  • Software Development
  • Testing & Simulation

eTrans Systems has the right team to ensure the delivery of secure and reliable transportation systems. We are members of the DOT's Connected Vehicle Safety Pilot program and the OmniAir Testing and Certification Consortium.

Our clients include Automobile OEMs, Tier 1 Auto Suppliers, Government Agencies, Transit Authorities and other Fortune 500 companies.

These videos gives a small example of the work done by eTrans.

Flowz - Autonomous Fleet Command, Safety and Optimization System

Flowz – Flowz is an Autonomous Fleet Command, Safety and Optimization System designed to manage and improve urban speed autonomous vehicle fleets. It is made up of the following components.

  • Command
    • Customer Interchange – This module allows customers to request rides and monitor the status of the system relative to getting a ride. For the end user this is either a Smartphone app or kiosk based app. The Central Control portion of this module does the vehicle selection and data sharing.
    • Ride Control and Monitoring - This module is a set of tools for monitoring passenger and vehicle performance. Uses both camera and audio interfaces into the vehicle.
    • Vehicle Management - Control processing for management of vehicle operations including management of destinations, location, status and problems.
    • Payment Processing - Processing of payments and system access control.
  • Safety
    • Connected Vehicle Autonomous Sensor - The Connected Vehicle Autonomous Sensor module allows autonomous driving systems to use V2x connected vehicle data as another sensor to optimize the driving of the vehicle. The Connected Vehicle AV sensor complements the other autonomous sensors such as cameras and Lidar.
    • V2I Mobility - The V2I Mobility module provides functionality that allows the vehicle to interact with roadside infrastructure for enhanced safety and mobility.
  • Optimization
    • Fleet Management - This module provides for tracking and management of vehicles and other equipment such as roadside units.
    • Dynamic Positioning Control - Optimization functions to ensure vehicles are utilized in a manner consistent with maximizing potentially competing operator requirements such as customer wait time, empty vehicle miles and number of vehicles required. Dynamic Optimization will extend machine learning to further improve routing, selection and use of the fleet.
    • Analytics - VCAP extension to provides analysis capabilities with the autonomous vehicle fleet.

Connected Vehicle Autonomous Sensor

eTrans' Connected Vehicle Autonomous Sensor Solution allows autonomous driving systems to use V2x connected vehicle data as another sensor to optimize the driving of the vehicle. A Connected Vehicle V2x sensor compliments the other autonomous sensors such as cameras and Lidar by providing functionality such as:

  • Non line of site vehicle and pedestrian detection
  • Info on braking vehicles before they can bee seen
  • Infrastructure data such as the time until a traffic light will change

The connected vehicle data is transmitted to an On-Board Unit (OBU) in the vehicle using the Dedicated Short Range Communication (DSRC) protocol. Upon receipt, the eTrans' solution then processes the data and publishes it through the Polysync middleware platform like any other sensor. This interface is designed such that the protocol can be used with a variety of autonomous vehicle systems and middleware solutions. The technology is built using Google's Protobuf which is a language-neutral, platform-neutral, extensible mechanism for serializing structured data.

PnP RSU

eTrans' Plug-n-Play (PnP) Roadside Unit has the ability to transmit DSRC intersection and other messages controlled from the cloud. These messages can be dynamically formed and new messages deployed without the installation of new software. In addition, the PnP RSU has the ability to receive and analyze incoming messages from vehicles that pass by. These messages can be sent to registered applications in the cloud for processing. The system can then accept messages to be transmitted.

The eTrans' PnP RSU supports all the latest 2016 IEEE and SAE standards. The messages it supports includes BSM, SPaT, MAP and TIM. Additional message types can be readily added.

V2x Applications

eTrans is developing a set of both V2V and V2I applications using DSRC Technology. These applications include:

  • V2V Safety
  • V2I Camera Monitor
  • V2I Intelligent Bus Stop
  • V2i Intersection Simulation
  • V2i Camera Detection

Through these development efforts, eTrans has developed a robust library that allows for the rapid development of new applications.

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VSDP - V2x Software Development Platform

VSDP, V2x Software Development Platform, provides the foundation for the rapid development of V2x systems. The VSDP middleware component allows for hardware independent software and provides underlying technologies such as DSRC messaging and ASN.1. VSDP also contains a broad set of tools for input data generation, simulation and resulting data analysis. eTrans has developed a robust set of both V2V and V2I applications. The major components of VSDP are:

  • VSDP Driver: Is the run-time application environment and middleware to handle core V2x functions. Its APIs include ASN.1 message handling and flow, unit conversion and management, and Bluetooth and Ethernet backend communication.
  • VSDP Garage: Input, Display, Analysis and Data Capture tools for rapid development of V2x applications.
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VCAP - V2x Comprehensive Analysis Platform

VCAP, V2x Comprehensive Analysis Platform, is the foundation for testing and analysis including security analysis of DSRC applications and systems. VCAP can find vulnerabilities before they become a problem and allows the rolling out of well tested systems before they become operational.

VCAP provides:

  • Tools for modeling and simulation of Connected Vehicle networks so that systems may be tested before deployment
  • Testing and integration of applications and communications networks
  • Monitoring of local, regional and national implementations and the data analytics to investigate the results
  • Cybersecurity testing and analysis specifically through code analysis and penetration testing

Software Engineering & Development

The eTrans software development team has vast experience developing on-time and on-budget solutions. We have significant experience with connected vehicle interfaces and software libraries to support underlying technologies such as DSRC and ASN.1. eTrans Systems specializes in the development of large scale complex systems. eTrans can take complete responsibility of your project, large or small or we can work as part of your team. Benefits of eTrans Software Development Services include:

  • Platforms - The eTrans Systems library contains a robust set of tools specifically for connected vehicle systems.
  • Visibility - Track and view the progress of your project with our project reporting tools.
  • Consistency - Adaptive and customized methodologies ensuring quality and efficiency.
  • Business Focus - Allows you to focus on your core business, while we focus on ours.

Testing and Simulation

eTrans has significant expertise in the testing of substantial software applications. The eTran's tool suite is specifically designed to support the testing of V2x applications.

  • Platforms - eTrans testing platforms provide the foundation for management and execution of a wide range of security and software tests.
  • Visibility - Track and view the progress of your project real time with our reporting tools.
  • Consistency - Adaptive and customized methodologies ensure quality and efficiency
  • Communication - eTrans quality assurance and project management processes will ensure that you are always up to date on the project
  • Improve Quality - with eTrans experience, technology and expertise
  • Business Focus - Allows you to focus on your core business, while we focus on ours.

    • Our areas of expertise include:

    • Application Testing
    • Performance Assessment
    • Data Analysis

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