German transportation software developer PTV Group is involved in two new projects in the Middle East, providing its systems for an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) deployment in Qatar and an emergency vehicle management system in the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
PTV has been appointed as a sub-contractor to the consortium selected by Qatar’s Public Works Authority (Ashghal) for its project to design, build and implement an ITS software system for the country’s Roads management center (RMC). The ITS software solution will seamlessly integrate all the currently separate road sub-systems making RMC the central hub of all monitoring, operation and management within Qatar. The project brings together several leading transportation technology companies with proven global expertise in their respective fields to accomplish the challenging and ambitious project, with Swarco (ITS equipment) and KBAS (construction) responsible for delivering the project, along with sub-contractors PTV (software), Transpo Group (planning and engineering consultancy), QMIC (Qatar Mobility Innovations Center) and Mannai Trading Co. LLC (systems integrator).
PTV will provide software for simulation and traffic forecasting, including its Optima traffic management platform, Visum analytics and Vissim microsimulation packages. The company will collect available GPS data and extract speeds that can be used for simulation and real-time and mid-term forecasts, for the whole Qatar transport network. The company’s software will also be used to calculate estimated time of arrivals (ETA) of public transport services at stops, as well as transfer alerts on stops where transfer time exceeds given thresholds, due to delays. The innovative project will ensure smooth performance and management of Qatar’s road networks, and following its final delivery, it will leave a legacy in the form of an innovation center that will be developed as part of the solution, and which will be connected to the core RMC software for development and testing for future technologies, and for training purposes.
“We are proud to be part of this prestigious project. Our software programs offer an extensive range of dedicated features and detailed modelling possibilities,” noted Andrea Petti, managing director for PTV in the MENA (Middle East, North Africa) region. “We will implement real-time model-based solutions and microsimulation modelling to assist in managing and monitoring the roads under the responsibility of the RMC. We will deliver this with the highest standards of efficiency, keeping in mind the long terms goals of RMC for the World Cup in 2022 and, more importantly, in line with Qatar’s ‘Vision 2030’.”
PTV is also collaborating with traffic engineering services company Tatweer to set up a real-time system that enables law enforcement authorities in the UAE to effectively manage their vehicle dispatches to respond to emergencies. PTV’s Optimasoftware components provide real-time traffic information with an ability to forecast the traffic flow. This is then integrated with the company’s Hyperpath routing engine to optimize the dispatchers’ response to any emergency situations that occurs by estimating the travel time between current location of emergency vehicles and the desired destination by displaying the drive time. The solution helps the dispatcher to select the emergency vehicle that will reach the destination in the shortest time and to guide it on the fastest route taking into consideration current and forecasted traffic congestion delays.
