An analysis of crash data shows that the number of fatal school bus related crashes has remained nearly constant over the past ten years, despite an increase in available safety-improving technology. One of the main concerns related to school bus safety is the issue of illegally passing a stopped school bus. To improve safety around stopped school buses, this dissertation presents a Concept of Operations for a connected vehicle application to improve safety around stopped school buses using Dedicated Short Range Communication. The focus of this application is to increase awareness of stopped school buses or bus stops that are obscured from the driver's view. An on-road naturalistic driving experiment evaluated driver response to an in-vehicle message to warn drivers that they were approaching a school bus that was stopped around a curve. The dissertation concludes by using microsimulation to evaluate the impact of implementing specialized speed control algorithms to reduce vehicle speeds near bus stops along high speed roads. The simulation evaluated the effect of the reduce speed zone on travel time and emissions when the system was considered as a pre-timed speed limit and also when the system was modeled as a connected vehicle system. / Ph. D.

ITC/USA 2014 Conference Proceedings / The Fiftieth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 20-23, 2014 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, CA / The paper discusses the history and background of metadata standards for the FTI community over the last 20 years and speculates on how they may develop in the future. It starts by highlighting the deficiencies of proprietary formats and the resulting problems. It then discusses the characteristics and features of specific industry standard metadata descriptions such as TMATS, iHAL, MDL and XidML in addition to their levels of maturity. The attributes of what constitutes a fully mature FTI metadata standard is then discussed. It is suggested that any standard must serve at least two functions, Configuration and Validation, and outlines what exactly each means. Finally, it is argued that there is now a significant level of convergence and consensus in both the scope and application of metadata, and in the associated concept of operations (ConOps). The details of this Concept of Operations are then discussed along with suggestions as to how this may evolve in the coming years.

Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited / This thesis presents Concept of Operations (CONOPS) for two specific automated language translation (ALT) devices, the P2 Phraselator and the Voice Response Translator (VRT). The CONOPS for each device are written as Appendix A and Appendix B respectively. The body of the thesis presents a broad introduction to the present state of ALT technology for the reader who is new to the general subject. It pursues this goal by introducing the human language translation problem followed by nine characteristic descriptors of ALT technology devices to provide a basic comparison framework of existing technologies. The premise is that ALT technology is presently in a state where it is tackled incrementally with various approaches. Two tables are provided that illustrate six commercially available devices using the descriptors. A scenario is then described in which the author observed the two subject ALT devices (depicted in the CONOPS in the Appendices) being employed within an international military exercise. Some unique human observations associated with the use of these devices in the exercise are discussed. A summary is provided of the Department of Defense (DOD) process that is exploring ALT technology devices, specifically the Language and Speech Exploitation Resources (LASER) Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration ACTD. / Lieutenant Commander, United States Navy

ITC/USA 2014 Conference Proceedings / The Fiftieth Annual International Telemetering Conference and Technical Exhibition / October 20-23, 2014 / Town and Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, CA / This paper discusses the mission needs, design/development, and testing of the (L, S & C Band) Telemetry Receive/Record & Re-Radiation pod.