IRIS
Intelligent Roadway Information System
Comm Links
Select View ➔ Maintenance ➔ Comm Links menu item
A comm link is a network connection to an external device or system. IRIS is capable of supporting thousands of simultaneous comm links.
URI
The URI includes a DNS host name or network IP address, and port number,
using the standard host:port convention. It can also contain an optional
scheme prefix, which can be either udp://, tcp:// or modem://. If
present, the scheme will override the default scheme for the selected
protocol. For example, to use the Pelco-D protocol over TCP
(instead of the default UDP), prepend tcp:// to the URI.
Poll Enabled
Polling can be disabled using this value.
Comm Config
Select View ➔ Maintenance ➔ Comm Config menu item
Modem
The modem flag indicates the connection uses a dial-up or cell modem.
Poll Period
Poll period determines how frequently controllers on a comm link are polled. It can range from 5 seconds to 24 hours.
Long Poll Period
This period is for less frequently performed polling operations, determined by the protocol. For modem links with restricted bandwidth, it may be useful if both poll periods use the same (long) value, to reduce costs.
Timeout
After a poll, if a response is not received before the timeout expires, the communicaton will fail. For each poll, 2 retries will happen before the operation is aborted.
Idle Disconnect
When this value is greater than zero, the comm link will be disconnected after a period of inactivity. This can reduce charges for modem links.
No Response Disconnect
When this value is greater than zero, the comm link will be disconnected after no response is received from a poll for the specified time.
Protocols
Protocol determines what type of device or system is on the other end of the comm link. Each protocol supports specific device types. Some protocols support multi-drop addressing, with multiple controllers per comm link.
Axis PTZ
The axisptz protocol can be used for PTZ control of Axis cameras. The
default scheme is http. Multi-drop is not supported. One camera can be
associated with each controller, using IO pin 1.
Canoga
The canoga protocol can collect vehicle detection data, with
vehicle logging instead of binned data. The default scheme is tcp.
Multi-drop is supported with drops 1 - 255. Up to 4 detectors can be
associated with each controller, using IO pins 1 - 4.
CBW
The cbw protocol can be used for beacons, using a Control-By-Web controller.
The default scheme is http. Multi-drop is not supported. Up to 8
beacons can be associated with each controller, using IO pins 1 - 8.
Cohu
The cohu protocol can be used for PTZ control of Cohu cameras. The
default scheme is tcp. Multi-drop is supported with drops 1 - 223. One
camera can be associated with each controller, using IO pin 1.
Din-Relay
The dinrelay protocol can be used for changeable LCS or beacons, using a
DLI Din-Relay. The default scheme is http. Multi-drop is not supported.
Up to 8 indications can be associated with each controller, using IO pins
1 - 8.
DMS-XML
DMS-XML is a protocol for legacy DMS control systems. The default scheme
is tcp, with multi-drop (0-65535).
DR-500
The Houston Radar DR-500 doppler radar can be used to collect speed data only.
The default scheme is tcp. Multi-drop is not supported. Only one
detector can be associated with each controller, using IO pin 1.
DXM
The Banner Engineering DXM magnetometer can detect vehicle presence for
parking area monitoring. The default scheme is tcp. Multi-drop is not
supported. Up to 76 detectors can be associated with each controller, using
IO pins 11 - 86.
E6
The e6 protocol can be used for collecting data from Transcore tag readers.
The default scheme is udp. Multi-drop is not supported. One tag reader
can be associated with each controller, using IO pin 1.
G4
The G4 protocol can collect vehicle detection data, including vehicle
counts, occupancy, speed and vehicle classification. The
default scheme is tcp. Multi-drop is supported with drops 0 - 65535.
Up to 12 detectors can be associated with each controller, using IO pins
1 - 12.
Inc-Feed
The incfeed protocol can be used to interface IRIS with an external system
that generates incidents. Periodically, IRIS will poll the URI (using http)
for incidents.
Incident Feed Format
The external system should respond with an ASCII text file, with one line per active incident.
Each line should contain 7 fields, separated by comma characters , and
terminated with a single newline character \n (ASCII 0x0A). The fields are:
- incident ID
- type:
CRASH,STALL,ROADWORKorHAZARD - incident detail: may be blank, or one of the incident detail names
- latitude
- longitude
- camera ID: may be blank, or the ID of a camera to view the incident
- direction:
NB,SB,EBorWB
Latitude and longitude define coördinates using the WGS 84 datum.
Infinova
The infinova protocol can be used for PTZ control of Infinova cameras.
The default scheme is tcp. Multi-drop is supported with drops 1 - 254.
One camera can be associated with each controller, using IO pin 1.
IPAWS Alerts
The IPAWS Alerts protocol is used for polling the Integrated Public Alert
and Warning System (IPAWS) to allow automated posting of weather and other
alerts to Dynamic Message Signs. This requires an HTTPS URI provided by the
Federal Emergency Management Agency and a controller set to ACTIVE condition.
Manchester
The manchester protocol can be used for PTZ control of some older cameras.
The default scheme is udp. Multi-drop is supported with drops 1 - 1024.
One camera can be associated with each controller, using IO pin 1.
MnDOT-170
170 style controllers running the MnDOT 170 firmware can support several types of devices:
| Device Type | # |
IO Pins |
|---|---|---|
| vehicle detection | 24 | 39 - 62 |
| ramp meters | 2 | 2 - 3 |
| changeable LCS | 3 | 19 - 36 |
| beacons | 1 | 2 |
| alarms | 10 | 70 - 79 |
There are two versions of the protocol supported:
| Version | Default Scheme | Multi-Drop |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | tcp |
1 - 15 |
| 5 | tcp |
1 - 31 |
MonStream
The monstream protocol can be used for switching of monstream video
monitors. The default scheme is udp. Multi-drop is not supported.
Up to 16 video monitors can be associated with each controller, using
IO pins 1 - 16.
Msg-Feed
The msgfeed protocol can be used to interface with an external system that
generates DMS messages. Periodically, IRIS will poll the URI (using http)
for DMS messages.
Msg-Feed Format
The external system should respond with an ASCII text file, with one line per message to be deployed.
Each line must contain 3 fields, separated by tab characters \t (ASCII 0x09),
and terminated with a single newline character \n (ASCII 0x0A). The fields
are DMS name, MULTI string, and expiration time. The DMS name
must exactly match one of the DMS as identified by IRIS. The MULTI string
specifies a message to display on the sign, using the MULTI markup language.
The expiration time field indicates the date and time that the message should
expire, in RFC 3339 format, with full-date and full-time separated by a
space instead of T.
V66E37 CRASH[nl]5 MILES AHEAD[nl]LEFT LANE CLOSED 2019-10-02 11:37:00-05:00
Msg-Feed Action Plan
An action plan is required to associate a DMS action with the feed. The
DMS action must have a quick message with a feed action tag. So, if the
message feed is on a Comm Link called LFEED, then the quick message
MULTI string must be [feedLFEED]. Also, the action plan must be active
and deployed. This requirement allows only administrator-approved DMS to be
controlled by the message feed.
Msg-Feed Text
All messages used by the feed must be defined in the DMS message library. This
requirement allows only administrator-approved messages to be deployed by the
message feed. In some circumstances, it may be appropriate to disable this
checking. For example, if the message feed host is fully trusted and there is
no possibility of man-in-the-middle attacks between IRIS and the feed host. In
this case the msg_feed_verify system attribute can be set to false to
disable this check.
Msg-Feed Beacons
To activate DMS beacons through a message feed, configure 2 message feeds. One is for DMS containing messages with activated beacons and the other for messages with deactivated beacons. There is no way to control which message feed is executed first, so each message feed must list each DMS and at least one of the message feeds must contain a blank MULTI for each DMS.
NTCIP
National Transportation Communications for Intelligent transportation system Protocol is supported for several different device types:
- DMS — NTCIP 1203
- LCS, using DMS for lane control
- RWIS — NTCIP 1204
- vehicle detection — NTCIP 1202
- GPS — NTCIP 1204
There are three supported variants:
| Variant | Default Scheme | Multi-Drop |
|---|---|---|
NTCIP A |
udp |
No |
NTCIP B |
tcp |
1 - 8191 |
NTCIP C |
tcp |
No |
Org815
The org815 protocol can be used to collect rwis data from an Org-815
precipitation sensor. The default scheme is tcp. Multi-drop is not
supported. One device can be associated with each controller, using IO pin
1.
Pelco D
The pelcod protocol can be used for PTZ control of Pelco cameras. The
default scheme is udp. Multi-drop is supported with drops 1 - 254. One
camera can be associated with each controller, using IO pin 1.
Pelco P
The pelcop protocol can be used for camera keyboard control from Pelco
keyboards. The default scheme is tcp. Multi-drop is not supported.
No devices need to be associated with the keyboard controller.
RedLion
The redlion protocol can be used for GPS data from RedLion modems. The
default scheme is tcp. Multi-drop is not supported. One GPS modem can be
associated with each controller, using IO pin 1.
SierraGX
The sierragx protocol can be used for GPS data from SierraGX modems. The
default scheme is tcp. Multi-drop is not supported. One GPS modem can be
associated with each controller, using IO pin 1.
SmartSensor
The SmartSensor (SS105) and SmartSensor HD (SS125) protocols can collect
vehicle detection data, including vehicle counts, occupancy, speed and
vehicle classification. The default scheme is tcp for both.
| Protocol | Multi-Drop | # |
IO Pins |
|---|---|---|---|
SS105 |
1 - 9999 | 8 | 1 - 8 |
SS125 |
0 - 65535 | 8 | 1 - 8 |
STC
The stc protocol can be used for gate arm control for Smart Touch gate arms.
The default scheme is tcp. Multi-drop is supported with drops 1 - 99.
One gate arm can be associated with each controller, using IO pin 1.
Streambed
The streambed protocol is for flow stream configuration with a streambed
server. The default scheme is tcp. Multi-drop is not supported.
Up to 150 flow streams can be associated with each controller, using
IO pins.
Vicon
The vicon protocol can be used for PTZ control of Vicon cameras. The
default scheme is udp. Multi-drop is supported with drops 1 - 254. One
camera can be associated with each controller, using IO pin 1.