Measuring the benefits of civil systems connectivity and automation – a discussion in the context of highway transport

ABSTRACT Connectivity refers to the ability of civil engineering system components to transmit/receive data for making strategic, tactical and operational decisions towards enhanced efficiency, effectiveness, and lower costs to the system stakeholders. Automation is the capability of a system or its component to carry out control functions or decisions that are traditionally done by humans. As the benefits of these two technologies become increasingly apparent in various civil engineering disciplines, it seems useful to measure such impacts to generate information for evaluating the feasibility of past or prospective future applications related to connectivity and automation (C/A) or for comparing alternative C/A applications. This paper discusses some constructs for measuring the benefits or effectiveness (MOEs) of C/A applications. An MOE expressed in terms of an appropriate system performance indicator (SPI) can help ascertain the extent to which a C/A application has accomplished or is expected to accomplish its specified goals or to compare the efficacy of alternative C/A applications. This paper identifies a number of SPIs, and establishes a number of MOEs for measuring the effectiveness of C/A applications in terms of the relevant SPIs. The paper provides illustrations to the concepts discussed in the context of highway transport.