Overview
The National Operations Center of Excellence (NOCoE) and the U.S. DOT ITS JPO's Professional Capacity Building (PCB) Program are hosting a competition for students to work directly with public agencies to solve real-world transportation problems utilizing ITS and TSMO solutions.
This will be the competition's seventh year. The 2018 - 2023 tournaments featured extremely competitive teams with innovative solutions. More information on previous years is available via the menu on your left.
Tournament Process
-
Student teams will assemble to work with a public agency on a specific transportation problem.
-
After submitting an initial contest application identifying the team and the problem, students will work with academic advisors to learn about potential ITS and TSMO solutions via online training programs outlined below. Teams will also meet with U.S. DOT and NOCoE subject matter experts for Q&As and discussions on each module.
-
Teams will then utilize their experience, education, and new coursework to develop a solution or suite of solutions to directly address the originally defined problem. Students will submit their solutions via a 10 page proposal.
-
Three finalist teams will be chosen from these proposals and will compete in a live event at the ITE Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA. Teams will give a presentation in front of a panel of judges made up of leaders in the ITS and TSMO community. One team will then be selected as the 2024 Transportation Technology Tournament Winner.
Challenge Problems
Help Guide Students to Solve Transportation Challenges
Attention public agencies! This year, as we lay the groundwork for expanding the tournament, your help in collecting real-world problem statements is invaluable. We're looking for problem statements that:
- Focus on solving a safety issue (ideally, but not mandatory – safety is this year’s theme, but we are open to other good ideas).
- Be solvable by a technology.
- Include data that the students can manipulate and include in their ConOps.
Should you choose to submit a problem statement, the only request is for you to meet with the student group at least once (virtually or in person) when the tournament begins to provide any necessary background information. We also encourage periodic check-ins to witness their progress and address any questions they have. By submitting a problem statement, you not only contribute to the tournament and the student’s learning of ITS, but also gain a well-thought-out document that could solve your problem. For example, the 2023 winner, FIU, created a decision support tool for the City of Boca Raton that statistically identifies and groups traffic patterns throughout the year to make enhancements to traffic signal control operations. Their ConOps, available here, has many real-world applications for both the City and students.
2024 Timeline
Below is an outline of the steps and process of the 2024 Transportation Technology Tournament
February 23, 2024: Sign-up and Challenge Problem Selection
Sign-up by February 23, 2024 with your team information via the online form to join the Transportation Technology Tournament. Teams should be 6 students with at least 2 students under the age of 26. All students should hail from US-based universities, but teams are allowed to be built from multiple colleges and universities.
After signing up you'll be asked for more information on your team:
- List of team members, including age and degree being pursued.
- For each team member: One-page resume (like a private consulting firm would do when they submit a bid for a project – to show they have qualified staff) and headshot photo.
- Formal selection of the problem. (Note: teams can submit a problem statement from their own State DOT or other public agency, and receive input and/or approval by the competition organizers.)
- Signed waivers that allow the USDOT, NOCoE, and ITS America to use/reuse/publish photos, images, presentations, etc. in printed materials and on websites.
- A statement of team dynamics and methodologies: how frequently they intend to meet, how they intend to take trainings, what the roles & responsibilities of each team member are, etc.
Don't wait for the deadline - you should sign-up ASAP! Teams are welcome to get started whenever they choose to join.
March 14, 2024: Training Module #1
Teams will submit a form demonstrating their completion of the required materials below.
Each member will be asked to watch trainings and submit forms. Recommended materials are also provided, but do not need to be submitted.
More information and submission forms will be provided upon sign-up.
Module 1 items
Required
- Transportation Technology Tournament (TTT) Overview (30 min)
- NHI: ITS: What, Why, and How (Web-based Training) (1 hour 30 min.)
- Vision Zero and ITS Executive Briefing (1 hour)
- ITS and Safety Video (1 of 6 being developed by ITS JPO) (6 min)
- Q&A with U.S. DOT and NOCoE on materials (1 hour)
Recommend Materials
- FHWA ITS E-Primer Module 1. Introduction to ITS
- US DOT: Safe System Approach (SSA) Website
- NHI: ITS: What, Why, and How (Web-based Training)
- Introduction to the Use of Archived Operations Data for Planning
March 28, 2024: Training Module #2
Teams will submit a form demonstrating their completion of the required materials below.
Each member will be asked to watch trainings and submit forms. Recommended materials are also provided, but do not need to be submitted.
More information and submission forms will be provided upon sign-up.
Module 2
Required
- FHWA ITS E-Primer Module 2. System Engineering (1 hour)
- Introduction to ARC-IT: Module 1 (30 min)
- Q&A with U.S. DOT and NOCoE on materials (1 hour)
Recommended
April 4, 2024: Training Module #3
Teams will submit a form demonstrating their completion of the required materials below.
Each member will be asked to watch trainings and submit forms. Recommended materials are also provided, but do not need to be submitted.
More information and submission forms will be provided upon sign-up.
Module 3
Required
- Meeting with U.S. DOT and NOCoE which will include discusson on the following (1 hour 30 min.):
- ConOps Introduction/Solutions Document
- Benefit Cost Analysis Database Tool
- Safe System Approach and Proven Safety Countermeasures
Recommended
May 24, 2024: Submit ConOps Solution Document
Teams will submit a 10-page packet describing their solution. The packet will include:
- Description of problem
- Scoping the dynamics of the site and the problem, identifying requirements for solution, identifying stakeholders, etc.
- Description of solution
- How this could address the problem
- Who the players are within that solution
- Con-ops for solution, including:
- High-level functional architecture
- High-level physical architecture
- High-level enterprise architecture
- An estimate for the work needed to develop and implement the solution including:
- Cost breakdown
- Timeline
- Anticipated impacts
- Operational benefits
- Safety benefits
- Mobility benefits
- Environmental benefits
- Other benefits and risks
Judges panel will review the submissions and select finalists teams.
June 5, 2024: Finalists Announced
Finalists will be notified on June 5, 2024 and asked to start making travel arrangements for up to 3 team members.
Finalists will also be asked to schedule at least two practice presentations ahead of the live competition and receive feedback from the organizing committee. These presentations will be set up individually with finalist teams.
July 21-24, 2024: Live Competition at ITE Annual Meeting
Finalist teams will compete at a live event at the 2024 ITE Annual Meeting in Philadelphia, PA from July 21-24, 2024.
Students will have 10 minutes to present to a panel of judges and a live audience and face a question and answer session from the judges. The tournament winner will be announced during an event at the ITE Annual Meeting.
If you have any questions, please contact Adam Hopps with the National Operations Center of Excellence.