Jeffrey Kramer

Sea Robot-Assisted Inspection

The sea robot-assisted inspection (Sea-RAI) marsupial robot team is the first known manportable unmanned surface vehicle (USV) that hosts an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The Sea-RAI is designed for inspecting littoral environments for military, environmental, and disaster-response applications. The project also provides a platform for exploring the four roles in a marsupial team: courier, messenger, manager, and coach. The cooperation between the vehicles extends their capabilities beyond the capabilities of a single vehicle. This article describes the robot team, details the design and construction of low-cost USVs, and describes the demonstration of the integrated system and the four key capabilities, such as seaworthiness, data display, marsupialism, and mission logging.

Robust Small Robot Localization From Highly Uncertain Sensors

Localization is arguably the most important goal for a robot to solve-without knowledge of its place in the world, a robot cannot do useful work. The current best practice for providing accurate localization given uncertain sensors involves the use of sensor fusion, or combining sensor data in order to derive a better pose estimation for the robot. Small robots add another problem that needs to be solved-limited power, computational ability, and weight/space constrain both the sensors available and the filters that can be used. This paper provides a detailed example in simulation of four filter types: the extended Kalman filter, the Fuzzy EKF, the sigma-point KF (SPKF), and the double fuzzy SPKF, while discussing the strengths and weaknesses of all current state of the art sensor methods. While the field is relatively mature, there has been little to no comparative analysis of different filters performed-what roles do they best serve, how to select the “best” filter, and what tradeoffs must be made for each type. This paper analyzes the current state of the art filters of all categories and determines their applicability to the small robot problem.

Models for Independence: Structures of Independent Metropolitan Planning Organizations in Florida

The characteristics of four independent metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in Florida are highlighted; an “independent MPO” is defined as one that is administratively separate from any individual MPO member government. The four MPOs reviewed–First Coast MPO, Metroplan Orlando, Sarasota-Manatee MPO, and West Florida Regional Planning Council–each represent one of three distinct organizational structures for providing staffing and administrative services independent of an individual member jurisdiction or agency. The three structures identified are the third-party government agency model, the staff services agreement model, and the freestanding MPO model. The advantages and disadvantages of the three models are presented and discussed. Any MPO that is considering becoming independent would benefit from such a discussion.

On accurate localization and uncertain sensors

The necessity of accurate localization in mobile robotics is obvious—if a robot does not know where it is, it cannot navigate accurately and reach goal locations. Robots learn about their environment via sensors. Small robots require small, efficient, and, if they are to be deployed in large numbers, inexpensive sensors. The sensors used by robots to perceive the world are inherently inaccurate, providing noisy, erroneous data, or even no data at all. Combined with estimation error due to imperfect modeling of the robot, there are many obstacles to successfully localizing in the world. Sensor fusion is used to overcome these difficulties—combining the available sensor data to derive a more accurate pose estimation for the robot.

Governance of Metropolitan Planning Organizations: Board Size, Composition, and Voting Rights

Federal law requires metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to be governed by a board composed of local elected officials, modal authorities, and appropriate state officials. Other than this simple requirement, federal law is silent on board size, composition, voting rights of members, and advisory committees to the board. This paper summarizes results from a survey of 133 MPOs about these topics. The results show that board structures vary widely and are crafted to accommodate the intergovernmental politics of their regions. The results found that the average MPO board had 16.1 voting members and 3.1 nonvoting members. Further, 27% of MPOs had at least one seat that rotated among a group of eligible seat holders. Only 13% of MPOs had a weighted voting scheme in place. Other results discussed include nonvoting board membership types, meeting frequency, and the existence of advisory boards. Information on these topics will help MPOs compare themselves with their peers and understand the breadth of options available to them during periods of organizational change.

INNOVATIONS IN LONG-RANGE TRANSPORTATION PLANNING: OBSERVATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS

In 1997, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the issues and concerns facing metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) in Florida, the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) thoroughly reviewed the long-range transportation plans of each of the state’s 25 MPOs. The study made some substantial recommendations about technical approach and structure for improvements to MPO long-range plans. In 2002, CUTR again reviewed the state’s 25 MPO long-range transportation plans, following completion of the subsequent update cycle. The recent updates of Florida’s 25 MPO long-range plans are compared with the versions completed 3 to 5 years earlier. There has been much innovation and change in long-range transportation-planning practice across the state. These findings will be of interest to MPOs nationwide.

Operating a Metropolitan Planning Organization: Internal Funding, Work Programs, and Consultant Balance

The nations 385 metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are required to maintain a comprehensive, continuing, and coordinated transportation planning and programming process. To perform these required tasks, operational funding is required to pay staff and other costs. This paper explores the sources of MPO funding and the disposal of those funds. The information contained was collected as a part of a larger survey that obtained responses from 133 MPOs from around the country. Federal assistance received through four different programs dominates the budgets of MPOs; however, all federal funds require a 20% match. Some states meet this match, but for many MPOs, funds must be raised locally. Seventy-eight percent of responding MPOs receive local money, which can be used to match federal funds, to pay for prohibited expenses, or to supplement the agencys budget. Methods for raising and expending local funds are discussed in detail. The requirements and characteristics of the Unified Planning Work Program (UPWP) are discussed. Responding MPOs expend 25% of their collective budget on consultants, while informational or pass-through funds account for about 17% of the UPWP.

Administrative Structure and Hosting of Metropolitan Planning Organizations

Metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) are required to undertake a federally mandated transportation planning and programming process. Although federal law mandates the process and documents that it must be adopted, the law is completely silent on how the MPO should be organized and administered. It has long been known that some MPOs operate as independent agencies, while others depend on a host agency to provide goods and services to support the MPO. Using results from a national survey of MPOs, this paper discusses the administrative structure of MPOs, including the prevalence of hosted MPOs, the types of host agencies, indirect charges, and the advantages of being hosted versus independent. The survey found that 69% of MPOs were hosted by another agency. Regional councils (26%) were the largest host of MPOs, but municipalities (20%) and counties (20%) were also commonly reported. MPOs gave narrative responses about the perceived advantages and disadvantages of their individual administrative structure. The major advantages of hosting included lower overall costs, staff synergies, and agency name recognition. The major disadvantages identified included lack of capital float, difficulty meeting federal match requirements, and confusion in managerial independence. Five distinct types of MPO organizational structures were identified, and the common attributes of each type were discussed. The paper concludes by addressing important issues MPOs must consider when choosing between a hosted MPO administrative structure and an independent one.

Estimating a Statewide Transportation Infrastructure Funding Shortfall Using Long-Range Plans of Metropolitan Planning Organizations

The information contained in long-range plans of metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) can be amalgamated to estimate a statewide, metropolitan, 20-year transportation infrastructure funding shortfall. This article describes the methodology used to calculate such a shortfall in Florida, with information from all 26 MPOs in the state. The cost of needed projects and the dollar amount of anticipated revenue were extracted from each MPO plan. The difference between the two figures is the shortfall from that MPO. The methodology included steps taken to normalize the data for differing plan lengths, analysis base years, and rates of inflation. The results of the study show that Florida is expected to experience a

E-Government Service Offerings and Website Content of Florida’s Metropolitan Planning Organizations

62.5 billion shortfall over the period 2005 to 2025. This is an annualized shortfall of