The Architecture Reference for Cooperative and Intelligent Transportation (ARC-IT) Version 8.3 is a major release of the US National ITS Architecture Reference that fully defines and upgrades the four architecture views that were initially defined in ARC-IT 8.0.

The most significant enhancements for version 8.3 include:

• Definition of a new physical object type, the ITS Object, that nominally resides at the top of the p-object hierarchy (above center, field, etc.) and contains functionality common to most or all ITS physical objects.

• Consolidation and revision of support service packages that leverage the ITS Object to simplify the service (Notably, connected vehicle services require many support services to function, and most participants leverage support services in similar fashion. Interface between connected vehicle devices and support objects—such as credentials management systems, location and time sources, and other fundamental support objects—are generally similar or identical.)

• New Service Packages. SU09: Device Certification and Enrollment, which illustrates the certification of devices, typically for connected vehicle services. PM05: Parking Reservations, which manages parking reservations requested by a traveler.

• New Physical Objects:

  • Personnel Device, representing the handheld or body-worn device used by emergency personnel or maintenance personnel in the transportation environment; replaces the Personal Information Device in service packages related to emergency response and maintenance and construction activities.

  • Identifier Registry, which maintains identifiers necessary to ensure consistency and interoperability throughout the ITS environment; appears in SU02 and SU08

  • Certification System, which verifies that devices and applications meet standards necessary to participate in the environment; appears in SU09.

• References to physical standards, including environmental, physical security, and physical build standards relevant to ITS devices.

• Revisions to communications views to reflect recent developments in communications and ITS standards and cybersecurity-related lessons learned from deployments.

• Creation of VIEW-IT, a single download that contains the majority of the ARC-IT website and may be installed locally for offline use.

The architecture toolset has been upgraded to work with version 8.3 of ARC-IT and includes additional standalone features. Most importantly, it allows users to exchange information between the tools.