From FASTag to GNSS : How smooth will the lane changing be?

 

One of the important technical sessions at the International workshop on GNSS facilitated by IHMCL in June in New Delhi has been a panel discussion on OBU/AIS 140 VLT Device, CMV & NH Fee Rule. This session was followed by one on the toll charger engine, the third on issuer entities, onboarding and the payment system and the fourth on changes in road infrastructure to accommodate multi lane free flow. Steered by S.P. Singh, Joint Secretary, MoRTH and Apex Committee Member, the first session panelists included Amit Ranjan Chitranshi, COO of IHMCL, who set the context, Anshuman Roy, Director, Rosmerta Technologies; Vadiraj Katti, Managing Director, I-Triangle; Christian Perschl, Yunex Traffic, Austria; P.K. Banerjee, Executive Director, SIAM, Alok Sethi, Associate Vice President, DIMTS; Bruno Coudoin, Continental Automotive, Germany; K.C. Sharma, Chief Engineer (MVL), MoRTH; Ms. Praveena Rai, COO, NPCI and Joydeep Shome, NIC Apex Committee Member.

The issuer entity will be issuing the OBU and it will be utilizing this data for further value-added services. One of the value-added services could be a variable premium by the insurance company based on driver behavior. And with regard to the mobile application, that is the kind of new technology which we might think about when private vehicles are also roped in. We are open to any ideas.

– S.P. Singh

The opening remark by A.R. Chitranshi provided an overview of the session discussing the future integration of the government-owned toll charger engines with vehicle OBUs (On-Board Units). These OBUs would send their location timestamps directly to the toll charger engine. The primary difference between the current system and the future system would be the toll calculation method. Currently, tolls are fixed whenever a vehicle passes a point and are processed through the acquiring bank and the NPCI system. In the future GNSS-based system, the toll would be calculated by the toll charger, and the existing FASTag ecosystem would still be used.

Regarding privacy, there is a plan already for encryption in the new version of AIS 140. This encryption will have a public key and a private key which will be injected from a centralized server and the certificates will also be suitably monitored.

– Joydeep Shome

 S.P. Singh elaborated on proposed amendments to the existing NH Fee Rules 2008. He explained the enforcement and validation processes under the Electronic Toll Collection infrastructure. Initially, a hybrid lane concept will be introduced, allowing both GNSS and FASTag vehicles. Non-GNSS vehicles entering a GNSS lane will pay twice the toll fee. Discounts will be offered to encourage the shift to GNSS, and these changes will be incorporated into the Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR). Initially, GNSS OBUs will be mandatory for both M and N category vehicles to facilitate system enforcement and toll collection.

The testing agencies indicated in Rule 126 of CMVR include Automotive Research Association of India, International Center for Automotive Technology – Manesar and Global Automotive Research Center – Chennai. These agencies have the wherewithal to certify OBUs. Currently, the VLT devices are also being certified by them.

– K.C. Sharma

There are currently vehicle location tracking (VLT) devices for public service carriers and commercial vehicles with national permits. These vehicles will be the first to transition to GNSS OBUs. New M and N category vehicles will need to be fitted with OBUs before registration. A no-objection certificate will be required for the transfer of vehicle ownership to ensure compliance with OBU registration. These mechanisms aim to enforce migration to GNSS.

And a lot of deliberation has happened in terms of this whole frequency of the pings. Testing has been done at 10, 15, 20 seconds and so on and so forth. That is going to call for very intense extent of technology capability that the switch will need to manage this across the entire ecosystem.

– Praveena Rai

Some technical adjustments, such as ensuring compliance with vehicle voltage, increasing memory for data logs, and modifying start timing and test criteria, will be necessary for GNSS functioning.

Globally, there are two types of OBUs: thick OBUs, which perform most computations internally, and thin OBUs, which India prefers. Thin OBUs primarily perform location stamping and send data to the gateway layer. If there is no network or power, data will be sent on a First-in-First-out basis. Data collection frequency will range from one to five seconds to ensure accurate vehicle tracking. Other processes include increasing IP ports for TCP/IP communication with toll chargers and ensuring GSM network preferences.

In Galileo, there is a system called OSNMA creating a secure channel so that the authentication of the positions that you get from the satellite can be certified. So, you cannot spoof a GNSS position. It is not about the accuracy itself, but in being able to be sure that when you use the position as a payment system it is really a true position.

– Bruno Coudoin

The toll charger will generate a secure key during OBU onboarding, with OBUs programmed to send data to an intermediate gateway layer. Toll charger software will be controlled by government bodies like NHAI and will address privacy issues. Existing AIS 140 devices already have provisions to prevent fraudulent transactions. It is proposed to include firmware-level security with end-to-end encryption of data and secure data storage. Testing protocols will ensure market-supplied OBUs comply with AIS 140 specifications, with regular audits for conformity.

We have seen development in Europe initiated by the European Union, by the local governments, to have one unique system for the whole of EU for truck tolling. Originally, the systems were based on manual systems and microwave systems and now, in the last 10 years, more and more countries are establishing GNSS technology.

–  Christian Perschl

On toll collection mechanism, he explained that initially there will be both GNSS and FASTag movement on the highways. Free flow will happen through the GNSS lane when both, the OBU is green and FASTag is whitelisted (adequate balance). If the OBU is not functioning and FASTag is whitelisted then free flow will happen but there will be an additional fee which would be twice the normal fee as it indicates that the vehicle is GNSS non-compliant. If the OBU is green and FASTag blacklisted, the boom barrier will come down and the vehicle will not be able to cross till the required fee is paid. If OBU is red and FASTag blacklisted, the barrier will come down.

Going to the next level of tolling firmware signing, firmware audit will become part of the AIS 140 testing. It will be mandatory and we will have a process to issue updates likewise to our device.

– Alok Sethi

Anshuman Roy, Rosmerta Technologies, commended the extremely high benchmark set by NHAI, the Ministry, NPCI, Toll Concessionaires, System Integrators, Fintechs and Banks as the project in question involved 70 million on-road users of digital payment, 1,45,000 kms of national highways and another 100,000 kms if state highways were included. OBUs manufactured needed to be more reliable, accurate and secure to be used as a financial tool. It was debatable whether GNSS solely could handle such a scale of accuracy and detections, therefore, a parallel enforcement system, as in Europe, needed to be in place. This would help not only in detecting defaulters, but accurately identifying complex scenarios like moving above or below a bridge. Different use cases may be required to handle commercial vehicles, which were the largest contributors in terms of revenue but smaller in number as compared to private vehicles.

Echoing the previous panelist, Vadiraj Katti, I-Triangle, agreed the task ahead was of a mammoth scale but technologically possible and one would need to manufacture OBUs that were stable, consistent and with security encryptions as they would be critical components in the success of the endeavor. He raised concerns that while states were implementing AIS 140, the government was moving ahead with GNSS. There is a need to synchronise GNSS with AIS 140, using a single protocol for consistency.

GNSS technology enhances navigation and positioning, playing a crucial role in modernizing toll collection systems, ensuring seamless travel, and reducing congestion on our roads. “We are continuously working towards easing citizens’ lives, making governance more transparent, and providing faster services.”  

– Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways

According to Christian Perschl, in Europe, many countries had the European Electronic Toll Service (EETS) and more than half of these were based on GNSS. India had the right approach by way of separate issuers and a centralized toll charger for tolling because it was the most scalable and performant solution for toll collection. The most crucial part is to ensure there is no data fraud and a control system to check whether drivers were compliant.

I think the HSM key injection is going to be one of the key requirements without which the entire the project will not take off because of the issuer entity and the process of who is going to give the keys to be burnt on the device.

– Vadiraj Katti

P.K. Banerjee outlined the sequence of GNSS implementation, starting with public service and commercial vehicles, followed by taxis and private vehicles. The challenge lies in integrating existing 4.5 million AIS 140 vehicles into GNSS.

Alok Sethi from DIMTS discussed increasing GPS channels and storage data with additional IPs ensuring security through authentication, security through authentication as there were financial transactions, onboarding of issuer entities, their devices & their management. With the increased network of tolling, newer services and complexities on the same digital infrastructure would be envisaged. Considering various factors is needed to ensure the technology’s longevity.

What has been deliberated a lot is how to start with the existing system without any hardware change and what best fit can be done considering security and high frequency of data requirement. These parameters would be taken care of at the time of onboarding and if required there would be a firmware change.

– Anshuman Roy

Bruno Coudoin, highlighted differences in system architecture between Europe and India. In the EU, the manufacturer of the device was the only one doing device management, firmware update, data extraction and transfer to the toll charger. He noted the challenges of distributed architecture and security concerns related to sharing device keys with a central point. Moreover, there was not much clarity on how the virtual Id would be used to protect the privacy of the VLT or OBU device.

There are always multiple challenges when any new idea is brought in. It first goes through resistance, then perhaps timid acceptance, then reform, transform and perform.

– P.K. Banerjee

K.C. Sharma mentioned the proposed Conformity of Production (COP) mechanism to ensure device compliance with standards. Rule 47 of CMVR would need to be amended to accommodate GNSS. Devices would be validated during vehicle registration and fitness testing. At the time of testing fitness for commercial vehicles, which was every two years up to eight years and subsequently every year, the device would also have to be checked and along with this, when the ownership of the vehicle changed, an NOC would be required.

It is not as if the panelists are meeting for the first time. We have had pre-workshop meetings of each panel discussion, and the points have been jotted out. Maybe there are some divergences, but there has been consensus as well.

–  A.R. Chitranshi

Currently, anything between Rs.150 to 190Cr get collected on a daily basis, said Praveena Rai. She highlighted the potential benefits of GNSS in enhancing user experience and the toll collection system.

In term of the genesis of interoperability, it needs to be seen how the OBU, toll charger and issuer would work together. How the OBU would get tightly linked to FASTag was very critical to the reliability and identity of the OBU because, the model envisaged in India was linked to the vehicle itself. Such identification played a role not only from a regulatory compliance standpoint, but also from law enforcement and the dispute management process, she said.

Participation from many global experts  at the  GNSS   workshop  is a testimony to the  belief that the world has faith  in India’s growth story. We are working to realize the vison of a developed India by 2047.  

–  Anurag Jain, Secretary, MoRTH

Joydeep Shome stressed the importance of data privacy in GNSS implementation for private vehicles. To that extent, AIS 140 and other connected rules were being modified. He noted the need for robust security and enforcement measures to deter system manipulation and ensure the system’s success. The existing system could be implemented in commercial vehicles as proposed in a hybrid manner where only two lanes would be allotted for GNSS. There would be an enforcement angle, so vehicles intentionally trying to manipulate or bypass the system would face penalty, which would be a deterring factor.

Over the past decade, road network has expanded manifolds and National Highways carries over 70% of country’s freight along with the passenger traffic. Implementing GNSS will immensely contribute not only towards growth of our economy but will also make barrierless tolling a reality for our citizens.

–  Santosh Kumar Yadav, Chairman NHAI