Transport and the Year 2000

Perhaps the major problem for transport systems lies not in the major 
control systems that presumably traffic management authorities should 
already have dealt with or, more likely, they are only dealing with at 
the moment. Changes to such central control systems require a careful 
scrutiny of every line of source code to ensure that there are no 
references to dates which might cause a problem.  If such systems use 
other proprietary software systems, such as database systems, then 
these systems will have to be checked as well to ensure that there are 
no date manipulation problems.  The estimated cost is 1 US dollar per 
line of code that has to be checked. Checking and any corrections 
should be done before the end of 1998 to ensure that the code will go 
through at least one year end before 2000!
In my opinion, the much more difficult problem to manage in the 
transport context is the use of the many outstations used in transport 
control systems that are located in street furniture.  These 
outstations are very likely to use micro-controllers and small micro-
processors many of which have a date and time capability.  In many 
cases the data and time capability will not be used and it depends 
whether or not the date and time capability has been properly disabled 
as to whether there will be a Y2000 problem.  These devices were used 
by designers because they are so cheap to use in a design even though 
all their capabilities are not used.  In many cases the date and time 
capability can be disabled by suitable electrical connections.  
However, many designers of such circuits tended not to do this and 
thus, the way in which the device will operate cannot be predicted.  
In other devices, the date and time capability had to be disabled by 
program coding and it will thus depend whether or not the correct code 
is loaded into the device.  As an example, consider the controller 
used in pelican crossings.  It must contain some form of timer to be 
able to determine the periods for pedestrian and traffic movement and 
intervening gaps.  Does the control device used also contain a date 
capability and if so has it been properly disabled?  The only 
organisation that can give a definitive answer is the manufacturer of 
the controller.
Obviously, some outstations will use the date and time capability for 
their correct functioning and it is vital that such devices are 
checked to ensure that they have been programmed correctly.  Any 
device which has a concept of date and time for its correct 
functioning should be a cause for concern.  These outstations are, by 
their very nature, remote standalone systems and thus the program 
coding is usually incorporated in some form of read only memory which 
is created by the manufacturer of the device during its design.  In 
such cases, the manufacturer will have to be contacted to ensure that 
there is no Y2000 problem.
I am obviously putting forward a personal position but I do think that 
realistic questions are being posed of systems designers for which 
traffic management authorities should be able to obtain speedy and 
accurate answers.


Professor JM Kerridge		tel   	+(0) 131 455 4395
Department of Computer Studies	fax 	+(0) 131 455 4552
Napier University		email 	[log in to unmask]
219 Colinton Road               web     http://www.dcs.napier.ac.uk/~jmk
Edinburgh
EH14 1DJ





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