This booklet provides a general introduction to the National Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) Architecture. The Architecture is the first step toward achieving the vision Congress put forth for ITS in 1991: a vision of a seamless, multimodal, national intelligent transportation system that would have a consistent character across the country. The following questions are addressed: What's the National Architecture Program really all about? What is the National Architecture? What does it do for ITS? How did a National Architecture develop? What does the National Architecture look like? What does the Architecture tell us? What happens next? Where can I get more information?

Space may have been called the final frontier, but there are new frontiers to discover every day, and engineers are the ones exploring them. Through groundbreaking research and new technologies, engineers are able to go beyond traditional boundaries to do things that would have been all but impossible just a few years ago. This book, the most recent in a series of publications, describes new and emerging technologies and explains how they were developed and the benefits they will bring. It also offers highlights of the pioneering research and technological work being done by some of the country's emerging leaders in engineering. Topics include biomechanics, sensors and control for manufacturing processes, safety and security issues, decisionmaking tools for design and manufacturing, and intelligent transportation systems.