Radio Standard to Be Proposed

January 28, 1999 9:05 AM, EST

Over the protests of some manufacturers, the federal Department of Transportation will move ahead with promoting a "sandwich protocol" for a national standard to guide design of technology using Dedicated Short-Range Communications.

Transponders use short-range radio for such functions as weigh-in-motion, electronic toll collection and border crossing. A national standard is considered the linchpin to creating communications equipment that the trucking, travel and toll industries could share.