Overview
ISO/TS 22133:2023 - Road vehicles - Test object monitoring and control for active safety and automated/autonomous vehicle testing - defines functional requirements, specifications and a communication protocol for controlling and monitoring test objects used in active safety and autonomous vehicle (AV) testing. The technical specification standardizes messaging, time and coordinate conventions, state machines and interfaces so a control centre can safely operate test objects from multiple vendors in an interoperable test environment.
Note: ISO/TS 22133:2023 does not prescribe internal architecture of test objects or control centres, nor how vehicle testing shall be performed.
Key topics and technical requirements
- Functional requirements for control centre and test object behavior (arm/disarm, start/stop, emergency stop, normal stop).
- Communication protocol and message formats (binary message structure, header/footer, checksum).
- Message catalogue (examples included): TRAJ (trajectory), OSEM (object settings), OSTM (state change requests), STRT (start), HEAB (heartbeat), MONR/MONR2 (monitor), SYPM/MTSP (synchronization), RCMM (remote-control manoeuvring), TRCM/ACCM/TREO/EXAC (trigger/action), DREQ/DRES (discovery), PREQ/PRES (parameter exchange), GEOF (geofence), GEDM/GREM (general data/response). Several MsgID values are specified for interoperability.
- Communication setup: discovery, TCP control channel, UDP process channel, file transfer (FTP) and vendor-specific message tunnels.
- Time and coordinate systems: absolute/relative time, synchronization, time resolution/accuracy, test object and scenario coordinate systems (proving ground vs other test areas).
- Safety and geofencing: local test object fence, global geofence, safety/risk assessment guidance.
- State machines and lifecycle: test object and control centre states, state-change triggers, heartbeat and cyclic monitoring.
- Data formats and metadata: trajectory file format (Annex A), Device Interface Description XML (DIDX, Annex D).
- Security and permissions: communication security considerations and recommendations.
Applications and who uses it
ISO/TS 22133:2023 is intended for organizations involved in active safety and AV testing that require multi-vendor interoperability and precise control of test objects:
- OEM test engineers and ADAS/AV development teams
- Test track operators and proving grounds
- Test object vendors (robotic targets, moving platforms, dummies)
- Control centre and test automation integrators
- Certification labs and safety assessors
Practical uses include interoperable trajectory-based testing, remote-control manoeuvring of targets, synchronized multi-object scenarios, geofenced safety envelopes, and vendor-agnostic monitoring for repeatable ADAS/AV validation.
Related standards
ISO/TS 22133:2023 complements other road-vehicle and testing standards addressing vehicle dynamics, ADAS/AV validation and safety assessment; it focuses specifically on test object control, monitoring and communication for interoperable testing environments.