Firetide and Thales Portugal Provide Mumbai Metro with Mobile Surveillance

Firetide , a provider of wireless infrastructure mesh networks, partnered with Thales Portugal, a global technology systems integrator, to deploy a real-time, wireless mesh video surveillance network in Mumbai, for Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL). The network will be deployed to provide onboard video surveillance and broadcast of text message to onboard display.


The Mumbai metro is a three-line, high capacity subway system spanning 40 miles that is being built in Mumbai, the financial capital of India. The first phase of the metro is scheduled to be completed in 2010.


Firetide mesh nodes will be placed on the trains, as well as along the tracks at intervals of 500 meters. The system will allow 10 Mbps speed between the train and ground nodes at all points of the track at a speed of 50 mph. The ability to provide zero packet loss during signal handoff between ground nodes was critical. The system also has to support all security features, including AES encryption, WEP and WPA2 and encapsulation of IP layer data.


Three attributes of Firetide's mesh infrastructure equipment that contributed to Firetide's selection over the competition include:
1. Mobility controller supports intermesh and intramesh roaming scenarios, meeting stringent performance requirements.
2. Routing protocol provides link redundancy in various scenarios of metro operation.
3. System's modular feature and product design allows customers to plan, design, and easily build out large-scale mobility solutions.