EtherWAN unlocks urban traffic grids with intelligent transportation systems

Overview

Placentia, CA USA anyone who lives in a major metropolitan area and commutes to work knows the roadways are extremely crowded and getting more so every day, during morning and evening commute time. While the obvious solution is to build more and larger roadways to accommodate more automobiles, many localities have recognized that there are technological solutions that can complement or supplement the traditional project of adding or widening roadways. Another solution is to use Advanced Technology Management Systems to monitor and manage traffic congestion more efficiently. Traffic management systems, today, include traffic light controllers with inputs from various types of vehicle detectors (such as video, radar and magnetic), video surveillance systems, dynamic message signs and other systems to measure traffic flow and inform the driving public about hot spots. These systems are designed to allow traffic engineers and emergency personnel to monitor traffic flow and predict trouble spots before they become trouble spots.

Technology

From a central location, the traffic management center (TMC), authorities are able to monitor traffic and weather conditions from IP surveillance cameras installed at various locations in and around the city. Information gathered at the TMC is shared with other agencies and cities in a region to manage traffic more effectively. The traveling public is informed about potential problem areas by dynamic message signs and hazard advisory radio systems along the roadway and emergency service response times are reduced by knowing more about the location and conditions surrounding an incident requiring emergency service.

Challenges

Network equipment are installed in an outdoor cabinets close by the roadways. Regular network products simply cannot handle outdoor temperature and harsh conditions such as unpredictable humidity as well as electrical and electromagnetic interference. Equipment must be mounted in field cabinets, with limited space and operate in the harsh outdoor environment without fans.

Solution

EtherWAN's products are designed for hardened and heavy duty applications suitable for outdoor or extreme environments. The SE6101 converters traffic light signals from serial mode to Ethernet. The EX71000 is featured with EtherWAN's proprietary α-ring supporting recovery time less than 15ms. The EX71000 switches form a ring architecture with the EX77000 sitting closer to a centralized traffic management office. These switches create a redundant network system that is critical to traffic control city wide.

Results

Because of the hardened design, know-how and professional technical support, the network system of Placentia in California USA is running reliably. It provides information to allow city traffic engineers to efficiently manage traffic flow within the city.