The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is responsible for planning, designing, building and maintaining California’s extensive network of highways, bridges and tunnels. With increased focus on homeland security, Caltrans now has the added responsibility of protecting that infrastructure from disruptions.
In one of the first major homeland security projects, Caltrans has deployed a state-of-the-art electronic surveillance system to protect the Bay Area’s transportation infrastructure, including area bridges and tunnels. The $20-million dollar security initiative, called Bay Area Security Enhancement (BASE), is unmatched in the scale and scope of its use of wireless networking technology and is designed to safeguard the lives of the many Americans who rely on these transportation routes daily.
This project shows that wireless surveillance is the wave of the future in homeland security. The BASE system connects all major Bay Area bridges and tunnels to Caltrans and to each other using video cameras, and point-to-point and point-to-multipoint wireless links. By choosing wireless technology, Caltrans was able to rapidly and cost-effectively deploy a network of cameras, sensors and wireless bridges. The system enables Caltrans to detect breaches, receive alerts, and control or direct any camera in the system from a central location, without the cost or security risk of laying wires.
“Caltrans is amply demonstrating that wireless networking technology has an important role to play in homeland security and surveillance,” said Jonathan Zakin, chairman and CEO of Proxim. “Wireless technology ensures enhanced security that can be deployed rapidly, reliably, flexibly and affordably. We are committed to teaming with homeland security innovators such as Caltrans and to providing products that are ideally suited to help protect other high-risk sites such as major ports, military installations or power plants.”
The hardware for the network includes Proxim Corporation’s line of high-speed Tsunami point-to-point
Ethernet bridges and Tsunami Multipoint links, and outdoor pan/tilt/zoom surveillance cameras from RVision, LLC. In addition redundancy is provided by AirLink Communications Inc.’s Infrastructure Protection System (IPS).
Caltrans installed ruggedized video cameras from RVision LLC that send the video to encoders that convert images into Internet protocol (IP) packets. The IP packets are then transmitted via Proxim’s Tsunami point-to-multipoint subscriber units to Tsunami Multipoint base stations. From there, the digital images are sent through a wireless backbone of Tsunami point-to-point bridges to a Caltrans office. The high-resolution video is then downloaded to a large off-site viewing screen.
In addition, using wireless local area networking equipment, the images can be viewed locally at each facility. The sophisticated detection equipment working in conjunction with the video cameras provides force-multiplying capabilities to the CHP.
AirLink’s IPS enables agencies responsible for protecting critical infrastructure to receive alarms wherever they are, on whatever device they choose (desktops, laptops, PDAs, pagers or phones). When a sensor generates an alarm, the appropriate camera is simultaneously turned on and the alarm is transmitted to the appropriate agencies and a centralized server.
Royal Electric Co., a Caltrans prime contractor with deep experience in telecommunications infrastructure work, oversaw construction design and management of the BASE project while Open Computing Platform Inc., a subcontractor to Royal, designed the wireless system, including specifying equipment. Rosendin Electric Inc. and Steiny and Company Inc. also are prime contractors on the project.
“Caltrans made an innovative and wise choice to take advantage of the power, dependability and flexibility of wireless technology for the BASE project,” said David Brown, the division manager who ran the project for Royal Electric. “Not only would fiber have required much more time to lay, but it would have cost three to five times more than the wireless system.”
After an equipment shoot-out, in which products from various manufacturers were tested, the only equipment that still worked in the harsh environment by the test’s end was Proxim’s Tsunami Multipoint and Tsunami point-to-point system and RVision’s video camera, notes Steven A. Williams, CEO of Open Computing Platform.
“These products were the only logical choice to serve as the wireless backbone for the BASE system,” added Williams. “Caltrans is on the cutting edge of using wireless for homeland security, and these products provide the flexibility and reliability Caltrans needed.”