Jan 29, 2016

One of the most important topics of discussion when it comes to public transportation is the safety of passengers, transit operators and the maintenance staff responsible for upkeep of critical infrastructure. In a more perfect world, every single train car and bus would have security officers and EMT onboard at all times, but this is infeasible. 

Fortunately, public transportation agencies can still have a set of eyes on the ground at all times. Thanks to wireless mesh solutions, real-time video surveillance can give transit operators, security staff and emergency first responders the visual information they need to protect those who operate and use public transportation.  

Wireless surveillance: A global solution

From Boston to Mumbai, public transit relies on wireless mesh networks to keep IP cameras aboard moving vehicles up and running at all times. The efficacy of a wireless mesh network is self-healing in its nature. When a connection with one mesh node falters – for example, because a vehicle moves out of range – network traffic is automatically rerouted to ensure connectivity. With multiple paths between a source and a destination in the network, a wireless surveillance solution will not miss a beat. This is hugely beneficial to transit operators' security monitoring efforts, and the reason that so many parts of the world are leveraging wireless mesh solutions. 

In 2007, the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) – which serves over one million people every day – first announced its plans to deploy a wireless mesh network so that it might enhance security for passengers and operators on busses that serve the Boston metro area. Wireless mesh technology allowed for remote viewing of feeds transmitted from the video surveillance solutions installed on each bus. As a result, MBTA police can now stream video surveillance feeds from within patrol cars, which means they can have a visual of an incident as it occurs, and can continue to watch the events unfold even as the officers speed toward the scene. The project, which was partially funded by the Department of Homeland Security, led to the installation of cameras on more than 150 MBTA buses. 

A similar enhancement was made to Mumbai Metro when a wireless mesh video surveillance network was deployed in order to improve in-transit security. At the time that the three-line transit system was being built, officials expected it to span more than 40 miles. They wanted to make sure that even as trains meandered the metropolitan region, security cameras would stay up and running, which is why they decided to would install mesh nodes on their trains and along the tracks. 

In Malaysia, wireless mesh solutions also improved real-time transmission of video surveillance for the Malaysia MRT transportation system in Kuala Lumpur, a city of over 1.5 million people. In this case, the surveillance system was aimed at providing improved visibility for train operators, so as to keep everyone on board safe. Reliable, high-speed Internet for riders was a welcome perk of the wireless mesh network.  

Wireless mesh networks are the future

The above represent only a few examples of how wireless mesh solutions improved security monitoring for users and operators of public transit. There are plenty of other similar scenarios in all corners of the globe, and based on the findings of a study by IndustryARC, the number of like use cases will continue to rise for at least the remainder of this decade. 

The report predicts that wireless mesh technology will play an invaluable role in the next generation of networking, supplying connectivity in situations where other forms of wireless networking simply don't cut it. This includes security monitoring onboard public transportation vessels, which is now possible with uninterrupted video surveillance, courtesy of wireless mesh solutions. 

Learn more about how mesh networks can benefit the transportation sector here.