Nov 12, 2014

Surveillance is one thing when you’re filming something that’s relatively stationary, like, for instance, the outside of a building or a public space. But about when the source to be watched is moving upwards of 50 miles per hour? That’s where a Firetide solution comes into play.

Surveillance that matches the speed of a subway car
Firetide was chosen to design a wireless mesh network for the subway system in Seoul, Korea. The project was no small undertaking. Seoul’s subway system represents one of the most vast and expansive in the world,with a map that is bound to make even seasoned subway riders a bit confused. The need to institute real-time surveillance arose in 2003, after a devastating subway fire killed 198 people. That tragedy immediately led the Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation to pursue surveillance solutions. But designing such a resource seemed particularly challenging given the scale of the city’s subway system. It was a task that Jung Yeong-Hyun, project manager of GlobalTelecom, knew Firetide was uniquely suited to carry out.

“No other vendor’s wireless mesh equipment could provide the high speed performance required to deliver streaming video from the station to moving rail cars and operate in one of harshest of environments for RF networks,” he said.

How it works
So how exactly does a surveillance system capture what’s going on in the subway – particularly considering that a lot of activity happens at high speeds? That’s where mobility comes into play. Thanks to a deployment of 1,000 Firetide wireless mesh nodesthroughout the Seoul system, the process of transmitting live video feeds from inside moving trains has become simple and highly efficient, with the live video feed from inside trains getting sent to a monitoring center. This same system also works in reverse: Because of the mobile video transmission technology, riders inside trains are shown commercial advertisements and public announcements.

Back in 2003, the tragic fire began when someone set a stationary train ablaze. When another train headed into the same station, the fire spread to the incoming train. This is exactly the kind of accident that can be avoided with Firetide technology. Today, train operators see a live video feed of the station they’re pulling into. Therefore, subway riders in Seoul are safer than ever, and the whole system runs more efficiently as a result.