Safety of passengers and drivers aboard public transports as well as pedestrians has been the main consideration of mass transit authorities (MTA) worldwide. Within the US, many MTAs have invested in the newest surveillance technology that incorporates transportation-certified computer hardware, security software, cameras and other components to create an effective on-board surveillance system for their buses. Axiomtek’s high quality transportation-certified products, design assistance services and strong partnership with leading surveillance software, cameras, hardened network switches, and more - have proven to successfully help many major metropolitan area’s MTAs with their onboard surveillance projects.
MTA Surveillance Needs
The needs can vary, depending upon the size of the areas of operation and types of emergencies experienced in the past. Bus surveillance systems can offer simple surveillance needs that usually include capturing reliable, good quality images; transferring and storing of such images; and alerting the driver and control center with location services. It can offer enhanced features and functionality for more complicated requirements such as infrared cameras that can detect movement even in poor lighting/ visibility situations; driver alerts for pedestrians within a defined dangerous range; the ability to transfer live video footage to nearby law enforcement agencies and squad cars during emergencies for swift response; or safety analytics for future accident prevention for driver’s performance, vehicle movement and collision studies.
Use Case
Axiomtek’s transportation-certified embedded computers have been selected by mass transit authorities as their controller of choice for onboard bus surveillance projects. These systems feature certifications for bus, railway, vehicle and marine applications as well as features including anti-vibration designs, extended operating temperature ranges, extensive storage options, wireless communication and data transfer options, and more.
The Metropolitan Transit Needs
In order to be selected as the onboard computer for the project, the following requirements must be met:
- The embedded controller must support a minimum of 8 high definition cameras mounted inside and outside the bus.
- It must have high storage capacity for locally storing at least a week’s worth of video footage.
- This transportation computer must offer a variety communications options for offloading video footage to mass transit control centers.
- It must feature GPS function for bus tracking by the mass transit control centers.
- This onboard bus computer must work well with popular security suite software in the market.
- It must also work with connected sensors that detect vehicle movement and collisions.
- The transportation computer must offer high reliability; longevity of product life and support; and wide operating temperature range for operation in fluctuating climates.
Potential for error is high when dealing with outdoor, often unpredictable conditions and the complex operations of wind turbines and energy conversion. Having a system that is foolproof – offers redundant backup functions; and is robust, highly reliable, and fast to handle different unforeseen scenarios – is crucial to the success of an inspection.
Another critical factor SkySpecs faced was the overall weight consideration of the drone. With all the required onboard peripherals, i.e., cameras, sensors, etc., every gram/ounce of weight added has a value against the drone’s battery life and, ultimately, its fly time. Therefore, in addition to the high computing power requirement, the motherboard selected must be extremely light and highly compact in size.
Axiomtek Transportation-certified Products – the tBOX Series
A wide variety of options from Axiomtek’s comprehensive transportation-certified product line can be seen here. The tBOX product was one of the great options that met all of the MTA’s requirements. Its key features below fit the project needs.
Axiomtek has a great deal of experience with creating complete solutions for mass transit authorities. Its ecosystem of partners, which includes leading security software, camera and hardened Ethernet switch providers, along with our comprehensive lines of embedded computer systems can provide total solutions for all onboard bus surveillance project needs. Coupled with an experienced design services team and comprehensive suite of value-added services offered, Axiomtek can deliver effective end-to-end solutions and exceptional support to ease project development and management challenges.
Axiomtek has assisted our mass transit customers and system integrators with their onboard surveillance projects with great success. The surveillance systems utilizing the tBOX products are now operating onboard many metropolitan buses. Roll-out processes of the tested bus surveillance solutions are planned and some are in its deployment stage.
|