Houston TranStar at the 2005 ITS America Annual Meeting Apr 22nd, 2005 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 22, 2005
Contact: Artee T. Jones – Executive Public Information Officer 713-881-3244 or email: ajones3@houstontranstar.org
HOUSTON TRANSTAR TO DEMONSTRATE A FULLY INTEGRATED INCIDENT DETECTION, ALARM NOTIFICATION AND TRACKING SYSTEM DURING THE 2005 ITS AMERICA ANNUAL MEETING IN PHOENIX
“Unique public / private partnership to demonstrate how ITS technology could be leveraged to serve multiple public safety functions”
(Houston, Texas) ---- Today, Houston TranStar, the Transportation and Emergency Management Center for the Greater Houston Region, working in partnership with ElectroWave USA and the Houston InfoComm Technology Initiative, formally announced that during the 2005 Intelligent Transportation Society of America’s Annual Meeting in Phoenix, they will be demonstrating a fully integrated Incident Detection, Alarm Notification & Tracking System for transportation, emergency management and homeland security applications.
Leveraging off of the deployment of intelligent transportation system technology, the Incident Detection, Alarm Notification & Tracking System seeks to demonstrate how sensor-based technology could assist in solving many inter-operability issues across various transportation, emergency management and homeland security environments.
During the annual meeting, this unique public / private partnership intends to deploy sensors and SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems in traffic signals which can detect critical incidents in real-time. This sensor-based system is able to detect and in some cases track nuclear, chemical and bio-hazard emissions, rising water levels at intersections, vehicle collisions, explosions, traffic signal impacts and a whole lot more.
Consistent with its mission of maximizing safety and mobility to the public, the Houston TranStar partnership in its presentation will demonstrate four (4) different types of incident detection through the use of sensors deployed in traffic signal heads.
The sensors demonstrated include:
*Car Crash / Audible Sensor - A sensor will capture loud noises such as car crashes and explosions and display a user-friendly graphic on the Human Machine Interface screen.
*Flood Sensor – A sensor will be used to demonstrate rising water levels at an intersection, group of intersections or a whole city of intersections.
*Shock / Hit Sensor – A sensor will provide instantaneous notification of a truck or other high-load vehicle hitting and damaging a traffic signal.
*Nuclear Sensor - A sensor will be used to detect and simulate a radiation source going under or past a traffic signal.
The purpose of these demonstrations are to simulate in real-time, an immediate notification to Offices of Emergency Management (OEM’s), Police / Fire Dispatch and others about an event or incident via the Incident Detection, Alarm Notification & Tracking System and Alarm I/P.
Developed by ElectroWave USA, Alarm I/P notification software, trademarked, copyright and patent pending, is a unique and proprietary system which when implemented throughout an existing traffic management system works with the Incident Detection, Alarm Notification & Tracking System to enable OEM’S, Police / Fire and others to be notified of an event or incident.
Alarm I/P and the Incident Detection, Alarm Notification & Tracking System provides real-time notification of any event or incident to one or more specific IP addresses (central computer/ home computer, IP enabled cell phone, PDA’s, EMS, Fire / Police Dispatch and Offices of Emergency Management) and affords responding authorities the opportunity to efficiently deploy resources in order to address the event or incident.
The premise for this partnership and technological collaboration is to take A.C.T.I.O.N: Anticipate Life Crisis Events; Collaborate Research, Development and Business; Test to Validate Technology Concepts; Integrate Practical System Solutions; Operations- Install, Implement and Maintain and Now! Today.
According to Jack Whaley, Director of Houston TranStar, “With Houston TranStar serving as the transportation and emergency management center for a seven (7) county region and as a one-stop shop for federal, state and local government agencies, it is imperative that we have all of the necessary relationships, tools and technologies in place to address an event or incident before it negatively impacts the region. The Incident Detection, Alarm Notification & Tracking System and Alarm I/P would afford us the ability to leverage off of the existing ITS system deployment we currently have in the field all to the benefit of the traveling community and the public at-large.”
Martin L. Kershman, President of ElectroWave USA stated, “We at ElectroWave USA have always felt the integration of transportation management functions with security systems was one of the most critical initiatives we could employ to prevent incidents and events that have the potential to negatively impact communities across the country. The integration of this sensor-based system into an existing traffic management system, such as the one Houston TranStar has successfully implemented, makes the process easier to accomplish, user-friendly and much more cost-effective.”
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