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05/10/2007Traffic, Medical Applications Spark Tucson Digital City: Q&A with Francisco Leyva
Tucson, Arizona, is similar to Corpus Christi, Texas, in its digital-city planning. With a Wi-Fi mesh network, Corpus Christi automated one its major municipal chores—utility meter reading—and used that application to drive network expansion to more departments and the community. In an interview, Francisco Leyva, Project Manager in Tucson’s Department of Transportation, provides an update on Tucson’s broadband-wireless planning, which was first launched to eliminate recurring telecommunication costs associated with traffic-signal monitoring and support video streaming on ambulances. He will speak at the W2i Digital Cities Convention in Chicago, May 22–23, 2007. Q: Looking back, how did the planning and momentum behind Tucson’s wireless project begin? A: In 1999, Richard Nassi, Tucson’s Transportation Administrator, got together with Doctor Valenzuela at University Medical Center and Fire Chief Gere from Tucson Fire. They all had different needs that could be solved with a single system. Tucson uses phone lines to receive second-by-second data from its traffic signals, and Nassi was interested in eliminating the $200,000 yearly bill for these. The UMC and Fire Department were interested in better and faster care for trauma patients. They wrote a grant request with funds provided by Mary Peters, then head of the Arizona Department of Transportation, and here we are today deploying this wonderful technology. Q: Why did Ms. Peters, now the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, visit the City at the end of April? A: The US DOT has a goal to reduce congestion by 5 percent by 2010, and it’s providing $150 million in grant funding to encourage this. Tucson has requested $14 million from this fund to expand what we’re doing here with the Wi-Fi mesh, including traffic signal timing and the video streaming application, called ER-Link, for the ambulances. The $14 million would help expand our network way beyond the City limits. Q: How far along is the Wi-Fi mesh deployment today? A: Because Tucson owns all its street lighting, the original plan was to install 215 radios on the streetlights and 50 on buildings. But if we do it on every traffic light, it’s a grid. All 450 of our signal lights will be outfitted with an access point, and 240 are outfitted right now—along with 30 buildings—providing 225 square miles of coverage. On July 1, we’ll receive another $1 million from Arizona’s Surface Transportation Program (STP) to continue the buildout on the traffic lights. Q: The application story in Tucson really began simultaneously in at least two areas—traffic signals and emergency response. A: Yes. It all started with ER-Link, which is currently enabled in 12 ambulances. But this application uses the network only a short amount of time, so we are looking to use the extra bandwidth elsewhere. For example, we want to outfit our SunTran buses with Wi-Fi connectivity, providing access to riders and making bus commuting more attractive. The wireless also connects between the traffic signals and enables real-time signal changing. All our traffic signals use video detection to know when cars are there. The video image is a by-product that we can now access with the Wi-Fi mesh. We’ll be piping that video to command, traffic, and 911 centers. We’re also helping the Fire Department with congestion. The fire station will get video from the traffic signals and train crossings, so they can see whether a train is going by and decide whether to use an alternate route. Q: Is the police department on board? A: Our whole mesh network has about 8 VLANs that are going to be given out to police and fire. Police still has a one-year lease on 800 Mhz, and within a year they have to make a decision to join or get another solution. But their objective is the Wi-Fi mesh. Building inspectors will also get it, as will our water department, which monitors sensors around the city. We’ll phase out their cellular use and phase in the Wi-Fi. Water, of course, is the big issue in Tucson, and it’s an opportunity to monitor leaks in real time. Q: What’s been your experience with ambulances using the Wi-Fi mesh at speed? A: We’ve been testing about 15 linear miles on an east-west route, and about 7 miles on a north-south route, driving full speed, which is 45–50 mph. Ambulances drive the maximum speed limit. And when we did that it was better. When we slowed down, the radio had a harder time deciding to switch between nodes. When you’re in the midpoint, the strength is about the same between each, but at 45–50 mph, the radio makes a fast switch, and you lose only one or two pings. Summer is the time this will go live. We’re training 240 emergency medical personnel on this system, including 20 at the hospital. It’s pretty simple, because we’ve done demos. We take 15 minutes to teach them, and they’re up and running.
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