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Experiences in deploying a wireless mesh network testbed for traffic control

Published: 20 October 2007 Publication History

Abstract

Wireless mesh networks (WMN) have attracted considerable interest in recent years as a convenient, flexible and low-cost alternative to wired communication infrastructures in many contexts. However, the great majority of research on metropolitan-scale WMN has been centered around maximization of available bandwidth, suitable for non-real-time applications such as Internet access for the general public. On the other hand, the suitability of WMN for mission-critical infrastructure applications remains by and large unknown, as protocols typically employed in WMN are, for the most part, not designed for real-time communications. In this paper, we describe the Smart Transport and Roads Communications (STaRComm) project at National ICT Australia (NICTA), which sets a goal of designing a wireless mesh network architecture to solve the communication needs of the traffic control system in Sydney, Australia. This system, known as SCATS (Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System)and used in over 100 cities around the world, connects a hierarchy of several thousand devices -- from individual traffic light controllers to regional computers and the central Traffic Management Centre (TMC)-- and places stringent requirements on the reliability and latency of the data exchanges. We discuss our experience in the deployment of an initial testbed consisting of 7 mesh nodes placed at intersections with traffic lights, and share the results and insights learned from our measurements and initial trials in the process.

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Published In

cover image ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review
ACM SIGCOMM Computer Communication Review  Volume 37, Issue 5
October 2007
88 pages
ISSN:0146-4833
DOI:10.1145/1290168
Issue’s Table of Contents

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Association for Computing Machinery

New York, NY, United States

Publication History

Published: 20 October 2007
Published in SIGCOMM-CCR Volume 37, Issue 5

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Author Tags

  1. deployment
  2. traffic control
  3. wireless mesh network

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  • (2020)Why is Internet of Autonomous Vehicles not as Plug and Play as We Think ? Lessons to Be Learnt From Present Internet and Future DirectionsIEEE Access10.1109/ACCESS.2020.30093368(133015-133033)Online publication date: 2020
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