Stinson ITS Blog

A useful technology that almost no one in traffic is using

Written by: Michael McGuire, Vice President & General Manager of Stinson ITS

My hope in this article is to shine light on a technology that I think provides a ton of value but which is very underutilized in this industry.  Let me start by saying I’m not an expert in this technology but I’ve been using it off and on for almost 10 years with good success.  The technology I’m referring to is low cost fixed wireless radios, typically operating in the 5GHz band.  I will be looking at how this technology works as well as how it’s being used, both by end users directly as well as by Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISPs) to provide connectivity as a service. Fixed wireless radios offer a unique connectivity option as it allows for unlimited bandwidth which LTE cannot provide.  In cases where high bandwidth is required (ex. video streaming 24/7) there are not very many options.

Over the past decade wireless networking has been revolutionized by companies like Ubiquiti Networks who have offered very high-performance radios for extremely affordable prices (some radios under $100).  The biggest surprise is that no one seems to know about these devices, especially in traffic.

There are certainly other low-cost radio providers but I will focus on Ubiquiti Networks in this article as they seem to be the leader in this space and I have the most experience with their devices (others include Cambium, Miktrotik, TPLink, & Netgear).  Ubiquiti has experienced a monumental rise in market share and valuation since going public in 2011, going from $17 per share to almost $300 in that time.  I started using their radios in 2013 and I just wish I had bought some stock back then.

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Written by: Michel Mondor, Stinson ITS’s Eastern Canada Account Manager

Travel time sensors have been an essential part of smart work areas for many years, but their use has often been very narrowly focused on displaying passenger information and not on the large amounts of data that sensors can collect.  Especially in the past year, when COVID-19 has had a direct effect on traffic flows in cities and on construction sites. Data from travel time systems can provide key insights.  By measuring traffic volume trends, traffic managers in the construction sector can instantly make smarter decisions when road closures and other activities should be allowed to reduce their impact on congestion.  With this data-driven approach, construction companies can justify prolonged road and lane closures when traffic volumes are low, speeding up their construction schedule.

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Written by: Ajay Kaushik 

After watching the video of a dump truck pushing a Mini Cooper up the on-ramp of the Gardiner Expressway in March of this year, I am personally very careful when driving around construction trucks. Transportation Canada statistics show that trucks, buses, and other large vehicles have been responsible for approximately 6-8% fatal accidents in Canada every year since 2000.

It is great to see that the general trend is showing a slow decline of fatal collisions in Canada. However, it is interesting to note that the fatal collision percentage increases to 2% from an average of less than 1% when trucks or large vehicles are involved in a collision.

Provincial governments have taken several steps to ensure that fatal collisions involving trucks and other large vehicles can be reduced through better infrastructure design, training and education of drivers, and installation of appropriate warning systems.
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Written by: Michael McGuire, Stinson ITS Vice President 

Bosch is a massive player in the video analytics space with a huge team dedicated to vehicle mounted sensors for Automated Vehicles (AVs).  However, while Bosch is a large distributor of CCTV cameras, the supported analytics in these cameras has not been nearly as advanced as what was developed in their automotive divisions. Recently, over the last few years this has been changing, and we’ve seen a huge improvement within the on-board analytics of their CCTV cameras. For those in ITS this should be exciting as it’s opening up a number of new application possibilities, especially when something custom or niche is required.

The strength of Bosch’s analytics is its versatility, however; this can also be a hinderance as many cities don’t have technical staff with the product knowledge or experience to configure them.  Video analytics in the camera industry were originally designed and introduced for security applications and then eventually introduced for retail environments. Features like people counting within stores and heat maps of how people move through businesses became popular.  As these analytics have developed, the growing demand in the traffic industry has encouraged the development of traffic focused features. These same core analytic concepts are now being applied to traffic, with a little tweaking required of course.
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 Written by: Michael McGuire 

After 9 years in the traffic industry one trend has always stood out starkly to me is:  Innovation moves at an absolute snail’s pace here.  As a technology nerd this has always been an incredible frustration to me and I’m certainly trying my best to change things.  I focus on technology because that’s my specialty, but it goes well beyond that.  Even basic processes and practices seem to lag the private sector by nearly 20 years and it’s really bizarre to me.  However, I do see things changing, and it seems to be driven by automated vehicles and the efficiency potential of a “smart” city.   

In the last few years, we’ve seen major investment and interest in our industry from some of the largest corporations in the world.  Whether it be technology firms, telecoms, or automakers, influential companies are taking a sudden interest in traffic and transportation.  They must see the potential return on investment and they seem to be vying to get their piece of the smart city pie before the market is saturated.  As intersections and road infrastructure bisect every inch of a city, it is a logical target for them to focus their investment and technology.  

In Toronto we got an early taste of this when Google tried to invest billions of dollars into developing a smart city pilot area near the downtown core.  While privacy and other concerns derailed the project it certainly put a spotlight on the industry, and the massive growth potential it holds.   

 
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