Utah Department of Transportation

Full redundancy for traffic control

The Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) is tasked with monitoring and maintaining nearly 10,000 km of roads and highways in the state of Utah. In times of crisis, it is paramount for this large and important organisation to have strong LED display technology that it can rely on.

Challenge

The Utah Department of Transportation’s Traffic Operations Center is responsible for the behind-the-scenes tech that allows for safe and reliable transportation across the Beehive State. The Traffic Operations Center provides updates about traffic and congestion information as well as road, weather, crash, and construction impacts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The centre provides computer-directed traffic cues, accident management on major highways, authority over electronic signage and more, all in an effort to keep Utah’s roadways as secure and informed as possible. UDOT enlisted TVS Pro to design and install a replacement of three rear projection screens by LED walls.

The upgraded UDOT’s Traffic Operations Center video feed display system must ensure a better workflow and visuals for managing traffic and any potential emergencies. The new system has to route all of UDOT’s 1,700+ cameras to multiple screens throughout the Traffic Operations Center. As the tech needs to run flawlessly 24/7, 365 days a year, TVS Pro knew it was essential to incorporate products the state could count on and involved Sharp/NEC. The pressure was on for TVS Pro to revamp the Traffic Operation Centers’ upper and main walls, and the team was ready for the challenge.

Solution

The need for functionality, flexibility and customisation was easily found with Sharp/NEC displays. With Sharp/NEC’s strong reliability, unbeatable quality, and supportive customer service in mind, TVS Pro installed two NEC LED-FA012i2-110 LED displays with 110” diagonal for the upper video walls, and one 25 m² NEC LED-FA012i2 LED display for the main wall. The LED Solutions Centre (LSC) supported its US colleagues with the technical planning of the big customised LED wall including the planning of the construction and CAD design, the planning of the data and power distribution, shielded CAT6A cables and the automatic brightness control system SX[BrightnessControl]. Additionally, the LSC delivered the wall mounts and all further required construction components.

The new LED display surfaces ensure large, detailed imaging even amid foggy weather, snowstorms and heavy rain. The 1.2 mm pixel pitch of NEC’s dvLED provide an ultra high definition view of UDOT’s camera footage, providing some of the clearest and most detailed visuals possible, which are crucial during emergency situations. With the previous displays, the team was limited in their ability to increase or decrease the size and layout of their video feeds. The team wanted to have the flexibility to change and alter their view, with abilities to modify pixelation, brightness and layout, giving them better coverage during emergencies, snow and other weather events by granting them the ability to view multiple video sources at once. The side walls are driven with Kramer MV-4X’s to give us independent scaled quad view’s (single, side-by-side, 1x3, 2x2), and the main wall with a CORIOmaster2 and 24 discrete inputs (single, 2x2, 3x3, 4x4, 5x5, and various custom templates).

Unlimited and crystal-clear view of traffic network

With this new installation, the UDOT can easily view any traffic cameras across the entire state of Utah – that’s 1,700 cameras on roads, providing 1,700 views of the streets. No longer is the team limited to fixed sizes of available videos and images, but they now had the ability to scale to different sizes based on the needs of varying emergencies. The new technology now provides the UDOT team with crystal clear vision into vehicle crashes, highway fires, snowstorms hindering views, and more, allowing for better help in critical situations.

All Sharp/NEC LED products are meticulously designed and built for reliable long-lasting performance. The FA series features additional fail-safe qualities with redundant power supply and receiver card ensuring mission-critical performance standards. The chosen FA series products for this project feature 1.2mm pixel pitch. The resolution of the side walls is 1920 x 1080 and the main wall is 5280 x 2970. FA series also scores with cableless connector for data and power, flush surface and humidity-proof SMD design, and an excellent contrast ratio of 5000:1.

Failsafe reliability by high security LED technology

After working with TVS Pro, UDOT Traffic Operations Center now has a highly technological, extremely capable display system to keep Utah’s roadways safe. Users can identify incidents more in depth and have access to various HDMI sources for additional connection and exhibiting. The overload of a new technology system has transformed the way UDOT can assess, support, and react to some of life’s scariest moments. A system revamp has allowed for both UDOT workers and Utah’s citizens to feel a stronger sense of relief that emergency professionals will be able to tackle chaos more effectively and efficiently.

TVS Pro’s Chief Technology Officer Dalton Parker shared that the project were “plug and play” and his team had a seamless and positive experience utilizing Sharp/NEC products. According to him, UDOT was extremely happy with the outcome and products used and the entire operation, “could not have gone more smoothly.” “This has been an incredible process,” stated Parker. “We are so proud to have provided this service for the UDOT and have a small hand in keeping Utah’s roadways safe. This couldn’t have been possible without Sharp/NEC products and guidance from their team.” The TVS Pro team also noted that they did not have a time-consuming setup configuration, calibration, or troubleshooting in order to get switching to work. Once all of the devices, including an Extron IPCP Pro 360Q xi Control Processor, various NovaStar products, and more were benched, powered on and named, all worked flawlessly together, making the process efficient and instilling confidence in the technology that is now supporting traffic management for the entire state of Utah. “I’d use these products again every time,” said Dalton Parker. “This process was easy, flexible, and consistent, along with the ability to easily add or expand, which could not have been done with a traditional fixed chassis video switching system.” Equipped with a revamped, versatile system, UDOT’s Traffic Operations Center has an entirely new skill set of capabilities available to ensure clear visuals and operations in case of an emergency.