Perle switches for traffic light control systems

Tony Petrella, Vice President at Advanced Network Systems, comments about a recent upgrade he conducted for the City of Charlotteville, “Each intersection has a pedestal location that houses a traffic light controller. As people pull up, a sensor ascertains the direction of travel and starts a timer so the lights cycle like they are supposed to. But, the existing system was self-contained and only controlled the light at that intersection. Charlotteville wanted to expand the system to synchronise a whole line of lights. To enable multiple controllers to communicate with each other, we needed to do a system refresh.”

The switches in the existing system only supported 100MB speeds. Advanced Network Systems needed something they could “scale up a little further” with faster speeds and more ports for additional comms equipment. Petrella comments, “I have used Perle IDS Switches in many applications where I needed a hardened switch that could operate reliably in extended temperature environments. The Perle Switches provide dependable connectivity in challenging the conditions of NEMA enclosures with no environmental controls.”

Perle IDS 5-port Managed Industrial Ethernet Switches support gigabit speeds and -40°F to 167°F operating temperatures. A camera, traffic light controller, and 2 microwave radios are connected to each IDS Switch inside the NEMA enclosures. The microwave communication is then backhauled to the traffic management control center where the collected telemetry can be synchronised with other controllers on the street.

According to John Feeney, COO at Perle Systems, “Most people assume that the ‘Industrial’ label on a product applies to all the components used in the design of the equipment. It should but, frequently doesn’t. We don’t use any commercial grade parts in our Industrial products. Every component, not just the chassis, has been designed and tested to handle the stated operating temperatures.”