Like many cities in the U.S. looking to install new IP-based traffic controllers and cameras that improve road safety and reduce traffic congestion, Sacramento needed to first upgrade its legacy telecommunications network to provide more sophisticated monitoring and control capabilities. With the products, from Actelis Networks, deployed, the city leveraged its existing copper infrastructure and delivered fiber-like performance across its vast network.

The traffic/intelligent transportation systems solution delivered the necessary bandwidth over Sacramento’s extensive outdoor copper infrastructure, just as traditional Ethernet solutions can do within a building, said Eric Vallone, vice president of marketing for Actelis. “For cities like Sacramento, this is a huge advantage because it means they can leverage the investment in their copper infrastructure to extend their existing Ethernet LAN across the whole district of jurisdiction,” he said.

Sacramento’s new IP-based cameras are already making a difference to citizens in the area, even if they are not directly aware. For example, if a traffic signal fails, technicians at the city’s Traffic Operations Center are now notified much faster, making repairs quicker and more cost effective.

“These systems are going to be invisible to the public,” said Shad Bennett, head of traffic engineering and operations for the city of Sacramento. “It’s all about efficiency and detection. Technicians can now tune the timing of the signals in response to changing conditions in order to optimize traffic flow and minimize congestion. The system’s sophisticated monitoring and control capabilities are also attracting interest of other agencies within the district.”