January 22, 2013
Municipalities have been deploying wireless networks to connect their various municipal buildings and to support a number of their critical applications and requirements for some time now. In communities where fiber is not available or is prohibitively expensive, wireless systems can provide connectivity with the speeds and reliability needed, and at an affordable price. A typical design would connect Town Hall to various municipal facilities such as PD, Fire, DPW, the Library, Senior Center, etc.
One of the most popular applications for Cities and Towns is video surveillance. Schools or areas that are high risk/high traffic public places that need to be monitored are typically the first places where municipalities deploy surveillance cameras. IP cameras with wireless systems have proven to be quick to deploy, cost effective, and highly reliable. They are also portable so that if one area no longer requires surveillance the system can be moved to the next highest priority location.
More and more municipalities are upgrading their older water meter systems to automated meter reading systems. These systems provide increased performance in data collection, avoid reading errors and missed meter readings, manual data entry errors, and reduced operational costs. Wireless multi-point and point-to-point systems can provide the backhaul communications to get the data collected from these systems to the local water department office where it is needed.
Departments of Public Works have also used wireless systems to remotely monitor wells, pump stations and other DPW assets. These SCADA systems consume low bandwidth and as a result can utilize relatively inexpensive point-to-point or point-to-multipoint wireless systems to transmit data back to the DPW offices. Video surveillance at key locations is also widely used by DPWs as part of their management tool kit.
Direct Network Services has the RF expertise and experience in working with Cities and Towns to support their networking requirements. Our customers include a number of municipalities who rely on our wireless systems to support their applications. For more information about how we can support your wireless requirements contact us at 978-952-6000 or email us at sales@directnetserv.com.
