As the nerve center from where more than 1,700 traffic cameras are monitored for any signs of incidents requiring a swift response, the Traffic Operations Center in Salt Lake City performs a 24/7/365 mission-critical role supporting Utah highway safety. When the Utah Department of Transportation decided an update was necessary for the primary display capabilities at the center, they turned to AVPro Edge, alongside Salt Lake City integrator TVS Pro and their chief technology officer, Dalton Parker.
For this project, TVS Pro chose AVPro Edge MXnet 1G, one of the AVPro Edge Audio Video over Internet Protocol (AVoIP) ecosystems, to connect with, distribute, and manage traffic camera feeds from the Utah state roads and highways within the operations campus.
UDOT wished to replace its aging and dated rear-projection primary operations display system, originally installed by TVS Pro, with a newer type of video technology. The concept Parker’s team arrived at was a three-screen array centered by a massive multi-panel, cinema-dimensioned main display, flanked on each side by quite large auxiliary screens. The result is an impactful control room and video wall that unfailingly monitors the pulse of traffic flow all over the state.
Camera information arrives from locations dotting the Utah landscape and is received by camera decoders equipped with HDMI outputs. When users select a signal selected for more intensive viewing, it is patched via HDMI into one of 36 MXnet 1G encoders, which combine to create a virtual matrix switcher for the 36 packetized, routable streams that are ferried across the network.
After routing, the streams are converted back into HDMI by MXnet 1G decoders. MXnet dispatches all signals at near-zero latency through its multicast routing.
Using MXnet as a transformative virtual matrix, the MXnet 1G decoders subsequently supply camera content to 32 inputs of a tvONE CORIOmaster2 video wall processor, which generates the video canvas. Touch panel control enables operators to efficiently customize images to conform to the needs at hand, with overlay, picture-in-picture, multi-picture, and multi-size capabilities, or a solo full wall image. The CORIOmaster2 then passes all outputs through to an additional signal processor that interfaces with every display panel to provide connecting paths from the CORIOmaster2.
For eco-conscious government agencies, a great deal of importance is placed on the environmental impact a wholesale equipment changeover might present, and often there are restrictive limits placed on the amount of additional power consumption a remodel or new project is allowed to assume. TVS Pro points to the highly efficient MXnet encoders and decoders as a decisive advantage. Each unit siphons less than 5 operational watts from the power grid, running cool to the touch from utilization of the metal chassis frame working strategically with the main processing chip, and its topmounted heatsink, to efficiently extract heat and disperse it quietly, fan-free, and noise-free.
