When it comes to the overall networking infrastructure of a transportation system, the main networking hub is fundamental. These hubs usually also connect to additional networking systems, such as public works or emergency department networking systems. The hubs are unmanned, secure stations. When something goes wrong in the mission-critical Main Networking Hub, the whole system can experience downtime and maintenance is timely and expensive.

Specifically, high temperatures in Transportation Main Networking Hubs can cause equipment to shutdown, overheat, breakdown or even catch fire. To avoid such expensive catastrophes, a Department of Transportation in the U.S. was having trouble finding a solution to combat high temperatures in its Main Networking Hubs. For this particular department, the hubs are the main interface point for local cameras, radar and speed detectors across its interstate system.

The transportation department needed a way to monitor temperature, humidity and Uninterruptible Power Sources (UPS) in the hubs without wasting expensive man hours for inspections. UPS is an electrical apparatus that provides emergency power to a load when the input power source or mains power fails.If an AC unit fails, it doesn’t take long for equipment and fans to overheat.

Additionally, if the room is too humid, it can lead to corrosion that damages and breaks down the equipment. In looking for a solution for environmental monitoring in the Main Networking Hubs, the department was finding most of the popular solutions were too complicated to implement and too expensive to run. Additionally, many popular solutions are cloud-based, which is not ideal for a transportation department with security and data concerns.

To solve the environmental monitoring challenge – while also keeping the solutions easy to implement and secure – the department of transportation worked with Advantech.