SEATTLE, June 7, 1999 (PRIMEZONE) -- Sonic Systems Corporation of Delaware (NASDAQ: ZSON) announced today that the Los Angeles Department of Transportation (LADOT) will conduct a field test of its wireless intersection communications card. Along with its partner, Safetran Traffic Systems, Inc., Sonic will provide LADOT with multi mode communications cards capable of supporting wireless connections between traffic controllers in an intersection and the central management site that supports them. The test will also include basic connection management software for the Los Angeles Traffic Management Center.
"The ability to link 'stand alone' traffic controllers into the network without the expensive, disruptive delay of running hard wired connections is a very attractive option," says Anson Nordby, Principal Transportation Engineer and Chief of the Bureau of Field Operations for LADOT. "Here in LA we have about one thousand intersections that could benefit from such an approach, if it proves reliable and practical."
Sonic and Safetran are focused on solving a growing problem for most large cities; namely, how to get uniform communications to controlled intersections without tearing up the streets and spending a fortune for network construction. The monitoring that controlled intersections need on a real time basis can be done through wire or fiber optics when these links exist. But it is often too expensive or impossible to run a physical link. This leaves a controlled intersection "unattached" - which means it is out of touch with other intersections, the central site, and sometimes even the time of day. With quick, reliable, and cost-effective wireless communications becoming commonplace in today's world, there is no longer a need to rely on a wire-based solution to this problem.
"Here at Sonic Systems we intend to make the cost, disruption, and delay associated with running wire or cable to a new intersection unnecessary and obsolete," says Dr. Siavash Vojdani, General Manager for Sonic's system integration business unit. "With the help of partners like Safetran and LADOT, we feel we are making a very good start."
A wireless intersection communications card is able to use the new digital 'packet' data networks. "This makes it possible for each intersection to have its own IP address and look like it is sitting on the Internet. That is a huge advantage over the more traditional 'dial up' network approach," says Gary Roshak, Chief Technology Officer for Sonic Systems.
A Traffic Management Center (TMC) can use the packet approach to send a message to the individual intersection or a single message to the entire network, in which case the network will deliver individual messages to each site without the need for 'dialing' each intersection individually. This works in the same way as E-mail where a single message can be addressed to a single individual or a whole team all at once. This ability allows wirelessly connected intersections to be more seamlessly integrated with the TMC, while also reducing the cost and overhead associated with the wireless link. Sonic Systems and Safetran are pioneering the technology necessary to deliver this wireless capability to many elements of the entire traffic management market.
Sonic Systems Corporation of Delaware is a multi-faceted provider of technology to the Computing, Communications, and Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) industries in support of information movement and management applications.
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Note: Sonic Systems, a Delaware corporation with offices in Seattle, Washington, is in no way affiliated with Sonic Systems, Inc., a California corporation with headquarters in Santa Clara, California, which provides Internet security solutions.