Skip to main content

Caltrans upgrades video wall

When Caltrans district 7 began the first phase of a multi-phase audio-visual (AV) system upgrade at its Los Angeles facility, it contracted with Electrosonic to create a brighter, more reliable video wall for traffic monitoring that takes advantage of the latest in projection technology. “Caltrans district 7 has more than 400 cameras on the highways of Los Angeles and Ventura counties,” says Electrosonic project manager Guy Fronte. “They can review camera feeds 24/7 in the facility and when there’s a traffi
February 26, 2013 Read time: 3 mins
RSSWhen 3879 Caltrans district 7 began the first phase of a multi-phase audio-visual (AV) system upgrade at its Los Angeles facility, it contracted with 6683 Electrosonic to create a brighter, more reliable video wall for traffic monitoring that takes advantage of the latest in projection technology.

“Caltrans district 7 has more than 400 cameras on the highways of Los Angeles and Ventura counties,” says Electrosonic project manager Guy Fronte. “They can review camera feeds 24/7 in the facility and when there’s a traffic event, road damage or an accident, they can magnify that feed on the video wall. The video wall is integral to 24-hour traffic management.”

The existing video wall comprises a twelve-screen centre unit in a four by three configuration flanked by a pair of six screen three by two units. The giant wall features 80-inch diagonal screens in the centre and 52-inch screens on the sides.

The standard format of the wall has single camera feeds on the side screens and two by two graphic traffic patterns on the centre screen with single-camera feeds surrounding them. “They monitor heavy traffic volume locations and can bring any one of those feeds up on the larger central display as needed,” Fronte explains.

The wear and tear of more than five years of constant operation had taken their toll on the existing rear-projection engines and begun to degrade the facility’s ability to monitor traffic, so Electrosonic replaced the video wall engines with 7336 Christie one-chip SXGA displays to take advantage of improved projector quality. Christie RPMSP-D132U displays were selected for the centre screen and RPMX-D132U displays for the side screens.

The side projectors were installed in existing cabinets behind the video wall; the centre projectors were placed in a huge metal framework previously built by Electrosonic.

“Caltrans district 7 has the most spacious rear-projection room I’ve ever worked in,” says Fronte. “It’s very well thought out, so replacing the engines was quite simple.”

The primary challenge for the installation was working in conjunction with the 24/7 hours of the facility. “We couldn’t take down the wall during rush hours, so we swapped out one projector at a time to allow for continuous operation,” Fronte notes.

Video wall control is achieved using a Quantum processor previously installed by Electrosonic. The Crestron touchscreen control system that operates the wall turns the system on and off and monitors lamp life was modified to accommodate the new projector engines.

Electrosonic also furnished forty-eight spare lamps and is providing an extensive two-year service contract, which includes complete parts and labour, unlimited telephone support, proactive preventive maintenance visits and eight-hour response time on weekdays.

Related Content

  • June 25, 2012
    UK companies in traffic-monitoring project in Uganda
    UK consultant Roughton International, working on behalf of the Uganda National Roads Authority (UNRA), has teamed up with Sky High and Traffic Technology to deploy traffic flow data collection equipment suitable for the Ugandan road network. In-road sensors were not suitable due to the probability of regular damage. Sky High therefore recommended Traffic Technology’s SDR radar traffic classifier to provide vehicle count, classification and speed data because it provides accurate data even on the uneven or b
  • June 5, 2015
    The red light camera choice: 60 killed or save US$231 million a year
    David Crawford investigates new cost-benefit analysis of red light cameras. US states can now realistically calculate the economic benefits of using red light safety cameras, alone or in combination with other measures, to cut road traffic accident levels. The results could be of material value in making the case for the cameras as a number of state legislatures continue to debate their acceptability.
  • August 5, 2016
    Hartford’s tailors winter maintenance on Esri’s GIS platform
    The in-house winter maintenance and vehicle tracking system built by the Public Works Department in Hartford, Connecticut, coped with record snowfalls and cut costs too. When it comes to dealing with the effects of mother nature, transport agencies can find themselves in a lose-lose situation: criticised if the roads or rail lines are disrupted by snow, ice or floods for more than a few hours and lambasted for wasting money if the equipment and stockpiles put in place for a hard winter remain unused.
  • March 29, 2012
    Kapsch wins Innovation Award at Intertraffic in Amsterdam
    Kapsch TrafficCom has been awarded the Intertraffic Innovation Award in the Safety category for its new tunnel safety product Automatic Camera Calibration (ACC) at Intertraffic Amsterdam. The new tunnel safety product, ACC, beat numerous other entries to win by virtue of its extraordinary speed, precision, cost-efficient and the unambiguous safety aspect.