Q-Free calls on traffic signal companies to stop ‘stifling innovation’

Q-Free is challenging all traffic signal companies to release their management information bases (MIB) to speed up innovation and reduce agency costs.
November 15, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

Q-Free says openly sharing MIBs enables multi-vendor solutions to work, giving departments of transportation the freedom to select the best solution for their needs - while avoiding being locked into a single vendor or paying integration fees. It is also expected to promote fair competition and prevent taxpayers from overpaying for transportation infrastructure, the company adds.

The challenge and accompanying campaign called FREE the MIBS (or #FREEtheMIBS), follows Q-Free’s decision to release their manufacturer-specific MIBs to the company’s award-winning Intelight Maxtime local controller software.

Tom Stiles, executive vice president of urban solutions for Q-Free brand Intelight, says: “Proprietary MIBs are stifling innovation and forcing agencies to spend unnecessary money to manage traffic efficiently. The only way to get truly smart cities is to open these MIBs up so all technology pieces can communicate with each other.”

For traffic signal operations, the MIBs are used to manage traffic signals through the external advanced transportation controllers (ATC) located in a cabinet on the roadside. Approximately 15-20% of the objects found in the MIBs for ATCs have been standardised by the NTCIP 1201 and 1202 standards, but the remaining 75-80% of the objects are manufacturer specific.

According to Q-Free, this limits interoperability between devices and systems from different vendors and impedes the customer from choosing the best available solutions from multiple vendors. Sharing MIBs freely between manufacturers and agencies can alleviate these problems and help rid streets of unnecessary congestion caused by a lack of choice, the company adds.

Stiles explains that being compliant with existing standards is not the same as being open.

“I understand the fear because you’ll no longer be able to lock cities down from a sales perspective,” he continues. “But our industry has lacked innovation for the last 15-20 years, and bigger tech companies will eat us all if we don’t work together to make ourselves more adaptive to the growing Internet of Things culture.”

As part of the campaign, a collaborative website has been unveiled along with an accompanying hashtag, #FREEtheMIBS.

Urban Traffic Control

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • ATC showcases VC6 traffic light controller
    March 22, 2018
    Australian company Aldridge Traffic Controllers (ATC) is throwing the spotlight on its new traffic controllers which support the sixth generation of SCATS (Sydney Coordinated Adaptive Traffic System). The VC6 version can cover up to 32 signal group configurations and is capable of accommodating 48 loops and eight pedestrian inputs. The system also includes conflict and lamp monitoring with 200m/s fault reporting, hot-swappable vehicle and external modules, Bluetooth data collection and integrated 3G/4G LTE
    Read More
  • MaaS Market London: Top names debate local authorities’ digital dilemma
    January 16, 2019
    Key players in the transport sector will debate the challenges faced by local authorities worldwide from new digitised platforms such as Mobility as a Service (MaaS) in a dedicated session at ITS International’s 2019 MaaS Market Conference in London this March. Taxi-hailing apps have already demonstrated the disruptive nature of new digitised transport services. As a result, some local authorities have struggled to retain control over issues such as traffic management and the vetting of taxi drivers and
    Read More
  • Telvent’s smart city solutions
    May 1, 2012
    As part of its integrated Smart City solutions for more efficient transportation operations, Telvent will use the ITS Annual Meeting and Expo to present on the benefits of an Integrated Corridor Management (ICM) approach. During its Integrated Future Panel presentation, being held on Monday, May 21, 2012 from 4 – 5:30 pm, Tip Franklin, director of business development, will present on ICM, a system which utilizes advanced traveller information, multi-agency communication, and real-time data collection and d
    Read More
  • Making strides
    May 20, 2012
    West Virginia is continuing to make great strides in deployment of ITS systems for managing the state’s highway network. The latest development will be roll out of the WV Drive Safe mobile application. With support from Open Roads Consulting, the WV Division of Highways’ Drive Safe system will push real-time incident information to drivers’ hands-free, text-to-voice traveler information platform. This adds to an extensive ATMS system now operating in the state after three years of ITS deployment by WV and O
    Read More

Highlighted Content