Skip to main content

Slough implements Siemens Comet

Slough Borough Council (SBC) in the UK has joined the growing number of UK local authorities to deploy the latest version of Comet, Siemens’ traffic management and information system. Comet will enable SBC to meet its policy, operational and travel information requirements including the ability to set network strategies. The solution will provide a command and control system for strategic variable message signs (VMS) and car park guidance and will also provide dynamic content to SBC’s planned internet and
October 3, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
6651 Slough Borough Council (SBC) in the UK has joined the growing number of UK local authorities to deploy the latest version of Comet, 189 Siemens’ traffic management and information system.

Comet will enable SBC to meet its policy, operational and travel information requirements including the ability to set network strategies. The solution will provide a command and control system for strategic variable message signs (VMS) and car park guidance and will also provide dynamic content to SBC’s planned internet and intranet facilities.

Comet uses the latest 3549 Urban Traffic Management and Control (UTMC) standards to provide a fully-compliant common database that easily integrates information from a wide range of operating systems into a single, seamless view of the current network situation with strategic management and control.

According to Siemens, Comet’s scalable and modular design allows customised solutions to be formed from a common set of software building blocks to provide the optimum implementation. Users also benefit from a regular ongoing programme of software releases to provide new and enhanced features and an active user forum.  The system allows traffic managers and operators to control and monitor their urban networks more easily, while delivering meaningful, timely and accurate information to the travelling public.

Developed in partnership with customers over a number of years, Comet is a proven and well established system that can be found in many traffic control rooms around the UK. In Slough, Comet will collect data from all on-street equipment and other data sources, process the data to provide tactical and strategic control for the network operators, and enable the delivery of traffic information to the travelling public in the area.

Savio DeCruz, Team Leader Integrated Transport and Road Safety at SBC, says Comet meets the functional requirements of system performance, ease of use and maintenance. ‘With the ability to interface seamlessly with other existing systems in Slough such as car park management and VMS, the introduction of Siemens Comet will be central to the implementation of a range of measures that will form part of Slough’s long-term transport strategy.’

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Siemens launches radar-based parking space detection pilot
    September 24, 2015
    As part of the City2.e 2.0 research project, Siemens is demonstrating a faster way to find kerbside parking in the Bundesallee in Berlin in cooperation with the Senate Department for Urban Development and the Environment in Berlin (SenStadtUm), the VMZ Berlin Betreibergesellschaft mbH, the Institute for Climate Protection, Energy and Mobility (IKEM), and the Robotics Innovation Center of the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI). Street lamps on a 200 metre long section of road betwee
  • Social media a one-stop shop for travel information
    January 20, 2012
    Exponentially widening mobile phone ownership is opening up the field to new ways of obtaining and disseminating better travel information from and to public transport users, via for example social media and tracking riders' phones. Over 50 US transit agencies, including major actors such as TriMet, in the metropolitan area of Portland, Oregon, Dallas Area Rapid Transit in Texas, and San Francisco's Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART), as well as smaller operators, now have Facebook and/or Twitter accoun
  • Wellington embraces smart parking solution
    February 22, 2018
    A smart parking solution can ease pain for drivers and increase efficiency for local authorities - and New Zealand’s capital is feeling the benefit. Adam Hill reports. ITS technology has the power to ease headaches for local authorities and car drivers alike when it comes to parking. For urban dwellers, few things are more irritating than driving slowly around crowded city centre streets, anxiously searching for a parking space – indeed, in congested downtown areas, as much as 30% of traffic can be driving
  • Swarco brings major innovation to Australia
    September 7, 2016
    For the first time at an ITS World Congress in Australia, Swarco will present its capabilities in road safety and intelligent traffic management solutions. A feature of the stand will be the company’s brilliant energy-efficient LED-based variable message signs. Adaptive traffic control and smart mobility software platforms will also be on display.