Networking & Communication Systems

Covering an area almost as big as the US and Canada combined, Russia is planning to increase transport-related communications to improve road safety and traffic efficiency. Eugene Gerden reports. Russia’s government plans to increase road safety through the use of modern transport communication and the development of the relevant legislative base. Initially, particular attention will be on the introduction of connected cars and Vehicle to Anything (V2X) technologies. Russia has fewer than 60,000

AMG Systems (AMG) has launched its Commercial Layer 2+ 10Gb Managed Ethernet switch series which aims to provide the benefits of high performance and low latency Ethernet to businesses of all sizes. The solution is said to offer an effective means of strengthening network connectivity for heavy-duty applications such as video. These 10GB managed ethernet switches use redundant ring technology, as well as advanced Vlan features. IGMPv1-3 support offers greater control of multicast traffic across the network

Network infrastructure technology specialist Casa Systems has debuted its 5G core at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. The company, which provides solutions for fixed and mobile 5G ultra-broadband networks, says the product will “bring new levels of flexibility to mobile networks”. It is based on Casa's Axyom Ultra-Broadband Cloud, and was developed for use in edge computing – where analytics and data gathering is carried out near the source rather than centrally – which is increasingly

Clearview Intelligence, Zeta Specialist Lighting and AEV have produced a solar-powered road stud designed to reduce night-time road accidents by improving guidance and hazard warnings to night-time drivers. Called SolarLite 2 (SL2), the stud is said to provide visibility of the road geometry up to 900m ahead - a 10 fold increase over reflective studs - and to decrease night-time accidents by over 70%. It uses solar-powered high intensity LEDs which do not rely on vehicle headlights to perform effectively.

Norwegian road authority Norska Statens Vegvesen (NSV) is deploying Klimator and Nira Dynamics’ Road Status Information (RSI) software in connected cars to determine and transmit road grip conditions in real-time with the intention of increasing safety on wintry roads. RSI uses algorithms that combine the data from the vehicles with information from roadside weather stations and weather forecasts. The cars feature Nira's on-board diagnostics (OBD) dongles and register current position, ambient temperature

Implementing a Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC) above cellular communications is expected to be $13.50 (£9.70) to $15 (£10) lower per Telematics Control Unit than implementing a Cellular Vehicle-to-Everything (C-V2X) solution, according to US-based ABI Research’s analysis of vehicle to everything (V2X). It follows industry discussions which have compared DSRC and C-V2X as technology alternatives for enabling V2X in vehicles to help prevent accidents.

Smarter transport relies on better communications both with travellers and between transport providers. Andrew Williams reports. Inrix’s prediction that the cost of traffic congestion will rise by 63% to £21bn per year by 2030 clearly illustrates that, in addition to the ongoing inconvenience and inefficiency, ongoing gridlock is a significant drain on the economy. It is against this backdrop that a Cisco-led consortium has launched CitySpire, a smart transport programme that uses location-based services a