The project will be deployed in phases with the downtown area being the first to receive 750 new parking meters. Financial terms of the project were not disclosed.
The City of Houston has ordered 750 multi-space solar powered on-street payment stations for a 1.9 mile area of downtown capable of accepting credit cards, coins and paper currency as well as providing maps of the surrounding areas. For its part, WFI will design and deploy the dedicated 802.11g WiFi network, the first of its kind, to support the parking meters.
According to WFI, this project represents the first municipal parking meter system in the U.S. that does not rely on a cellular network, but instead communicates exclusively using a dedicated 802.11g WiFi Network. The City of Houston will evaluate the performance of this WiFi network to determine if it can be expanded to assist public safety and public service employees to improve accuracy and timeliness of their duties.
"Understanding these are evolving technologies, we are glad to have a proven wireless design and deployment firm like WFI as part of the team. Using the Mesh Wi-Fi layer for Parking Meter connectivity, and the WiMAX overlay for connectivity to the network backbone, puts our City at the forefront in using evolving technologies to gain cost efficiencies in municipal services," said Janis Jefferson, deputy director and CTO, City of Houston.
"This is truly a revolutionary project and represents a valuable application of wireless technology to assist the City's transportation department while providing a convenient service to the community," said Desmond Wheatley, president of WFI's Enterprise Division. "This project also represents a good example of WFI's ability to apply its experience with 802.11 networks to emerging IT applications, and we hope to do more of this in the future. We are pleased to help our partner, ACS, and the City of Houston in deploying these leading-edge parking meters.
In addition to the wireless parking meter project with ACS, WFI was recently awarded a contract with the City of Houston Transit Authority to design and deploy a high-tech Wireless Mesh and IP Network for surveillance of 25 of Houston's Park & Ride lots to monitor activities and deter crime. The network being installed also has the capability of allowing Houston TranStar to remotely control 156 traffic signals in west Houston.
