Watershed, Revisited
Perimeter detection systems keep utility safe
- By Cosimo Malesci
- Apr 01, 2010
The city of Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management needed
to secure critical infrastructure at more than 30 remote locations with
perimeter detection systems and video surveillance. Since there were
no engineering drawings to show where the underground tanks are
located, trenching and boring was not an option.
Additionally, the data had to extend across the Chattahoochee
River—an intake for one of the department’s main facilities. In
order to get the data from all of the unmanned remote facilities
back to the security control center, the installation had to be done
aerially and wirelessly. Line of site and adequate signal were major
challenges.
A mesh network was created to meet security and data requirements.
This resulted in a substantial cost savings and guaranteed
there would be no damage to underground tanks.
Project At a Glance
The city’s Department of Watershed Management retained a
local integrator for the project. Because the infrastructure
didn’t support hard wiring, a secure wireless 5.8 GHz mesh network
was required. Fluidmesh Networks’ products was chosen
for the project.
The integrator had worked with wireless products on previous
projects and had confidence in the technology. Care had to
be taken to make sure they were using adequate bandwidth and
correctly setting the cameras to achieve line of sight. Both the
Fluidmesh 1100s and 2200s were used, as well as Pelco PTZ and
fixed cameras to achieve line of sight. Due to the limited bandwidth
that some of these sites required, the department was able
to take advantage of innovative technology. With FluidThrottle,
the customer is charged based on the amount of bandwidth
needed across the system, not the amount of hardware deployed.
This on-demand approach saved the utility up to 40 percent
on the cost of the wireless infrastructure as compared to a traditional
wireless solution. FluidThrottle also gives the user the
option of future expansions. In fact, the available bandwidth can
be easily increased with the use of software plug-ins, which can
be installed remotely.
Because the remote locations were unmanned, watershed
management also needed AT&T network connectivity. Network
connection points were brought in, and the network was leveraged
to push both video and Internet data. The client only needed
one network drop, and this approach saved a lot of money on
AT&T charges.
“The installation of the wireless networks has substantially
reduced the costs,” said Alan M. Nutes, security manager for
Atlanta’s Department of Watershed Management. “In addition,
the system has provided us with an enormous amount of flexibility
by giving us the means to further reduce costs by not requiring
network circuits to be run to each of our sites. We have experienced
no downtime since the introduction of the network to our
remote locations, and we plan to further expand the network as
a result.”
This article originally appeared in the April 2010 issue of Network-Centric Security.
About the Author
Cosimo Malesci is the co-founder and vice president of marketing
at Fluidmesh Networking.