Traffic management plans must accommodate an increasing number of conflicting concerns. Vehicle volume, construction, weather, mass transit, emergency vehicles, law enforcement, weather, population density, safety, collisions, natural disaster, vehicle loads, special events, environmental impact, and toll collection all present their own unique challenges.

A fully functioning Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) integrates advanced technologies that sense these various factors and controls how traffic is managed in metropolitan and regional areas. Networks of road sensors report local conditions such as weather and congestion to a control center, where the information is reported to the appropriate users—such as commuters—through wireless devices or roadside signs. In future applications, ITS will enable automatic traffic control of road, rail, and even air traffic systems.

This mesh of sensors and control systems requires a communications network that offers high scalability, reliability, and security. Ciena’s optical networking and carrier-grade Ethernet solutions offer a seamless means to support the ITS network.

ITS systems improve the methods of moving people, goods, and services around the nation. Traffic jams not only slow down commuters, they also delay commerce and affect public safety. The benefits of a unified ITS solution include:

• Increased safety
• Lower fuel consumption
• Improved quality of life
• Lower carbon footprint
• Increased tax revenue; tolls and commerce

Ciena may make changes from time to time to the products or specifications contained herein without notice.