After more than a year in research and development, customer focus groups, and input from renowned industrial design teams, Texas-based transportation equipment manufacturer Trafficware unveiled its new ‘Smart City-ready’ COMMANDER Advanced Traffic Controller (ATC) at ITS America’s Annual Meeting and Expo 2018 in Detroit.
Trafficware’s new COMMANDER ATC unit is designed for high-performance situations and includes compliance with the Version 6 ATC standard, enhanced Version 6.25 engine board, and an additional processing module for graphics and other secondary control functions. COMMANDER’s design for enhanced usability includes a large, sloped and recessed front panel with a brilliant color touch screen for day and night time use, large keypad, and an intuitive, web-based graphical user interface (GUI), as well as a ‘classic’ mode user interface. COMMANDER is designed to operate with Trafficware’s SCOUT (v80) controller firmware.
At the core of the COMMANDER ATC unit is Trafficware’s controller firmware, used in tens of thousands of intersections worldwide. Major enhancements include:
• Ruggedness and power to meet and exceed the latest Version 6.25 ATC standards;
• Advanced hardware and web-based software technology platforms;
• Large, bright color touch display optimized for day or night use;
• Custom tactile keyboard and generously spaced keys;
• Enhanced graphical user interface providing an intuitive experience;
• A total of 32 phase operations with 128 detector inputs, peer-to-peer messaging, Transit Signal Priority (TSP);
• Trafficware’s SynchroGreen Adaptive Signal Control, and Connected Vehicle-ready facilities.
Trafficware says the COMMANDER’s software is used in more connected vehicle, adaptive systems, and Advanced Internet of Things (IoT) applications than any other ATC controller on the market, with the unit designed to meet and exceed the latest NEMA TS1, TS2 and ATC standards.
“We listen to our customers who have told us time and again they want solutions that are ‘future proof’. Since we have had experience in deploying connected vehicle and smart city solutions to thousands of intersections and have stayed abreast of technology trends, chief of engineering Clyde Neel and his team designed a controller that not only addresses the latest ATC specification, but comes ready to handle the V2I and edge computing needs of the future,” explained Trafficware’s CEO, Jon Newhard.
“While other companies in our space have throttled back on their investments in R&D, we have continued to innovate. The market has made it clear, communities need and want the technology for smart signals, connected vehicle applications, and the powerful advantages of advanced IoT and AI technologies. No one can sit back on their laurels when technology is taking leaps forward.”
Newhard continued, “Part of our commitment to taking great care of customers is having this steady cadence of easily-digestible innovation for them to use at a time of their choosing. We have done this with deployments of real connected vehicle solutions, with wireless pod vehicle detection, with deploying signal performance measures to the cloud, and with a steady pace of releases for ATMS and Synchro plus SimTraffic.”
Project leader Clyde Neel added, “COMMANDER is more than a traffic controller; it is a platform for the future of smart intersections and showcases our extensive experience in software and hardware design.”
