Perle media converters provide solution for motorway CCTV

Traffic jams! Drivers hate them, they lose valuable time, waste fuel, and that equates to lost money. In 2024, London’s drivers spent an average of 101 hours sitting in heavy traffic, putting the UK’s capital city at the top of the chart for being Europe’s most congested city. After London, Paris was second with 97 hours of delays for drivers, and Dublin came third with 81 hours. The annual cost to London for its traffic jams is estimated to be around £3.85 billion, and overall, traffic congestion in the UK costs the economy approximately £9 billion per year. Therefore, it’s not surprising that drivers want travel made easier, safer and quicker through investment in infrastructure to minimise congestion, alert drivers of potential traffic blackspots, and enforce speed restrictions.

CCTV key to motorway traffic control

An essential component of motorway traffic control systems is CCTV camera footage. This is generally transmitted across long distance single mode fibre lines to control centres. For example, National Highways operates almost 4,000 traffic cameras to assist with traffic management on the trunk road and motorway network in England, whilst Wales and Scotland have separate operations. The traffic cameras are usually mounted on tall masts on the roadside verge or on overhead gantry and the CCTV footage is used by operators in regional and national traffic operations centres. The operators can move and zoom cameras to monitor and manage traffic congestion and incidents, giving them a bird’s eye view of what is happening, which helps the operator to decide on the support needed. The overall benefits include smoother traffic flow, more reliable journey times, fewer road traffic collisions, and reduced noise and harmful vehicle emissions.

Use case: Perle Systems media converters for UK motorway CCTV upgrade

When a civil engineering integratorAn integrator (or system(s) integrator) working in the field... More and maintenance contractor for Welsh Government Transport needed to upgrade a section of the M4 motorway’s CCTV network, Perle media converters proved to be a crucial component in the network setup.

The project involved upgrading the 300 existing CCTV cameras that feed data back to traffic control centres in Wales. The contractor was looking to replace the cameras, which were starting to fail, with new HD cameras. The new HD Ethernet cameras did not have a fibre connection port, so a media converter was needed to connect the cameras on the motorway to transmission stations situated every 20kms. The contractor found that Perle media converters offered a neat solution, and these were installed to act as the interface between the new CCTV cameras and the single mode fibre.

Multiple CCTV cameras on the motorway feed back into a chassis mounted unit at transmission stations, from which images are transmitted onto the network and onto the video wall in control rooms. The transmission stations are like mini data centres where data is collected and connected to the main network.

The CCTV images are made available over the intranet and extranet for various organisations to view and assess. Traffic officers can then be deployed to accidents or to stop individuals from speeding. Traffic movement is closely monitored, and motorway lanes closed or opened according to flow. Speed restrictions can be implemented at the touch of a button and the local council can review footage and identify vandalism or other incidents.

Project conclusion

The contractor for Welsh Government Transport successfully completed their project to upgrade part of the M4 motorway’s CCTV system, using new HD Ethernet cameras and Perle media converters as the interface between the CCTV cameras and the single mode fibre, connecting the CCTV cameras to the motorway and to nearby transmission stations.

Companies that use Perle media converters

The quality of media converter that you choose for your project will affect the uptime of your network. Here at Cogent Distribution, we recommend integrators and contractors choose the best quality products when providing installation, maintenance and construction services. That means choosing Perle media converters! You will be in good company too with Perle media converters also used by the likes of Shell, Amazon, Cisco, Boeing, Daimler, Microsoft, Siemens and many more. So, get in touch with us today and we’ll ensure you receive the right pre-sale and technical support, right from the outset of your project.