Because it is easy and relatively inexpensive to deploy, police and
city agencies are increasingly using mesh networks for surveillance.

Double-decker bus cruises The Strip.

The next time you’re in Las Vegas and grab a bus to ride from one casino or restaurant to another, you may feel a little bit safer. That’s because the Las Vegas bus system has installed wireless video surveillance cameras at bus stops and on buses all along the Strip.

Buoyed by federal homeland security grants, police departments, transportation agencies and other government units are using wireless mesh networks to provide real-time video surveillance. Wireless mesh networks usually are cheaper and easier to deploy than trying to set up a system connected via wires.

The system in Las Vegas is being installed this winter by the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Southern Nevada, which used a $500,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security. The RTC is using Motorola’s MotoMesh technology to provide coverage for a 5-mile route along Las Vegas Boulevard from Tropicana Avenue to Fremont Street.

Jensen: Phoenix’s 30-camera network was set up in response to a crime spree.

SURVEILLANCE
Motorola and other mesh networking companies have set up similar systems in several cities around the country. Among Motorola’s installations are ones for the Los Angeles Police Department and the Cedar Rapids, Iowa, transit systems. Firetide has set up surveillance systems for the Phoenix and Dallas Police Departments, Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and the Rockford, Ill., Housing Authority.

Denver police have put out a request for proposal (RFP) to vendors to install a 20-camera wireless network in downtown Denver and near the Pepsi Center, site of the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Chris Jensen, a detective in the Phoenix Drug Enforcement Bureau, says the Firetide system was installed initially because of a couple of high-profile serial crime sprees in 2006. A 30-camera network covering 5 square miles of Phoenix was set up in two weeks, he says. The equipment will help provide video surveillance in Phoenix during the 2008 Super Bowl Feb. 3. The game is being played in the Glendale suburb but many events are in Phoenix.

Dillon: VoIP allows first responders to use networks for voice calls as well.

Jensen says the police department also is considering linking its mesh network to other city departments. Each department can use the same infrastructure for its different purposes, whether it is fire, convention, transit, streets or the airport. Besides surveillance, Firetide’s equipment also could be used for VoIP calls among city agencies.

Michael Dillon, vice president of business development for Firetide, says VoIP was designed into Firetide’s infrastructure so first responders could use the network for calls. Since the system uses 4.9 GHz spectrum set aside for public safety, there is no significant interference.

Phoenix police also can move various parts of the system to different parts of the city as needed, Jensen says, allowing surveillance in problem areas. The cameras are set up in enclosures that look like commonly seen items, provided by systems integrator Avrio Group, so they are not readily spotted.

Jensen says installation of the network frees up officers in the street because two officers in the control room can monitor an area it might take 30 officers to handle on the street.

Mesh architecture diagram reveals the hops for indoor and outdoor mesh nodes.

Dillon says the RFP by Denver Police is seeking a network that could put up and be taken down much like Phoenix. Denver also is considering the use of sensors, such as gunshot recognition. That capability would use the mesh network for triangulation to locate where a gun was fired, as well as what kind of gun it was.

CIVIL LIBERTIES
Not everyone likes Denver’s plan. The American Civil Liberties Union has complained the system could deter free speech because people might worry they are being taped by police. Denver police have said any tapes would be destroyed after 30 days.

Mike Fabbri, director of Data Solutions Operations for Motorola, says MotoMesh comes with both a 4.9 GHz and 2.4 GHz radio, so the latter could be used in Las Vegas to provide public Internet access if the transit agency wants to. Rick Moore, IT director for the RTC, says the agency is considering that option. It also would be possible to use the 2.4 GHz network to provide advertising to bus stops and buses, he says.

Firetide’s node and camera in its Phoenix installation.

The Las Vegas system also will use Motorola’s Canopy infrastructure to provide backhaul for the mesh access points.

Moore says the RTC received the federal grant two years ago but the $500,000 was not enough to cover a wired surveillance network, which would have required laying new wire or fiber. Motorola’s wireless equipment made the network possible, he says. The grant paid for all but $54,000 of the network cost.

Fabbri says the mesh surveillance network Motorola set up for the Los Angeles police is for a high-crime area in the Watts area, providing surveillance around a school. The installation has resulted in a 30% decline in crime in the area, he says.