Context and innovation
The project created for the City of Trois-Rivières was aimed at optimizing the speed and efficiency of its fire response services. In collaboration with CIMA+, an innovative preemption system was set up for emergency vehicles, based on a centralized, cloud-based architecture – a first of its kind in Quebec.
This system enables emergency vehicles, equipped with communication and tracking devices for centralized real time monitoring, to be prioritized by adjusting traffic lights, thus reducing response times. This open, modular approach overcomes the limitations of conventional systems, offering greater flexibility and integrating various types of vehicles and traffic light controllers, while ensuring interoperability with existing and future systems through the use of open communication protocols.
Complexity and technical challenges
This project required complex integration of NMEA, NTCIP and DDS standards. In particular, the implementation of the DDS standard for alert transmission made it possible to design a modular system based on Linux microservices deployed in Microsoft’s Azure infrastructure. Adherence to engineering best practices and the use of agile systems and methods enabled rigorous documentation and design quality, guaranteeing the system’s performance and efficiency while ensuring its adaptability for other applications, such as public transit priority management.
Social and economic benefits
The system reduces waiting times at intersections, thereby reducing the risk of accidents at crossroads by giving appropriate priority to emergency vehicles. What’s more, the solution was developed in-house, enabling the city of Trois-Rivières to retain ownership of its systems and avoid licensing costs and dependence on external suppliers. This business model is reinforced by having fewer hardware devices at intersections, thus reducing maintenance costs.
Environmental impact and sustainable development
Since the system reduces stopping time at traffic lights, it helps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through more efficient management of traffic lights and priorities. By limiting unnecessary acceleration and stopping, the project improves the energy efficiency of emergency vehicles, helping to reduce the city’s carbon footprint while ensuring a smoother flow of traffic.
Meeting client’s needs
The project meets the city’s expectations in terms of intelligent mobility and autonomous systems management. By adopting an agile approach, CIMA+ has designed a scalable solution, enabling the city to maintain and adapt its infrastructures without depending on proprietary systems, thus ensuring the flexibility needed to meet future mobility and interoperability requirements.
Read more
- La ville de Trois-Rivières (Trois-Rivières primée pour la gestion de ses feux de circulation | Site officiel de la Ville de Trois-Rivières)
- Info excavation (Grands Prix du génie-conseil québécois 2024 – Info-Ex)
- Le Nouvelliste (Temps de réponse des pompiers: une innovation trifluvienne se démarque)