STC and Fortran Traffic furnish solar-powered RRFB systems

TEMPE, AZ - 01/10/2013 - Fortran Traffic Systems (Scarborough, Canada) has teamed up with STC to furnish RRFB systems to the City of Calgary. Calgary wants to install systems at pedestrian crossings and has purchased equipment from several manufacturers to test at different locations.

STC furnished two systems to the city for the original test with one system configured as a two-beacon crossing and one configured as a three-beacon crossing (two curb and one median system).

The city has since revised its requirements to have 3 two-beacon crossings and has purchased a fourth RRFB system to go with the original three-beacon crossing. This allows it to be split into 2 two-beacon systems. STC chief engineer Joe Wise traveled to Calgary to train and reconfigure the existing equipment for its new requirements.

All RRFB beacon assemblies fielded use a quad 3-inch x 7-inch lamp display (front and back) and high intensity button-style pedestrian confirmation indicator lamp. Controls are based on the standard Solar Ped-X system. The Solar Ped-X uses a solar-powered system on each pole with its own battery bank. The controls package includes a Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) radio to allow wireless communication between units. All systems fielded for the test include a Polara Bulldog button to prevent the button from being wedged or damaged from vandalism.

The city plans to evaluate the performance of the systems through the winter of 2012-2013 scrutinizing issues such as lamp intensity and availability through the worst solar conditions. The photos shown were taken with snow already accumulating on the lamp faces yet the intensity is still very high.

Fortran is the premier manufacturer and distributor of traffic signals in Canada. Please visit their website: www.fortrantraffic.com.

Celebrating our 12th year designing and manufacturing solar-powered traffic control systems. For more information on STC's products and services, please stay here on our website or send an email to info@solar-traffic-controls.com or call 480.449.0222.