Houston orders 750 Wi-Fi parking meters

Mesh networks and WiMax. Impressive.



You’ve heard of Wi-Fi in coffee shops and train stations. But what about in parking meters?

The City of Houston has ordered 750 of them, called LUKE payment stations. And all will use a dedicated 802.11g mesh Wi-Fi network spread over a 1.9 square mile chunk of the city centre.

It’s the first project of its kind that doesn’t have a cellular network. The main parking meter network will then use WiMAX tech to connect to the backbone of the network.

“Using the Mesh Wi-Fi…and the WiMAX overlay for connectivity to the network backbone, puts our City at the forefront in using evolving technologies," said Janis Jefferson, Deputy Director and CTO, City of Houston.

The shape of things to come?

All the meters will accept plastic as well as hard cash. The performance of this pioneering project will be checked regularly to assess if the City can use Wi-Fi in other areas.

"A primary goal of this project is to help make parking regulation, management and enforcement more efficient,” said Liliana Rambo of the City of Houston Parking Management Division. “We are confident the combined solution…can help us meet this challenge."

One of the companies involved in the project, WFI, also recently helped another Houston project, a Mesh and IP network to help surveillance in the city’s Park and Ride car parks.