Infrastructure

TKH makes communication possible at Miami International Airport

To offer its passengers a secure environment, Miami International Airport (MIA) went in search of a communication solution for its Satellite E Automatic People Mover (APM), a railway system that links the central terminal and the gates. To meet all the challenges thrown up by this project, the decision was taken to approach TKH, in view of its knowledge and expertise in the field of the environmental and project-specific requirements facing MIA, and because of the high-tech communication capabilities.

Requirements

The space available within each train carriage was limited, so the intercom system had to fit into this architecture. At the same time, the sound had to be of high quality and conversation had to remain understandable, even in a noisy environment. An additional wish was for a reliable alarm announcement and distress call system. To enable MIA to rapidly issue a call for assistance, they demanded an option for displaying visual indications to the operators in the central control room, to allow seamless communication within the APM and the passengers. On top of all, the intercom system had to be able to communicate on an existing wireless radio network.

The solution

TKH was able to satisfy all these requirements as well as all the mission-critical communication systems and also supplied the operating software for these systems, including graphic user interfaces in the communication system for the central control room. As a result, the operators are now able to view live images by simply clicking on the camera pictograms of the graphic user interface. If the intercom button is pressed in the train, a live video link is established and two-way audio communication is made possible. The IP intercom modules are linked to the existing infrastructure. The intercom front columns were tailor made to fit with the narrow vertical design of the train. The installation was completed without the need to install additional cabling, thereby maintaining the architectural integrity of the existing trains. This results also in huge savings in both time and money.