How does the Glance Preemption and Priority System Work?

Preemption and priority systems provide emergency vehicles with green lights, so they arrive at the scene of an incident faster and more safely. While this technology has been in existence for a number of years, the Glance system from Applied Information utilizes a new generation of innovations to reduce arrival times while increasing safety. Here’s how the Glance preemption and priority system works.

Getting Connected

The Glance system is fundamentally different from older radio-based or line-of-sight systems. The solution seamlessly combines cellular, radio, and GPS technology with a cloud-based software system to provide a more efficient solution. Installation begins by adding a unique monitoring unit to each vehicle in the fleet and each traffic controller along major corridors.

In-Vehicle Units

The in-vehicle hardware from Applied Information allows any emergency vehicle to easily be outfitted with preemption and priority technology. Each unit has built-in Cellular, GPS, and a 900MHz radio to make set-up and communication easy. The devices monitor emergency lights, while the left and right indicators and ignition switch, automatically request priority at intersections.

Intersection Controllers

The Glance preemption and priority system uses cabinet and field monitoring hardware to connect traffic controllers to the cloud. By adding an AI-500-085 to the controller traffic signals can receive data from, and directly communicate with emergency/transit vehicles. As with the in-vehicle unit, each device comes with built-in Cellular, GPS, and a 900MHz radio. Many traffic engineers love the fact that the controllers are connected. In addition to the benefits of preemption, it allows for web-based traffic monitoring and the ability to remotely gauge the health of the cabinet.

Glance Cloud-Based Software

Applied Information’s Glance cloud-based traffic management system, ties all the elements together. The software uses data from the emergency vehicle and dynamically communicates with all the lights along the route to clear traffic and make the intersections as safe as possible. It does all this using an easy-to-use, web-based system that allows you to track vehicles and intersection preempt requests in real time. The software leverages an intelligent rules engine to plan three steps ahead, protecting motorists and first responders. Additionally, Glance has an intuitive and interactive reporting system that summarizes the routes vehicles have traveled, historical data, and average response times at the click of a button.

How the Communication Works

Once installed, the system immediately jumps into action when a fire truck turns on the engine. Glance provides green lights from the very first intersection at the station, which is often the most critical and potentially dangerous, to the final destination.

Unlike optical technology, Glance uses the GPS and cellular data to process an estimated time of arrival (ETA) and begins clearing traffic well ahead of time. By flushing large sections of traffic, before the critical need arises, Glance is able to make the drive safer and faster for the emergency vehicle.

Glance uses technology to go further with Dead-Reckoning GPS. These innovations allow the vehicle to be tracked even while they are in a tunnel, under an overpass, in the firehouse or between buildings. This seemingly simple innovation can save precious seconds by keeping the vehicles connected and not losing track of the vehicle.

Older systems use fixed-timing plans which are based on what should be happening, but often the traffic situations are different. By having cellular, radio, and GPS data at hand, the system is also able to provide adaptive preemption. This new technology uses real-time information to intelligently adjust the preemption request based on the real-time traffic situation.

Everyone benefits

The Glance system is unique, in that it’s a preemption system that is designed for everyone to benefit from. Firefighters and emergency responders love Glance, because it gets them to an incident in a fast and safe way. Traffic engineers love Glance, because it’s easy to maintain and they gain cabinet monitoring, remote communication, and cloud-based access to their controllers. The public loves Glance, because it keeps motorists safe and helps them get the help they need faster.

Want to learn more about how the Glance Preemption and Priority system can help your city? Request a quote and talk with the Applied Information team to learn more.