The Fort Carson Smart Transportation Testbed is a $4 million program designed to test the viability of autonomous vehicles and sensor-based technologies in an effort to: reduce military transportation costs, deliver faster services on site, and improve overall public safety. The program is a joint effort of US Ignite, Fort Carson, the city of Colorado Springs, and the University of Colorado’s Research and Engineering Center for Unmanned Vehicles (RECUV). It is funded and managed by the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC).
Feature: Deployment Begins on CBRS Network for IoT Research
The new network at Fort Carson will initially support the upload of vehicle data from the Army installation’s Mountain Express Automated Shuttle, as well as video traffic from route-monitoring cameras. Longer term, the network is designed for broader IoT research – including environmental analysis with air quality and weather sensors – that is planned as part of a collaborative initiative among Fort Carson, the city of Colorado Springs, and the University of Colorado Boulder.
Partners in deployment include network design firm Tilson, and communications technology provider JMA Wireless (JMA). Federated Wireless is contributing its Spectrum Controller, which the network will use to access shared Citizens Broadband Radio Spectrum (CBRS).
Project Overview
Phase one of the Fort Carson Smart Transportation Testbed begins with the deployment of two automated shuttles on site. As the program develops, the research team will explore on and off-post automated delivery vehicles and shuttles.
The program also includes a sophisticated data sharing initiative between Fort Carson and Colorado Springs. Smart sensors will be used at the military site to monitor traffic, parking, and public safety.
Information from Fort Carson will be linked to data from sensors and mapping systems in Colorado Springs. Researchers will apply analytics to these datasets to improve safety and services, and eventually to develop machine-learning models that prioritize transportation resources based on usage rates and community needs.
News
- Network Launch: Deployment Begins on 4G/5G CBRS Network for IoT Research
- Shuttle Launch: Mountain Express Automated Shuttle Service Debuts at Fort Carson
- Partnership News: US Ignite Selects First Transit, Perrone Robotics
- RFP: US Ignite Issues RFP for Service Vehicle Pilot (Now Closed)
- RFP: US Ignite Seeks On Base Vehicle Partner (Now Closed)
- RFP: US Ignite Releases RFP to Build Networking Services (Now Closed)
- Project Launch Announcement: Smart Transportation Testbed Kicks off
