The Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) agency selected Tyco Electronics Wireless Systems to design and deploy the company’s OpenSky critical communications system.
The OpenSky system will provide digital voice and data communications for the 13-city regional transportation agency, which will enable DART to track all of the fixed route busses with GPS to improve on-time operations and to link ridership information for transitions between bus and rail services. Additionally, DART Police will now utilize the same radio system as the fixed route buses, light rail and paratransit services.
Under the terms of the contract, Tyco Electronics will install a four-site radio system to enhance radio coverage both indoors and out. The proposed system will accommodate more than 3,000 radio users and can easily grow to accommodate up to 6,000 users. The new OpenSky system will operate on existing DART frequencies and can be expanded when some other frequencies become available.
Tyco Electronics selected Continental Public Transit Solutions to provide the Computer Aided Dispatch/Auto Vehicle Location portion of the system. The company has also contracted with several local minority-owned businesses such as Link America, Technocraft and PNB Distributors, to provide technical services for the duration of this project.