Embedded System Design - Advertising Telemetry Solution

Applications for remote telemetry have exploded in the wake of cellular network growth around the world. Tier One has developed substantial expertise with wireless telemetry systems to meet this demand. Our most recent telemetry project was for the outdoor advertising industry.

Outdoor Advertising

You've probably seen them - the rotating billboards that have up to three advertising messages per sign. Limited real estate and more aggressive zoning restrictions have made the construction of new billboards more difficult in most markets. At the same time, the demand for outdoor advertising placements continue to grow. The new category of tri-faced billboards aims to solve this "shelf space" problem by supporting more placements on the same amount of real estate.

Proof-of-Performance Needed

Our customer produces the most reliable signs in the industry, many of which have operated for years with no downtime and no maintenance. Not all brands of sign equipment are equally reliable, however. Some billboard operators have hesitated to invest in more expensive signs while some manufacturers have produced expensive product that breaks down, leaving operators with maintenance headaches and problems with advertiser relations.Our customer needed to prove to the industry that their equipment was highly reliable and worthy of investment today.

Revolutionary System, Competitive Advantage

To provide proof that their equipment was superior to the competition, a complex client/server telemetry system was required. New control electronics at the billboard as well as a central site for managing every sign in North America were necessary to deliver proof-of-performance to the industry. To meet these needs, Tier One produced all of the following:

An embedded all-weather precision AC motor drive control system hosting a wireless modem connecting to a host via the Internet
Sophisticated firmware for drive train control, error alerts, scheduling, maintenance, and wireless network interface
High voltage billboard lighting control and power consumption monitoring electronics for maintenance alerts and power conservation
A .NET and SQL based web manager for billboard monitoring, control, scheduling, and uptime reporting with maintenance email alerts

In less than eight months, Tier One brought the product from concept to a very successful product launch. Sales are way up, and the results from this new product line will very likely create fundamental changes in the outdoor advertising industry.

Contact Tier One to learn how your project can benefit from our experience.

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