Digital Video & Rider Authentication System Slated for Washington State School Buses

Following a competitive bidding process, National Scientific Corporation has been awarded a contract to install its Travado IBUS Digital Video Recorder and Rider Authentication System on the 125 buses of Washington State's Clover Park School District. The 26-square-mile district, located south of Tacoma, serves 30 schools and transports some 5,300 students daily. The contract value exceeds $400,000; the majority of the work is expected to be completed in the first calendar quarter of 2007.

The complete Travado IBUS system, including options, digitally records video, and identifies and authenticates school bus riders. Using intelligent identification technologies, a GPS tracking system and wireless reporting of bus and student information to a secure, interactive web site, authorized school administrators can observe on-board activity and know where individual students are from the time they step onto the bus until they reach their destination. Travado IBUS is highly efficient, eliminating maintenance and monitoring of video libraries, and saving time otherwise wasted chasing down buses to retrieve on-board video. Travado IBUS is fully modular and upgradeable.

When the bus is operating, Travado IBUS automatically records video and other information such as speed, location, etc. Data is stored on-board for retrieval over a Wi-Fi network at the bus compound or along the bus route. The video and data can be viewed by authorized school personnel, or securely shared with other authorized users over the Internet.

With the rider authentication option, students swipe ID cards as they enter or leave the bus, causing their identifying numbers and location to be stored automatically, for downloading when the bus returns to its base. Any discrepancy in student entry/exit data generates an immediate warning to the driver, who can check for a potentially missing student.

The Travado IBUS technology can extend into the lunchroom or the classroom, because it can share the same student identification technology used by those systems.

"We believe the Travado IBUS solution provides cutting-edge functionality at an attractive price, improving child safety and user satisfaction throughout the transportation system," said Graham Clark, National Scientific Corporation president. "This seems to be borne out by the increasing number of proposals we are generating for prospective customers and the growing number of pending orders."

National Scientific Corporation is a holding company whose portfolio focuses on wireless sensor technologies that location-enable important commercial and non-commercial activities, such as the safe and secure movement of people and goods. The company's products blend semiconductor design, Wi-Fi, GPS, Linux, RFID, mesh, satellite, cellular and video technologies into cost-effective platforms.