Case Study: Highway Intercom System for Toll Road Communication & Safety
- Mikhail Strashnov
- Sep 24
- 3 min read
Project Overview
This Highway Intercom System was deployed to enhance daily operations, safety, and emergency responsiveness on a toll expressway. By integrating intercoms at toll booths, emergency call boxes, horn speakers, a central monitoring center, and office communication systems, the project leverages the existing data network to deliver an intelligent, unified communication infrastructure.
Existing networks at toll stations were used to interconnect booths, the station monitoring room, and the central control center. This two-level structure enables booth operators to report anomalies quickly, allows the station monitoring room to broadcast to all booths, and permits emergency calls from booths to the monitoring center via hidden or panic buttons. The monitoring center can also call mobile inspectors in the field using SIP intercom phones.
System Functions & Features of Highway Intercom System
Intercom Function Toll booth staff can communicate instantly with the monitoring center, station monitoring room, or squad leader using one-touch arrival calls.
Broadcast Function Through the dispatch console software, public announcements, highway zone broadcasts, or emergency alerts are distributed to all or selected devices.
Emergency Consultation / Conferencing While the monitoring center is on a call, other parties (e.g. station monitoring, booth operators) can be invited to join a multiparty consultation.
Urgent Help / Panic Button Drivers or booth staff can press an emergency intercom key; the call is routed to the station monitoring room or central control with priority.
Alarm & Video Linkage Emergency alarms can trigger video switching, displaying cameras at the booth or roadside to operators in real time.
Monitoring & Recording All calls and announcements are logged. Audio and video are synchronized for 24/7 recording, providing audit trails and evidentiary records.
Technical & Operational Benefits
Efficient Use of Existing Infrastructure The design leverages the toll station’s existing IP/data network — no need for separate wiring — enabling cost-effective deployment.(“By using the existing network … the toll booth can communicate with the station monitoring room or the monitoring center.”)
Improved Safety & Faster Reaction Emergency calls from booths or roadside stations reach the monitoring center immediately, reducing response time and enhancing traveler safety.
Unified Command & Control Central command via the intercom server and dispatch console ensures consistent control over announcements, alerts, and communications across the road network.
Scalable & Modular Design The system supports adding new booths, call points, or devices (horn speakers, intercoms) seamlessly without disruption.
Integrated Video & Paging Capabilities IP intercom solutions can integrate paging and video systems over the same network — as shown in toll facilities upgrading to IP intercom + paging + camera integration.
Cost Savings & Maintenance Efficiency Converging communication, paging, and security systems into a single IP-based platform reduces duplication, wiring costs, and maintenance efforts (less cabling, fewer subsystems).
Noise Robustness & Speech Clarity The system is engineered to deliver intelligible speech even amid traffic noise — key in highway environments — using high-quality intercoms and horn speakers.
Equipment Used (LightCOM)
Location / Role | Device |
Monitoring Center / Core | |
Dispatching Console (Touch Screen) | |
Maintenance / Staff Room | |
Service Area / Rest Zones & Booth Doors | |
Outdoor Announcements | |
Inside Payment Kiosks | |
Roadside Emergency Points |
Implementation Notes & Best Practices
Network Infrastructure: Use managed switches with VLAN segmentation, QoS to prioritize intercom/voice traffic, and redundancy (e.g. dual links) for reliability.
Cybersecurity: Secure SIP signaling, network firewall rules, authorization, and encryption should be employed to protect against attacks and eavesdropping.
Acoustic Design: Horn speakers should be placed with overlapping coverage to avoid “dead zones” in high-noise traffic lanes.
Latency & Synchronicity: The system must maintain low latency (audio delay well under 150 ms) so voice communication is real-time and natural.
Scalability & Redundancy: The intercom server should be deployed with redundancy (failover) to ensure continuous operation in case of hardware failure.
Interoperability: Where possible, design the system to integrate with third-party systems (CCTV, traffic management, barrier control) for data sharing and unified control. Many highway intercom solutions support such integration.
Noise Adaptation: In tunnels, tunnels, or very noisy zones, use devices with strong echo cancellation and possibly feedback suppression.
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