Noise monitors at Hollywood Burbank to go wireless
Hollywood Burbank Airport will soon be updating its noise and flight-track monitoring systems to improve reliability.
The Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority voted 8-0 on Tuesday to approve extending its contract with EMS Bruel & Kjaer Inc. through April 14, 2024, as well as upgrading the 20 noise-monitoring devices around the airfield to ones that have wireless internet capabilities.
Board member Vartan Gharpetian was absent.
The airport will be spending a one-time fee of $24,540 to upgrade all of the devices to have 4G wireless modems.
Additionally, the annual fee for Bruel & Kjaer’s services and maintenance of the noise and flight monitors will go up to $119,822 from $105,422, according to a staff report.
Mark Hardyment, director of transportation and environmental affairs at Hollywood Burbank, said converting the devices from wired to wireless internet connections allows Bruel & Kjaer staff to remotely check each monitor and address any issues more quickly.
The noise- and flight-monitoring devices, which were first installed at Hollywood Burbank in April 2013, are used to track the sound levels of planes flying above the airport and correlate with flight tracks provided by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to a staff report.
The public can access the data captured by the devices through WebTrak, an online tool managed by Bruel & Kjaer.
Bruel & Kjaer has already converted one of the 20 devices to have wireless connectivity and has been testing the new system for the past six months.
The remaining devices are currently using wired connections to access the internet through different providers — 11 devices access the internet through GC Pivotal LLC and eight through AT&T.
Once the upgrades are completed, all of the devices will connect to the internet through Bruet & Kjaer.
Hardyment said the sole wireless-connected monitor at Hollywood Burbank performed just like its wired counterparts, and there were few to no issues.
While there were initial concerns about unreliable service with wireless connections, Hardyment said the past six months have proven to be reliable.
“The numbers have been completely consistent and [are] actually a much better way for us to go,” he said. “With the wired connections, it was frustrating. It was like waiting for the cable guy to show up.”
