Project Description

Fort Hill Homes is a 120 apartment complex for low-income families located in Marietta, GA. The complex has 14 multi-unit apartment buildings, associated parking lots, and a children’s playground. In 2008, the Marietta Housing Authority determined that a video surveillance system was needed to deter crime and assist the City of Marietta Police Department in gathering evidence for convictions. J & A Engineering was contracted to provide the design effort, assist with the Bidding and Negotiation Process, and provide Construction Administration Services for the project.

Based on the fact that there were no existing conduit paths or raceways between the buildings, J & A Engineering performed a cost evaluation between utilizing copper cable, fiber optic cable, and a wireless mesh solution to establish a means for transmitting video and control signals between the buildings. The cost evaluation determined that a wireless mesh system could be installed at a lower cost than copper or fiber optic cable. J & A Engineering proceeded with the design of a video surveillance system utilizing a wireless mesh for transmission of video and control signal.

The wireless mesh and video surveillance system was comprised of sixteen (16) wireless nodes and eleven (11) pan / tilt / zoom cameras. Very large hardwood trees (which the Marietta Housing Authority was not allowed to take down) as well as the multi-level building structures made it very difficult to the obtain line-of-site for the wireless mesh and video surveillance system. However, a design was developed that utilized the existing building structures to mount the pan / tilt / zoom cameras and wireless nodes with only a few locations requiring new camera poles. The project was advertised by the Marietta Housing Authority to qualified Contractors, the project was awarded and installation was completed in 2010. The system was a tremendous deterrent to property vandalism and crime within the complex. It has also been utilized successfully by the local City Police Department to gather evidence and obtain convictions for crimes committed on the boundaries and street corners surrounding the complex.