Intelligent transport tunnel solutions

CHESHUNT, U.K. - Sept. 9, 2014 - PRLog -- Intelligent transport tunnel solutions

Introduction

Intelligent transport solutions for tunnels bring on distinct requirements for a road operator that require an integrated and fully reliable solution. Not only do tunnels require management of vehicle traffic but also control of multiple infrastructure systems.

For very long tunnels, this means an integrated system that can control ventilation, road and signage lighting, fire detection and alarms, redundant power systems, air quality measurements, water drainage systems, and emergency communications such as emergency telephones.

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To meet tunnel safety requirements an operator needs to have both traffic monitoring and control. Any incidents within the tunnel must be detected immediately so that its risk can be determined quickly to stop vehicles from entering danger zones and clear traffic from the tunnel as soon as possible.

Network Requirements
High Resiliency and Responsiveness
Since safety in the tunnel is the utmost priority, an operator needs rugged network switches that can provide resiliency and redundancy, such as those using Turbo Ring redundancy with less than 20 ms recovery from faults. Not only that, control centers need all tunnel sensor data to be delivered with the minimum delay so that responsive action can be taken for any tunnel condition that may arise.

Centralized Traffic Gate Control
Depending on the tunnel length, gateways need to be deployed at tunnel entrances and predefined locations within. The gateway controllers need robust serial to Ethernet devices to provide connectivity to the tunnel control center that can automatically or manually lower and raise traffic access gates for both safety and incident management.

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Live Traffic Video Monitoring
Continual monitoring of traffic within a tunnel requires visual information from CCTV cameras placed along the tunnel interior, and at the entrance and exit. Traffic density, accidents, and speeders need to be monitored and controlled to prevent safety issues from arising. The cameras employed need to be rugged, and sensitive to the darker conditions of the tunnel interior. Eventually, intelligent HD IP video and management become a necessity for low-light tunnel applications with image enhancement and bandwidth optimization technologies.

Highly Reliable Alarm System
A tunnel requires more than just traffic control, it also means monitoring the atmosphere within to not only raise alarms but to automatically engage ventilation system capabilities. Further, if any fire should occur within the tunnel, it needs to be detected immediately for the protection of all vehicles within the tunnel. The devices used need reliable and uninterrupted access to the tunnel's data communication system and a separate I/O control functionality needs to be provided to operate them remotely.