ADVANCED TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM SOFTWARE - TOPXVIEW™

It takes decades of dedication, developing, persistent integrating of everything that exists, fulfilling all client requests without questioning, consistently completing projects despite all possible obstacles, interaction of people with the product, to evolve a software product to the level of a software platform.

Telegra topXview™ is modular, open, and flexible software platform for traffic related applications. topXview™ modules are combined and configured to provide versatile functionalities used by traffic management organizations to improve their capabilities in contemporary traffic management:

• Intelligent transportation systems (ITS) / Smart cities - Smart integration of technology,
• Advanced traffic management (ATMS) - highway, tunnel, bridge, interurban, intersections,
• Integrated management of arterials and highways - Integrated Corridor Management (ICM),
• Asset management of transportation and city assets,
• Active traffic management (ATM) - automated managing of special traffic lanes (shoulder, HOV, enforcement) or special locations (toll stations, work zones, schools, parking),
• Smart mobility, integration of CV/AV,
• Backoffice software – WiM backoffice, Speed enforcement backoffice, etc.,
• Multimodal transportation planning and management, etc.,
• Versatile traffic and incident analytics dashboards.

topXview™ is ideal solution for traffic related applications:

• Integrates all traffic related technologies (>50 different ITS related interfaces),
• Interoperable and open solution - provides NTCIP C2C interface and modern and easy-to-use RESTful API to external systems,
• Highly modular (>70 different configurable software modules) - allows incremental and scalable implementation of any-size projects,
• Proven software for traffic applications (55 systems in operation),
• Simple, easy to use and learn (Intuitive, WYSIWYG GUI) - provides single Human Machine Interface to all monitoring and management aspects of the system,
• Cost effective – automates responses and decisions, truly implements concept of operations,
• Numerous safety related features developed for safety critical applications (incident management, traffic safety management, etc.)

System’s highly modular and distributed architecture provides possibility for incremental implementation and system scalability.

New devices and functionalities can easily be added by including new modules to the system or reconfiguring existing modules. This way, Organization can implement their primary operations first, and then extend the system gradually in the future.

 

1. Using topXview™ For Different Traffic Management Applications

Efficient and Configurable Event / Incident Management - Fully Digitalized Client’s ConOps		Backoffice for WiM or LPR/ANPR Enforcement
Any organization that manages traffic or assets related to transportation has their own Concept of Operations (ConOps) and Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) that they strive follow in case of incident or any other event relevant to them. Execution of SOP and implementation of ConOps will only be efficient if they are digitalized in a way that Operator has situational and locational awareness of all events through the same user interface. topXview™ event/incident manager is a powerful Decision Support System (DSS) and management process automizer. Any relevant data, alarm, scheduled event, manual input, external trigger, detected or predicted incident, which is present anywhere in the topXview™ can be a trigger for initiating and conducting an automated system response. For instance, wrong direction, traffic accident, obstacle, animal, fire, road damage will typically require executing different response plans. In addition to configurable response plans (e.g., call to police, change of variable message sign, etc.) topXview™ event/incident allows configuring any other action to completely digitalize SOP/CoNOps (writing reports, attaching pictures, etc.).		Managing traffic in many cases requires prohibiting traffic of certain vehicles through certain areas of the road to optimize traffic, improve safety or preserve traffic infrastructure like roads and bridges. For instance, heavy trucks movement may be prohibited on fast lanes or entire sections of a highway. Drivers of such vehicles may be informed that they cannot drive through designated area via different signage, however, the questions how to enforce such behavior remains. topXview™ can integrate different Weight In Motion (WiM) locations and other sensors to detect vehicle weight, speed and length. Gathered data is combined with license plates number collected from License Plate Recognition (LPR) cameras. If vehicle parameters indicate that a violation has occurred on some WiM location then fine can be issues to the driver, based on its license plate. The system allows managing whitelists (vehicles with specific license plate numbers are always permitted) or blacklists (vehicles with specific license plate numbers are never permitted) for a more refined fine management process.
Integrated Corridor Management - One Software for Arterials and Highways		Native Video Management and AI Video Analytics Adjusted for Traffic Management
Traffic can be viewed as continuous stream of vehicles originating at cities, flowing through arteries, moving to highways and vice versa. Growth of cities increases the volume of this stream in both urban and non-urban areas. Efficient traffic management in cities/arteries and highways is required to tackle this challenge. topXview™ can be used to integrate systems managing intersections. In combination with its native modules for highway traffic management (ATMS) topXview™ serves as a powerful tool to manage traffic in cities/arteries and entire integrated corridors. topXview™ serves as a powerful tool to manage traffic in cities/arteries and entire integrated corridors.		Nowadays, CCTV cameras are the most widely used mean for monitoring traffic. topXvew™ can integrate those cameras using its native Video Management System (VMS) modules to provide operators efficient means to observe live video from multiple cameras, browse through their recordings, control PTZ cameras, export videos etc. Empowered with industry proven AI based video analytics module (XAID™) it provides additional intelligence, such as automatic detection of incidents on the road, calculation of traffic statistics and video search based on detection metadata.
Dashboards for Traffic Analytics		Powerful Middleware - Unified Data Exchange Platform
Implementation of specialized dashboards for integrated sub systems and fused data. Look and feel is customized for traffic information and incidents. Dashboards are used for management purposes as well as analytics, enforcement, etc. Dashboards are using versatile data from topXview™ database and can be customized to support different particular applications.		Often data collected from different devices or subsystems on the road has to be consumed by 3rd parties to optimize signal phases, perform ITS strategic planning and traffic impact studies or similar applications. Collecting and fusing these data is typically a very challenging task considering large number of devices and subsystems usually utilized in traffic applications. These devices and subsystems often provide their data through non-standard, proprietary, protocols and are even in many cases obsolete since the equipment on the road is rarely replaced. Based on valuable ITS legacy and more than 50 already developed interfacing modules topXview™ can serve as a middleware for collecting signal statuses from versatile intersection controllers via different protocols (NTCIP, SCATS, Model 170, …), vehicle detectors (e.g., loops, cameras), different devices/subsystems (e.g., traveler information services) and similar, to provide unified historical and real-time data interface to external applications performing advanced analytics on traffic data.
Operating Managed Lanes		Asset Management That Supports Incident And Event Management
Opening/closing and adjusting speed within separate lanes on the road is an important aspect of traffic management. The organization managing traffic may choose, for example, to reserve certain lanes for different transportation modalities or to open additional lanes for traffic based on different conditions. topXview™ DSS provides suggestions for lane management to the user, deepening on their organization concept of operation. Suggestion to open or close a certain lane, or to open it for specific transportation modalities can be generated based many relevant parameters such as time in the day, congestion levels on the road, presence of incidents on the road and similar. Parametrization of specific threshold influencing suggestions are completely configurable by the user. Upon accepting specific suggestion, VMS/LCS or similar equipment is automatically set to guide road users how to use different lanes. For instance, a shoulder lane can be opened only for high occupancy vehicles during rush hour, by automatically setting appropriate messages on lane control signs.		Maintenance and management of assets, tracking their availability is a must-have for any organization. topXview™ supports asset management tailored to traffic industry. It provides information about devices and equipment to a 3rd party asset management system or use its native asset management. topXview™ builds own asset configuration or utilizes inventory data from 3rd party asset management system (e.g. device name, type, position). Tasks and other information related to assets of interest for traffic, such as fleet assignments, device maintenance and malfunction data, special transits handling, scheduled works, personnel management, phonebook synchronization, and similar can be managed through topXview™. A combination of event/incident management and asset management creates powerful means for resolving incidents from the beginning till the end - until all consequences of an incident, including broken equipment, have been resolved.
Centralized Management of Dynamic Message Signs - Base for Efficient Traffic Management		Monitoring Traffic - All Key Performance Indicators Calculated And Visualized
Possibility to control VMS/DMS in remote and centralized fashion is the basis of every traffic management system. The user can see location of VMS on the map in topXview™ GUI, see current display, access details about VMS status and remotely control it. Predefined messages and pictures can be set (individually, groups). The user can create messages in What You See IS What You Get (WYSIWYG) fashion using message editor where he can set the message to be displayed and preview it. Advanced formatting options are available, such as font type, line spacing page justification font color and similar. Messages can combine both graphics and multilanguage text. Additionally, topXview™ supports automatic setting of pictures and/or messages on predefined signs by executing response plans (e.g., detection of forming ice on the road can automatically display warning message on signs).		topXview™ supports integration of all conventional traffic detectors that can be found on the road (loop-based detectors, radars, video cameras and similar). Measuring Traffic Key Performance Indicators (TKPI), such as travel time, levels of service, presence of congestion, traffic density are important information both to traffic operators and road users. topXview™ utilizes traffic network model to calculate TKPIs at a road segment lane level. Its advanced algorithms can use multiple sources for calculating TKPI (multiple conventional traffic detectors or even external traveler information systems, such and INRIX) to perform data fusion and improve reliability of information.
Road Weather Information Systems - Forecasts For Safety Management		CV/AV Integration - Uniform Interface To Information
Road Weather Information System (RWIS) in essence processes integrated sensor readings and provides forecast relevant for traffic management. RWIS forecasting module connects to 3rd party forecast providers and gets global forecasting data. Using local (microclimate) real time data and global prognostic data, the module calculates and provides most accurate local weather forecast. Weather forecast is re-calculated periodically. Due to the modular system design of topXview™ ATMS, new interface(s) to get general weather forecasts from desired 3rd Party providers (e.g., Foreca, OpenWetherMap, Accuweather…) are easy to add.		CV/AV technologies on the road have significantly increased within the last decade and are expected to grow in years to come. topXview™ can be used to integrate roadside units and autonomous mobility platforms from different manufacturers to provide a uniform interface to CV/AV real-time and historical data. It enables 3rd party applications to consume data from a single interface utilizing uniform data model and/or functional integration of CV/AV equipment and subsystems supporting (for instance): DSS and asset management for autonomous vehicles, based on data from different autonomous vehicle platforms, Executing procedures in case of malfunction tailored to each vehicle manufacturer or executing general procedures for all manufacturers.
Tunnel Management With Automated and Interactive Response Plans		Customized Applications, And Many More…
A tunnel is a safety-critical object. Typically, it has more safety equipment than an open road, e.g., ventilation, air quality sensors, adaptive lightning, water drainage systems, public announcement systems, radio devices, smoke/fire-fighting systems and similar. Many of these devices are PLC-based and therefore a management solution needs to have an ability to integrate PLCs and their communication protocols. topXview™ uses standard (Modbus, Profibus, TCP/IP, SNMP, OPC) and non-standard (proprietary) protocols to interface these devices/subsystems. Combination with other integration capabilities described in this brochure and configurable response plans, enabling automatic performing of preconfigured actions based on any alarm in the system, makes topXvew™ a powerful complete tunnel management software solution.		With 25 years of experience, 100% in-house industry knowledge, software expertise and development team Telegra is proven supplier of software systems and solutions as standalone systems, robust middleware, or complete platforms. Based on wide portfolio of developed and customizable software modules and own in-house software specialists for intelligent integration topXview™ can be customized to deliver almost any application related to traffic industry. Apart from examples mentioned here, the system allows virtually limitless combination of existing, customized or new functional modules to provide even more applications …

 

2. True ATMS Software and Integration - as Standalone System, Middleware or Complete Platform

Based on wide portfolio of customizable software modules specialized for traffic industry, and own in-house software specialists (DevOps – Development and Operation), Telegra is able to implement a purposeful software system for variety of ITS applications, such as:

• One software and one interface for integrated management of arterials and highways,
• Efficient and configurable event / incident management with fully digitalized client’s ConOps,
• Powerful middleware - unified data exchange platform,
• Tool for operating managed lanes,
• Native video management and AI video analytics adjusted for traffic management,
• Asset management that supports incident and event management,
• Centralized management of Dynamic Message Signs - base for efficient traffic management,
• Monitoring traffic - all Key Performance Indicators (KPI) calculated and visualized,
• Road Weather Information Systems - forecasts for traffic and safety management,
• CV/AV integration - uniform interface to information,
• WiM enforcement system,
• Tunnel management with automated and interactive response plans,
• Customized applications,
• And many more…

 

3. topXview™ Modules

Modular architecture enables building systems by adding different modules. Main functional groups of topXview™ modules are:

•  Interfaces for integrating majority of existing ITS assets and information systems,
•  Visualization modules, fitted for Operators, Maintenance personnel, Administrators and Traffic engineers,
•  Modules for data fusion and smart alarm management, event/incident management, and decision support system,
•  Fault/Asset/Maintenance management modules,
•  Plug-ins for 3rd party systems.

These modules can be combined for each project to provide different range of functionalities.

 

Overview of traffic conditions

•  GIS map and Logic view, CCTV embedded in traffic GUI,
•  Intuitive visualization of traffic parameters (density, level of service), technology elements, incident locations, patrol vehicles,
•  Full video wall control, video stream management, recording and replaying.

 

Event management with alarm and event lists

•  Systemized management of all alarms and incidents,
•  Support for communication (notifications, alerting, emergency services, …) and system actions (traffic management plans),
•  Grouping of connected events into one incident.

 

Maintenance Management

•  Diagnostics, maintenance scheduling, fault/asset management,
•  On-demand system diagnostics, filtering and overview of all maintained assets,
•  Visualization of all recorded faults on assets and equipment,
•  Management and scheduling of maintenance requests and activities,
•  Coordinated maintenance and traffic management,
•  Direct tracking and communication of maintenance crews and vehicles - AVL system integrated.

 

Data Synthesis and Classification

•  Data Fusion Engine – All sources of data translated to useful traffic information,
•  Smart Alarm Management – configurable parameters, thresholds and logics for raising alarms,
•  Early Congestion Warning based on Industry known algorithms (Marz, California),
•  Travel Time Engine.

 

Incident/Event Management – Decision Support System

•  Response plans and traffic plans automatically evaluated, suggested and visualized to operator.

 

4. topXview™ as a Complete ATMS Platform

topXview™ is a Complete ATMS Software Platform (Traffic Management Software). It supports complete traffic management center operations and is deployed in more than 150 instances in traffic control centers around the world, operating over 5.000 kilometers of roads and 200 kilometers of tunnels. It operates with current and upcoming ITS technologies (such as cloud computing and CV/AV) and uses artificial intelligence video processing to provide situational awareness, visualization of traffic conditions, incident detection, executive and communication actions for traffic and incident management. It’s traffic and incident management decision support tools keep traffic operators focused and efficient in managing incidents and controlling traffic. topXview™ will help Agency's personnel to stay focused on management responsibilities and operations and help them improve their practices and procedures.

Today, major traffic problems are congestion, safety, pollution (health issues) and increased need for mobility. Obvious solution for most of them is construction of new, safer highways and additional lanes on existing ones, but it is expensive and often not feasible. Cities are limited with space and construction cannot keep up with ever growing demand. That often leaves Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) as the only viable solution. Advanced Traffic Management System (ATMS) users and stakeholders (Traffic Agencies, Highway Operators, Concessionaires, etc.) typically have following goals for their ATMS:

•  Assure safe and fluent traffic conditions for all travelers,
•  Manage traffic and incidents in line with legal regulations and contractual obligations,
•  Reduce operation and maintenance costs.

Furthermore, they also expect their ATMS to ensure that:

•  They are fully autonomous in regard to technology suppliers - they want to be independent from vendor “lock-in”, and their authorized users to easily configure the system,
•  Advanced Traffic Management System is compatible with upcoming technologies (cloud computing, CV/AV, smart cities),
•  ATMS software platform (Traffic Management Software) is completely aligned with Agency's operating processes today,
•  The system is available now in existing environment with existing technology.

Although these expectations seem obvious, in today’s world of rapidly changing technologies, not all technology suppliers are being able to provide contemporary ATMS, aligned with user’s expectations.
Concessionaires, Operators and Traffic Agencies have their problems today, now.

Telegra ATMS software platform is enabling users today, to achieve maximum in incident management, traffic management and preventing of congestion in existing environment, using today’s technologies.

 

5. Traffic Management Decision Support System (DSS)

Traditional traffic management center systems overload traffic operators with unfiltered, unprioritized data from sensors and data about events. Humans are not capable to process such a huge load of unprocessed data. Because of that, TMC operators are not able to predict congestions and detect fast enough genuine incidents. topXview™ Traffic Management Decision Support System (DSS) analyzes and qualifies data from all sorts of sensors and data sources connected to TMC, combines them, and visualizes the state of traffic in real-time to Operators. The real-time traffic state awareness empowers Traffic Operator to start preventive traffic management actions to prevent congestion and prevent escalation of an incident.

 

Support for accurate and prompt decisions

Any incident or disruption in optimal traffic flow can easily grow into congestion or traffic incident. Unsuitable traffic management strategy, incorrectly prioritized incident or late response can lead to chaos. TMC operator has limited time frame for his decision in choosing optimal strategy. Workflow based topXview™ Decision Support System (DSS) Software leads Traffic Operators through the process of choosing and evaluating possible strategies for traffic and incident management and helps Traffic Operator in accurate and prompt decision making.

 

Simplified and accelerated resolving

Every Agency’s desire is to become capable for resolving incidents quickly and efficiently. Agencies will be successful when they will have efficient operating procedures and their personnel will be able to implement them easily. Simplified operational management of incidents allows Traffic Operators to stay focused on decision making and make better decisions. topXview™ Decision Support System (DSS) Software can store all Agency’s operating procedures, strategies, response plans in its preprogrammed library. That way, it leads Traffic Operators with workflow-based response plans through their decision-making process. The entire process is stored in database and Traffic Planners and Engineers can easily analyze outcomes, modify their procedures, response plans and strategies, and constantly improve quality of TMC work. The same feature also allows simple, one click distribution of reports to all systems.

 

Common GUI

With topXview™ Software, traffic operator does not have to watch in parallel to different workstations with different graphic interfaces and understand different operation logics for different subsystems and functions (CCTV, DMS, traffic counters, management dashboard, etc.). topXview™ Operator has the same “look and feel” while conducting any segment of his job. For traffic monitoring, topXview™ indicates real-time traffic conditions with different colors (based on flow and incidents) on roadway/corridor map on the screen. When system detects an incident, it’s location is indicated on the map, live video-feed from the incident location is shown on the map, and Operator’s attention is focused on that incident so that he can estimate its severity. Workflow-based incident response plan with suggested responses is always started in the same way. Dashboard with all response plans and strategies in progress is always sorted and presented to operator based on their priority.

 

6. Support for Traffic Management Operations

Monitoring

topXview™ traffic management control center software features majority of communication protocols used in ITS/ATMS industry today. That way, it can collect data from all sensors and sources of data connected to Traffic Management Center (traffic data, weather, video, other agencies and services, etc.). This raw data is then qualified and synthetized into relevant traffic information about traffic flow, congestion and incidents, and visualized to Traffic Operators in ergonomic way on interactive roadway map. In parallel, Traffic operator has incident management dashboard that is a part of monitoring GUI, to be able to monitor resolution of incident response plans That way, Traffic Operator is monitoring traffic and all its changes in real-time, having complete awareness about the traffic in his network.

 

Detection

A set of different algorithms in topXview™ Software can constantly analyze information and detect disturbances and incidents. Built-in algorithms for congestion detection and prediction based on traffic data (such as California, Marz, etc.) can warn in advance about upcoming congestion. topXview™ AI based video analytic system detects traffic incidents from CCTV streams, in real-time.

 

Resolving

After it detects incident or congestion, and puts it to Traffic Operator’s focus, topXview™ can offer one or more suitable response plans from his library of predefined plans and strategies for Active Traffic Management (ATM), Incident Management (IM), planned special events, or work zone management. Execution of response plans (incident management and execution of chosen traffic strategies) is carried out through workflow driven plan of actions. At any time, Traffic Operator is aware of the state of each response plan and what is the next step. This assures uniform and accurate incident management at the Agency level. topXview™ interconnects all systems. All systems can communicate with one another so there are no limits for response plans, triggering messages on DMS, implementing traffic plans, etc. alleviating Operator’s workload.

 

Reviewing and Improving

The Software stores all events, changes and Operator’s actions in database. Reporting capabilities enable Planners, Engineers and Operators to analyze offline how incidents were handled, and response plans executed, and make operational improvements based on this analysis. Reporting tool is used to create predefined and customized reports required for Agency’s internal and external reporting procedures (traffic density, speed, what triggered DMS messages, who issued commands, what strategies were started and by whom, what kind of congestion and where occurs most often, etc.).

 

7. topXview™ Software Platform - The Nerve Center of Traffic Management Control Room

The Traffic Management Center – TMC (also known as Traffic Control Center – TCC or Traffic Control Room) is the nerve center or the hub of most freeway, corridor or tunnel management systems. It is the place where data from the system is collected, processed, and synthesized to produce "information", and distributed to stakeholders (media, other agencies, traveling public, other stakeholders, modal interests). TMC staff uses this information to monitor the operation of the traffic network and to initiate control strategies that affect changes in the operation of the traffic network. It has the critical role in the successful operation of a traffic management system (and perhaps the broader surface transportation network) Just like it is impossible to use hardware resources of any computer server without operating system and proper software applications or process big amounts of data without proper database engine, it is impossible to have efficient TMC without proper TMC software platform.

 

8. Challenge of Integration

Authorities, owners and operators of ITS infrastructure have invested huge resources in deploying ITS/ATMS devices on highways during last 20 years. Instead of reaching operational benefits of this investment, a lot of these authorities are now facing a problem because these devices are not being actively used for traffic management due to poor functional and ergonomic integration within their traffic management system in control center. During last 20 years, Telegra has fully integrated traffic management systems in more than 120 projects worldwide. More than 40 different communication protocols (certified, customized, proprietary, …), and 30 different functional modules already exist in topXview™ platform today – this list of system driver interfaces support integration of:

•  ITS equipment through standard protocols (NTCIP 1203, NTCIP 1204, NTCIP 1206, TLS 2002, MODBUS, OPC DA, OPC UA, ONVIF, RTSP, VoIP SIP, SNMP, …),
•  ITS equipment and subsystems through proprietary protocols (Cross WIM, QFree WIM, Vaisala, Lufft, Vaisala, Autoscope, Raktel, Model 170, MSP, Traficon, Citilog, Tirtl, Autosense, Sepura TETRA, Barco, Bosch, Matrox MURA , Vega LPR, DIVA, PELCO D, ACTi, DIVA, Vicon, Videotec, … ),
•  3rd party systems through standard protocols (NTCIP C2C, SNMP, Datex II, REST API, CAP, syslog) and proprietary protocols (customized XML/SQL based protocols).

Variety of functional modules includes: System administration, Assets and Maintenance, Information Dissemination (Public web, Fax/Mail/SMS), GUI visualization (GIS and Metro), Video management (Recorder, Player, Video Matrix, Video Wall), Video Analytics (Incidents detection, Counting, Classification), Data Fusion, Alarm management, Congestion Warning, Travel time, Event management and Decision Support, Reporting, database, Designer modules, etc.

 

System Integration

Integration is the process of bringing many subsystems together into one system and ensuring that the subsystems function together as a single, unified system. Typical Traffic Management Control Center consists of at least a dozen (and often many more) subsystems that will not be used to their full potential if they are not integrated.
Example:
A good example for demonstration of why integration is necessary is incident on the road. Let's assume there is a Video Automatic Incident Detection (Video AID, Automatic Video Incident Detection or AVID, Video Detection, Video Incident Detection System or VIDS – many different acronyms are in use) system detecting an incident. Let's also assume the systems, including Video AID, are not integrated. When an incident is detected, an operator would have to visually confirm the incident. To do so, the operator would have to look at all the camera feeds and try to detect where the incident happened. Looking at so many different camera feeds is very confusing. Once the operator detects the incident location, Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) need to be set to warn the drivers of danger and to direct traffic. The operator would have to start the DMS application and set each and every sign, upstream and downstream from the incident, manually, one by one. At the same time, the operator would have to dispatch emergency crew. If the incident happened inside a tunnel, the entire process would get even more complicated: with rising CO levels in the bore, the operator would need to turn on the fans in the right direction to air out the bore. At the same time, there would be numerous calls from road crew, traffic participants and media.
Alternatively, in the integrated environment, once Video Automatic Incident Detection detected an incident, the video feeds from the cameras at the place of the incident (and adjacent sections) would appear on the video wall. At the same time, automatic procedure would set the VMS to efficiently manage traffic. The system would automatically send notifications to emergency crews. The system would also turn on the fans, and played the PA messages, leaving little room for human error. The operator would just have to confirm the actions. The results would be unambiguous and response time would be faster. Help would arrive sooner, secondary traffic accidents would be prevented, road would reopen for traffic sooner. Integrated system would inevitably ensure higher traffic safety, traffic fluency and lower cost of operation. Integration is essential for implementing automatic procedures (aka “scenarios”) or ramp metering.

 

“Traditional” Integration

In traditional integration, each subsystem has its own user interface in a control center, and those interfaces are not really connected. There are several operators engaged in operating the system, each supervising one or more subsystems. This kind of approach might cause practical problems in case of incident, making the road/tunnel less safe:
Complex System Operation:

•  Multiple GUIs: usually, there are 4-6 different GUIs in a control center, instead of just one; the operator runs all over the control to confirm an alarm on one GUI, set the message on Dynamic Message Sign on another GUI, turn the traffic light to red on the third GUI, etc.,
•  System response is highly dependent on operator’s reactions: most of the actions are done by the operator, making the possibility of error is very high; depending on the operator's level of experience and skill, the reaction might be faster or slower,
•  Complex sequence of operation: In order to achieve safer and more fluent traffic, more and more subsystems are added, which introduces more steps to be taken to resolve a situation. Consequently, the possibility of error is higher,
•  Unclear division of responsibility among the operators: with multiple operators operating multiple subsystems, when things go wrong (and they will go wrong in such complicated environments), they may start blaming each other for failures in performing procedures.

 

True Integration

In truly integrated control center, all the subsystems are integrated on the same Traffic Management Software platform. Any event or alarm in any subsystem can trigger a reaction in any or all other subsystems. Basic advantaged of true integration are:

•  Enables implementation of relevant alarms/triggers (involving several different variables like traffic density, weather conditions, etc., resulting in a better, more precise reactions),
•  Enables automatic, parallel reactions of multiple subsystems,
•  Provides complete tool for handling any situation on the road (incidents, traffic disturbances, weather, special events etc.),
•  Ensures unified incident and crisis handling reaction,
•   Virtually eliminates human error,
•  Enables learning curve for the system and the operator – as a result of integration possibilities and experience, new ideas are born and translated to new system procedures or other improvements, enhancing the system,
•  Enables adding new or editing existing procedures for any road situation.

 

9. Different Modules – Adding Intelligence to the System

Today advanced traffic management system cannot be successful in fulfilling its purpose if added value isn't created by integrating all its subsystems. This means fully utilizing traffic infrastructure and capitalizing on it by increasing safety and smoothness of traffic flow. To fully utilize the system, there are number of different System Modules, some of which are:

•  Alarm Management,
•  Incident and Situation Management,
•  Video Management System,
•  Algorithmic Traffic Flow Incident and Congestion Detection,
•  Travel Time Prediction,
•  Public Information Web Service - Traffic & Travel Information System,
•  Centre to Centre (C2C) Communication & Coordination,
•  Maintenance Management.

 

Alarm Management

The role of Alarm Management subsystem is handling different alarms. Besides typical preconfigured, device-type alarms (i.e. communication error) the system should also feature custom alarms. Custom alarms are completely user-defined alarms where user configures all aspects of an alarm: choose a source (device, sensor or multiple devices), select its properties from drop-down menus (such as priority and type that determines its behavior), and define the conditions which must be fulfilled for an alarm to become active. Such a user-defined alarm can then become an entry point (trigger) to Scenarios (response plans).

 

Incident and Situation Management

Automatization of processes during an event on the road or tunnel can influence traffic safety and traffic flow fluency. Scenarios (response plans) are sets of predefined rules 8actions) that are to be executed in a certain situation: from most dangerous, like fire in the tunnel, to everyday situations, like road works. Scenario is an abstraction which encompasses all aspects of resolving incidental or regular real-life situations in traffic network. It could be presented as a work-flow where each step is either a request for operator to take an action (i.e. “please confirm video automatic incident detection alarm”) or an automatic system reaction (i.e. “turn on traffic program accident ahead, set speed limit to 40”). This concept ensures that each operator reacts in exactly the same manner, reducing the possibility of human error to a minimum and providing the fastest response time. Scenario can be triggered automatically by an alarm (i.e. sensor detecting traffic irregularities), or it can be triggered manually by an operator (i.e. maintenance). Automatically triggered scenarios could result in automatic reactions of the system or could require the operator’s input, depending on the event triggering them.

Key features of incident management module are:

•  Ability to control and manage (send commands to) all devices in the system,
•  Complex trigger evaluation based on the input from the entire traffic network,
•  Operator guided automation – decision flow based on operator's input,
•  Check lists (procedure lists) which the guide operator through situation resolution,
•  Severity levels – every scenario has an attribute which determines its impact in the system,
•  Automatic creation of environment for the operator – when scenario becomes active, video from relevant CCTV cameras is presented on alarm monitors, area of interest is focused on GUI, etc.,
•  Management of multiple simultaneously running scenarios at the same or different locations,
•  Conflict resolution during traffic plan activation – when new traffic plan is about to be executed, operator gets a preview of the new state. If operator determines that the new traffic plan would set some elements (typically Variable Message Signs) not following the current road situation, operator can cancel execution of some parts of the traffic plan (or completely cancel traffic plan execution),
•  Only authorized users can control certain scenarios' execution based on severity level,
•  Scenario management supervision – some users can get overview of entire scenario management subsystem with history data and current data for every scenario in the system etc.

 

Video Management System

Video management system is a scalable and open video platform enabling the management of all aspects of digital video content inside the system. This includes:

•  Video walls,
•  Live video feeds,
•  Pan/ Tilt/Zoom (PTZ) control,
•  Continuous video recording,
•  Video playback and export,
•  Video equipment configuration,
•  Video keyboards,
•  Motion detection,
•  Video Incident Detection (VID),
•  Traffic counting,
•  Alarm/event recordings and metadata engine.

Video subsystem provides seamless integration with all existing system components and subsystems. The most important system components/subsystems to integrate with video system are alarms, event management, triggers, database logs and alerts reporting. Implementing standard video protocols enables users to control various types of video equipment (cameras, encoders, VID cards, network recorders, etc.) through uniform, programmable and intuitive user interface. Any number of client applications (including external) can connect to the system and request both live and stored (recorded) video streams. In addition, all video equipment can interoperate with all other subsystems in the system and vice versa. This enables the implementation of a powerful, automatic alarm/event/trigger reactions and complex incident management scenarios.

 

Traffic Flow Incident and Congestion Detection

Different protocols for early incident detection (MARZ, California, HIOCC …) can be implemented to avoid incident situations and reduce consequences in case of incidents. Data from traffic counters and classifiers (which could be of any type from microwave to inductive loops) are gathered and being processed through algorithms to provide early incident information or information on traffic levels. Incident detection is based on the principle that an incident is likely to cause a significant increase in upstream occupancy while simultaneously reducing occupancy downstream.

 

Travel Time Module

Travel time module is calculating travel times of predefined routes. Collected current and past data from detectors placed on road and information (weather, incidents, traffic lights…) from other subsystems is used as an input for simulation and prediction. Travel times can be calculated and presented in the GUI and/or public web page. Travel times can also be communicated to drivers through various messages on LED displays (DMS). The messages might include alternative route, travel times, etc.

 

Public Information Web Service - Traffic & Travel Information System

Traffic & Voyage Information System (TVIS) enables public access to traffic information over the Internet. Information is displayed on internet browser in real time and includes a subset of information from the traffic control system, like traffic density by area, warnings, weather data and other. The data provided is grouped in two categories: public data and protected data. Public data like traffic density, current DMS messages, meteorological data, CCTV stream or images, travel warnings (e.g. road work) are available to the public via the Internet. More detailed data including capability to administer the web page by adding and editing information (info categories, content, type, level of warning etc.) is reserved for authorized personnel.

 

Centre to Centre (C2C) Communication & Coordination

Today’s traffic is dynamic living organism, and its management often cannot be limited to isolated operation by single person or control room, but need to be harmonized on larger scale that could include even several countries. Center to center (C2C) communication and coordination is communication between systems involved in information exchange in real-time transportation management. Simplified, two traffic management centers exchange real-time traffic data, which allows coordination beyond center's geographic boundaries, thus enabling traffic rerouting. Most widely used C2C standards are:

•  NTCIP 2306 that specifies communication interfaces encoded in the Extensible Markup Language (XML) between a center and an external center,
•  European based DATEX II (CEN TS 16157), both of which are supported by Telegra.

 

Maintenance Management

Modern Traffic Management Systems are full of technology and as such need to be maintained properly. To help doing it Maintenance Management System provides asset and maintenance activities records. It is designed to help Maintenance Program supervisors and managers manage all maintenance resources efficiently and effectively. Integrated Maintenance Management System enables supervisors to record, schedule, and track progress on maintenance work; provides reports and management information useful in maintenance quality measuring.

 

10. Integrated Tunnel Management System

Telegra's expertise in integrated tunnel management includes:

•  Support for design of tunnel subsystems,
•  Factory integration, configuration, system testing and delivery of integrated tunnel management system (ATMS/SCADA Software, Control Centre HW, Fire detection, AVID, CCTV, PLC, Air Quality, Ventilation, DMS / VMS, Controllers, Emergency Telephones, Public Announcement, etc.),
•  Support for field installations, commissioning, and acceptance testing,
•  Operation and maintenance documentation and training,
•  Through-life maintenance support.

The number and importance of the tunnels in traffic networks is constantly growing, especially in the cities and large urban areas. The consequences of tunnel incidents can be fatal. The responsibilities of tunnel authorities are more serious today than ever. Today's tunnel safety standards require prompt detection of incidents and immediate response of safety systems to prevent incident escalation, minimize the number of casualties and reduce damages.

Telegra’s physically and functionally integrated tunnel system, based on topXview™ ATMS/SCADA software platform, helps tunnel managers in their work, combining tunnel ATMS and SCADA in one integrated system with preprogrammed safety procedures (safety response plans). Commonly implemented tunnel subsystems are: Fire Detection Systems, Video Incident Detection Systems, Video Surveillance (CCTV) Systems, Air Quality Measurement and Ventilation, Traffic Management Systems, Emergency call and Public Announcement Systems, etc. All these systems are interfaced and centrally managed from tunnel control centers. Key factors for achieving prompt incident detection and immediate system response are functional integration and implementation of safety procedures.