Tunnel safety

By Ingrid Einsiedler, Marketing Manager Transportation at Kontron

Automated video surveillance of tunnels using CompactPCI systems by Kontron

“Since the systems aren't kept in warm observation areas, but in tunnels, the ruggedness and long service life of the hardware were of prime importance to us, not just system reliability”
-Johannes Traxler, Head of Image Processing at Center Communication Systems

Center Communication Systems GmbH based in Vienna is the largest supplier of communications systems employed in the public and private traffic and surveillance field in Austria. Center Systems has become a specialist in the area of automated video surveillance in tunnels. The firm developed its VBTC Tunnel video surveillance system in only a year. The system analyzes single video frames. To do this, it uses existing basic algorithms for recognizing video images, which have been specially optimized for monitoring tunnels used by road traffic, as well as a newly developed automated alert system that independently interprets and filters the conditions it has automatically detected. As a result, it reports only events that are relevant as alerts, which reduces the amount of work to be handled at the control center.

Single-frame Methods and Algorithms

VBTC Tunnel is capable of recognizing different categories of vehicles, speeds of vehicles, and distances between vehicles in addition to critical situations such as pedestrians in the tunnel, smoke, fog, cars driving on the wrong side of the road, freight dropped by vehicles, and breakdowns on the hard shoulder. It is also able to measure traffic density and the flow of traffic. This makes it possible for forecasts to be made about traffic that enable potential traffic jams to be avoided in tunnels thanks to intelligent traffic control. Due to new basic algorithms, which call for high computing power, the system can filter out error sources that used to occur in earlier video surveillance systems for tunnels. As a result, the system even recognizes flashing blue lights, mud on lanes, mist, or dust, which all triggered off unnecessary warnings in earlier systems, as they were interpreted as smoke, fire, or lost cargo. Using CompactPCI systems equipped with multicore CompactPCI boards from Kontron, an unprecedentedly high degree of precision can be achieved in detection today: 99.9 percent at locations fitted with dual cameras, with a false negative value of just 0.001 percent. In other words, the system misassigns only one incident in a thousand, which leads to a false alarm being triggered. The likelihood that a situation that really is hazardous will fail to be recognized as such is merely one in 100,000. All of the modules running in the system detect incidents occurring within milliseconds and immediately report genuine faults to the control center by means of visual and acoustic warning signals.

Alert Management System

Unlike older systems, VBTC Tunnel will only report a vehicle that is moving in the wrong direction once due to its built-in alert management system, even though several cameras will detect the occurrence. This way, unnecessary redundant warnings are avoided at the control center even if each of the additional cameras recognizes the same driver again just a few feet further on. The system is considerably safer as a result. The work the monitoring staff has to do is greatly reduced, especially on occasions when every second counts. In the event of an alert, it can actively control light signaling systems, change predefined switching cycles adapted to the traffic flow, or even request help from external rescue services, all within just five seconds. The special video surveillance system for tunnels is capable of operating independently and controlling working processes itself to a very large extent. Tunnel operators employ these functions to monitor long tunnels, or even several small tunnels, via a single control center, which significantly reduces their operating costs while maintaining the same level of safety - or even enhancing it.

The video image detection units have been produced as individual software modules so that customers can pick the ones they require from various packages, depending on the size and length of the tunnel in question, the volume of traffic, and the weather conditions specific to the country or region. Upgrades are possible anytime, making the entire video surveillance system scalable and future-proof.

Structure of the System

In each of the tunnels to be monitored, up to eight analog cameras - which are superior to digital technology because of their greater sensitivity to light - can be connected to CompactPCI-based VESA units (Video Encoding Storage Analysis) via coaxial cable or optical waveguides. The video signal from each camera is recorded on these units. The system stores the streams for up to thirty days, depending on what period has been set, along with the time, date, and location, thus enabling the data to be used in a court of justice if necessary. If a hard drive ever happens to fail, none of the image data is lost thanks to the RAID-5 or RAID-10 technology employed.

"The new algorithms used for pattern recognition and the improved recognition of individual images required high-performance computers to be used," explains Johannes Traxler, head of Image Processing at Center Communication Systems. "Since the systems aren't kept in warm observation areas, but in tunnels, the ruggedness and long service life of the hardware were of prime importance to us, not just system reliability. The VESA units operate in harsh conditions round the clock seven days a week. As well as being fanless, the industrial PCs need to be resistant to dust, soot, humidity, gases, and salts, and cope with large fluctuations in temperature. That's why we've put our faith in rugged, high-availability industrial hardware made to CompactPCI standard."

Equipped with redundant hot-swappable power supply units, the 19" systems also have an adapted backplane designed in conjunction with Kontron so that PCI-based frame grabbers could be incorporated into the CompactPCI-based systems via a CompactPCI-to-PCI converter. "Besides using standardized industrial hardware with a long service life, we employ PCI-based components for digitizing the video signals, because this is a market subject to considerable short-term change. Aside from this, it gives us more flexibility when incorporating customer-specific cameras, which makes it much easier to work in existing installations. So the hybrid nature of the system is ideal. We're very pleased that Kontron is flexible in this respect and has some attractive solutions to offer despite such special configurations," says Johannes Traxler.

About Kontron

Kontron designs and manufactures standard-based and custom embedded and communications solutions for OEMs, systems integrators, and application providers in a variety of markets. Kontron engineering and manufacturing facilities, located throughout Europe, North America, and Asia-Pacific, work together with streamlined global sales and support services to help customers reduce their time-to-market and gain a competitive advantage. Kontron's diverse product portfolio includes: boards and mezzanines, Computer-on-Modules, HMIs and displays, systems, and custom capabilities. Kontron is a Premier member of the Intel® Embedded and Communications Alliance. The company is a recent three-time VDC Platinum vendor for Embedded Computer Boards. Kontron is listed on the German TecDAX stock exchange under the symbol "KBC". For more information, please visit: www.kontron.com.

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