And You, Tunnel Manager, Can You Now Create your Own Plans and Scenarios in Real Time?

One of the most common problems in tunnel and highway management is that the people who have the knowledge of what actions need to be taken in the event of an incident do not have the appropriate programming knowledge to program these logics within the control system.

This is usually a problem, as it implies that these logics, for example: what happens when there is a fire?, or what happens when there is fog in the tunnel?, have to be implemented by a programmer who knows the technology. So basically the person who has the knowledge depends on a third party, which means they are captive and do not have freedom of implementation.

When we talk about logics, we are referring to plans and scenarios. Which are indispensable in the management of an infrastructure such as a tunnel or a highway. The creation of a plan or a scenario allows to automate a sequence of actions that are launched either manually (directly by the operator) or automatically (by a calendar event or a trigger). For example, and following with the case of the previous paragraph, a plan associated with the appearance of fog in the tunnel, could contain a sequence of actions similar to the following:

• All the traffic lights in the tunnel turn to flashing amber.
• One of the traffic lanes is closed by sending an X to the lane control signal.
• A message of “Caution Fog in the tunnel” is sent to the variable message sign.
• The power of the tunnel lighting is increased.

Therefore, to solve the problem we mentioned earlier, a plan and scenario manager is needed, but not just any manager, but one that has a friendly configuration interface and is purely oriented to the end user, that is, that no programming knowledge is needed to implement plans and scenarios.

So, taking this into account, what are the needs that a plan and scenario manager should cover? In our opinion, they are the following:

• Allow the end user to create sequences of operations directly.
• Be able to execute these sequences reliably in real time.
• That the interface is friendly and easy to use by a person who does not know how to program.
• That the available asset model to which you can attack with friendly names (aliases) can be available.
• That the execution of plans can be associated with calendar events and with triggers (that can be associated with alarms, for example).
• That the implementation of the plans is plug&play, without the need to perform complex steps.

One of these points is remarkable, and it is: how do we get the sequences to run reliably in real time? The answer is to integrate directly with a real-time management SCADA software. In the case of GISIZE Scheduler&Sequencer, the integration is direct and native with Wonderware System Platform.

What is GISIZE Scheduler&Sequencer?

It is a plan and scenario management application, which in addition to meeting all the needs listed above, has a native integration with Wonderware System Platform.

Therefore, the tool offers the possibility of generating the sequences in a friendly way from a web environment, and automatically creating these sequences in the form of System Platform objects and even putting them in runtime without even opening the development environment.

This transfers all the power of the generation of plans and scenarios directly to the end user, who, as we mentioned at the beginning of the post, is the one who really has the knowledge of what are the action scenarios that should be applied in the tunnel or highway.