Unified Control Center for Tunnels and Highways

The management of tunnels and highways, due to its complexity and need for interaction with multiple types of users, is a clear example of where to see the benefits of working with a Unified Operations Center (UOC).

A Unified Control Center in a tunnel goes far beyond the monitoring and control of the assets that are part of the tunnel, but is capable of providing a competitive advantage, not only linked to operations, but from a global vision of the infrastructure.

What Can a UOC Contribute to the Management of a Tunnel or Highway?

Initially, the concept of UOC incorporates a layer that functions as the “core” of the system and is responsible for integrating all the assets that are part of the tunnel, some examples are:

• Lighting and signaling.
• Traffic lights and barriers.
• Variable signaling panels.
• Video recorders and DAI systems.

This layer is responsible for natively performing all the basic management functions that the tunnel should have: data acquisition, equipment control, execution of business and security logics, data historization and alarm generation… and makes them available to the upper layers that act as clients in the architecture. In addition, this backend layer works with fully redundant architectures, thus increasing the availability of the tunnel.

In second place and as a layer above the “core” of the Unified Control Center, the different pieces that make up the UOC for users are provided in modules. Some of the key functions of the UOC in a tunnel are the following:

I Multi-screen, Multi-Platform and Per-User Visualization.

• The unified control center is a transversal and common use platform for all users, which is why a UOC provides the possibility of visualizing the same graphic application in different formats: multi-screen format for a video wall, Workstation format for control room operators and mobile/tablet format for operators who are physically in the field.
• The application is equipped with multi-content capabilities: to be able to show both the status (SCADA) of the tunnel, dashboards with key KPI’s, trends and historical data, active incidents, cameras and video, maintenance work orders, geo-referenced assets, etc.
• In addition, the UOC system is capable of modifying the visualization that is offered to each operator since it works with user groups and with the assignment of permissions and capabilities.

I Advanced Incident Management with Guided Plans.

One of the functionalities of the UOC is to unify operations control, and advanced incident management is one of them. With the GISIZE plan management module, it is possible to centralize the creation of workflows and work plans by the tunnel operator that act when a specific incident occurs and that allow guiding the operator in the resolution of incidents, providing manual instructions and actions that are carried out in a chain automatically.

I Alert Dispatching and Integration with Third-Party Equipment.

Another of the functionalities of a UOC applied to tunnels is the possibility of creating high-level workflows, that make decisions taking into account security factors, business, schedules or inputs from operators… and are capable of sending alerts integrating with third-party API’s such as police or firefighters.

I Detailed Analysis of Incidents and Historical Behaviors.

A key functionality of a unified tunnel control center is the ability to analyze past events on the same SCADA screen. For this, a very useful functionality is to have a tool that implements the slow motion effect, reconstruction or SCADA Playback. This would not be possible without historical management and a set of tools to exploit them.

I Management of the Maintenance Team and Work Orders.

Finally, the integration with the GMAO maintenance system and the exploitation of the status of the maintenance equipment is a fundamental part that is part of a unified control center.

In short, a unified control center of a tunnel will help to unify and optimize the control of operations related to the operation of the tunnel, security, incident management, forensic analysis and integration with different types and classes of operator users.

If you want to know more or resolve any questions about the Wonderware Unified Control Center, do not hesitate to contact our specialists.

CONTACT US