Tunnel Monitoring and Control
Using a combination of standard SCADA technology and bespoke development, AIS has built up experience and expertise in the monitoring and control of tunnels and bridges.
Tunnel and bridge SCADA system
The Dartford River Crossing is one of the busiest and longest river crossings in the world. The crossing includes four lanes of tunnel and four lanes of bridge.
AIS develops and maintains the SCADA and Control systems covering some 5000 I/O points distributed across the site. The system includes control of the tunnel lighting, the 11KV switch gear, the back up generators and ventilation. A supervisory display system supports 15 users.
AIS has also developed an application that receives weather forecast data from the Meteorological Office - including wind speeds and directions. This system gives advanced warning of when traffic restrictions should be placed on the bridge.
Key facts:
- SCADA and Control system with over 5000 I/O points
- AIS provide development services and provide 24x7 cover
Tunnel monitoring and control
The M1-A1 link road - which is about 20 miles long - has two short tunnels at one of the major interchanges.
AIS developed a control and monitoring system based on SFW. The system is responsible for control of the tunnel lighting based on portal photometer readings. It also monitors the tunnel fire alarms and safety equipment and communicates with the UPS to determine battery life and diagnostics. The server computer is local to the tunnels. This is linked via specialist modems to the control centre some 15 miles away.
Key facts:
- Stand alone PC based control
- Remote user connected via standard SFW client/server software
Graphical front end for traffic control
Serco is the author of National Motorway Control Systems software (NMCS2), used by the Highways Agency for the control of Motorway signage and emergency facilities. Serco was selected by Dartford River Crossing to supply the NMCS2 software for the tunnel, bridge and the adjacent section of motorway on the approaches.
Serco chose AIS to provide the graphical user interface, with the AIS PC linked to the Serco minicomputer via a network connection. AIS supplied the graphical front end from the SFW package, with interfaces for the Serco software to link to. Serco were responsible for creating the user interface using the AIS SFW graphical builder and writing the drivers to their own software.
Key facts:
- A component of the SFW software supplied
- Joint development between AIS and Serco