Photo: Siemens-AG

A new era for traffic control

12 August 2014

by Richard Forster

Intelligent software and cloud-based solutions have the potential to revolutionise a city’s mobility. Nick Michell looks at new software developed by Siemens that allows city managers to monitor and maintain traffic lights and detectors from any location in the world using a private cloud

At Intertraffic 2014, held in Amsterdam from 25-28 March this year, Siemens unveiled new technology which will allow cities to manage traffic flow from a tablet or smartphone. The new Sitraffic smart Crossing (sX for short) controller generation is matched to interact with web-based traffic management solutions. Siemens claim it is much more efficient to operate and maintain because the company has fully redeveloped its hardware and software. Via the cloud, service technicians and city managers monitor and maintain traffic lights and detectors from any location in the world. They can even quickly remedy malfunctions from many thousands of kilometres away without having to switch the lights off.

“One of the biggest benefits of the sX is that it can be updated without interrupting normal operation,” says Wilke Reints, Head of Development for Siemens Intelligent Transport Systems. “The lights continue functioning throughout and you can even do entire software updates, including of the operating system, while the lights are still working. Authorities have been able to implement complex traffic signal timings but that has taken a high degree of expertise, what the sX does is to make it a lot easier for traffic room staff to create and store a number of pre-programmed light phasing. They can also switch from one to another without a ‘lights out’ phase and remotely using a web-enabled device because with the sX it’s a seamless ‘touch- of-a-button’ process.”

The new controllers are housed in the grey cabinets that control traffic lights at intersections. In the future, authorised personnel will be able to connect to the web-based smartGuard traffic control centre of Siemens via a private cloud and access the controllers as if they were standing right in front of the cabinet. All that’s required is an Internet connection and system access to the private cloud as well as an HTML5-capable Internet browser on a tablet, PC, or smartphone. At their mobile terminal, city employees log in to a central traffic control system and have access to traffic lights, detectors, and parking facilities within seconds, when, for example, they need to change traffic light switching plans for major events.

“Cloud-based technologies are especially useful for remote management and maintenance of traffic control devices,” says José Viegas, Secretary- General of the International Transport Forum at the OECD. “In that respect they can bring higher efficiency by strongly reducing delays and costs associated with moving technical staff from one intersection to the next, doing these operations from a central location instead.”

Technology suitable for all

Interaction of the sX controller with the smartGuard traffic control centre enables even smaller towns to regulate traffic more efficiently. Without needing to set up a local traffic control centre, they are able to use all basic functions of a traffic computer, such as the switching of traffic lights, on a web-based service platform. Customers therefore save on hardware costs and can log in to the platform via the Internet at any time and from any location. A multilevel security procedure with the Siemens-own Sitraffic Canto interface and the TÜV-certified mobile PIN method ensure that only authorised persons can access the data.

José Viegas, Secretary-General of the International Transport Forum at the OECD
José Viegas, Secretary-General of the International Transport Forum at the OECD

Making new and innovative technology improvements affordable to smaller and less affluent cities is vital, as many local authorities do not have the budget to heavily invest in these solutions.

“Municipal budgets often do not have the slack for this concentrated investment cost, on a technical system that is currently working fine and for which no miracle improvement is proposed,” says Viegas. “The providers of the technical systems should be able to devise the financing solutions more adjusted to each client. These solutions will, eventually, be implemented by cities as part of a normal update and renewal of technical systems. But in many cases this will only happen when it is useful to the supplier to do so, for instance by making equipment maintenance easier.”

Sitraffic sX grows along with the traffic infrastructure of a city and is able to fulfil the role of a comprehensive traffic control system in major urban environments. The installed software is easy to operate and the user interface is intuitive, reducing testing and programming effort. A secure transmission protocol and the new plug- and-play function mean that the new sX controller can be put into service and connected with the Siemens traffic control centres that much faster. The controller hardware can be installed with minimum cabling effort and is extensible.

It can be extended up to 64 signal groups and 250 detectors. A new 230-volt low power lamp switch for LED signal heads, up to five watts, ensures a particularly high level of energy efficiency and satisfies the most stringent requirements demanded for safety in road traffic.

Remote controlling

The web-based solution offers further benefits. If a set of lights malfunctions, the service technician receives a fault notification and can log in to his or her tablet via the Siemens private cloud in order to read the fault memory and investigate the fault.

Functions can be upgraded and service updates loaded remotely without interrupting operation. In the past, a service technician had to drive to the set of lights to carry out and check updates. With the new solution, an additional real- time processor assumes control of the traffic lights to ensure maximum safety and availability and to prevent dangerous situations. Remote maintenance is also performed without interrupting operation, thus reducing the need for time- consuming deployment of staff on site.

Wilke Reints, Head of Development for Siemens Intelligent Transport Systems
Wilke Reints, Head of Development for Siemens Intelligent Transport Systems

“It has been possible to make such changes in traffic management for some time but this has required highly trained people and possibly site visits to carry out ‘lights-out’ upgrades,” says Reints. “With the sX these changes are easily made so it is more likely that authorities will alter signal timings for short-term road works or even accidents. They can still pre-set timings for peak periods, evenings or weekends and with the sX they can pre- set alternative timings for holiday periods and ‘green waves’ for recurring events such as the end of sporting or music events. It also allows pre-determined responses to pollution incidents and timing changes can be automatically triggered when certain criteria are met.”

The future

The ability to travel to and around cities is a key factor impacting their competitiveness. The ability to reduce congestion to speed and facilitate the flow of traffic around the city is one of the key drivers of overall mobility. For many cities, further expansion of road networks is not possible due to the difficulty and expense of such projects, and instead there is a need to maximise the capacity of their existing road infrastructure by capitalising on the opportunities afforded by new technology.

Developments in technology and the emergence of the cloud provide opportunities for cities to deliver improvements in traffic management, and not just manage its maintenance. As well as benefitting from improved flow within the city, enhanced traffic management will also improve connections between cities, while also reducing the risk of accidents. This has the potential to bring more people into the labour market and facilitate more connections between businesses.

While the allocation of limited funds for local authorities is often a major stumbling block to significant investment in new traffic management technologies, cities need to be made aware of the huge advantages of these solutions. Siemens’ new sX controller has the potential, through its use of a private cloud and user- friendly interface, to improve the efficiency of traffic management and reduce the likelihood of serious road accidents.

While cloud based technology has the potential to significantly improve traffic management, José Viegas believes that the emergence of vehicle-to- vehicle (v2v) communications, could revolutionise things even further.

“Traffic management will probably go through major changes with the generalised installation of vehicle-to- vehicle communications,” says Viegas. “In the end state, the traditional macro time-splits with a bunch of cars stopped waiting for another bunch to pass that would be physically competing for the same space, will be replaced by micro time-splits, in which direct dialogue between cars will provide almost continuous paths to every vehicle. This is something similar to what we currently do as pedestrians, as well as in some Asian cities with bicycles and even motorised two-wheelers. In those cases, the lower speeds, smaller size of the moving objects and manoeuvring skills of the agents make it possible. In the car traffic of the not too distant future, the on-board computers and communication systems will be in charge.”

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