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Johannesburg traffic never looked so good

A multimillion rand video network monitors the main highways around Johannesburg to assist in keeping traffic flowing and clearing problems up as quickly as possible.

The Midrand fire station plays host to a unique control centre that was implemented by SANRAL (SA National Roads Agency Limited). In the middle of a building holding the municipal area’s police and emergency services sits a well-secured office containing rows of desks, an enormous screen and some serious computing power in a back room.

This is the monitoring headquarters for SANRAL, the agency tasked with building, maintaining and operating the country’s vast network of national roads. Teams of operators monitor Gauteng freeways via an always-growing network of CCTV cameras installed along Gauteng’s main arteries. The first phase covers the N1 and M1 from Centurion through to the centre of Johannesburg. The ultimate goal is to see all main highways in the province monitored from this control centre.

Currently, the video network comprises dual 1 Gbps connections linking the control centre to the cameras. Dual lines are used to ensure that the system continues functioning even if one line fails. Due to Telkom’s high pricing, it was cheaper for SANRAL to install and run its own fibre network. SANRAL was duly awarded a licence to this effect and rolled out its network.

Agents now monitor the traffic on a 24x7 basis and notify emergency services whenever there is a problem that needs attention. (Unfortunately, the agency also has to waste time and resources monitoring its installations to prevent cable theft.) The centre’s manager, Francois Nell, explains that the operators are specially trained to pay attention to traffic situations and alert the appropriate authorities.

When launching the system, SANRAL initially used a mixture of pan, tilt and zoom (PTZ) and static CCTV cameras strategically placed to cover the widest possible viewing area. However, in practice, operators could not always determine from static cameras exactly what was happening at a problem site.

“For the new roll outs on the wider area network, SANRAL has standardised on PTZ cameras for surveillance purposes. Static cameras may still be used for automatic incident detection. Operators are now able to monitor a broad area and zoom in on any incidents in order to provide the relevant authorities with the appropriate information. “PTZ cameras allow us to accurately determine the nature of the accident and ensure the right people and equipment are dispatched.”

Valuable information such as the type of incident, response times to incidents, and the clearance time of the incident is collected which has led to better emergency services being provided in most cases, as well as a better understanding of the reasons for incidents occurring.

People make the difference

Nell adds that finding the right people to staff the control room is difficult. It is a job that requires long periods of concentration. Moreover, this is not a traditional call centre, although some of these skills are required; nor is it a traditional video monitoring centre, although these skills are also required. And on top of that, people working in the centre also need to be comfortable with technology.

“We need people who understand IT, but also people who understand traffic management,” he explains. “We even have agents that used to work in emergency services who are able to communicate effectively with their old colleagues when needed.

“Our primary requirement is for people who are able to assess what is happening on the screen, ascertain accurate and relevant information as fast as possible and then report to the proper authorities.”

Capacity to spare

SANRAL’s fibre backbone has spare capacity which allows them to expand the ITS network of CCTV cameras and VMS. It also allows for other public services to join in and add additional benefits to the system such as for the safety and security environment.

As it is, SANRAL is making space in the control room available to other public services in order for them to be able to better advise their colleagues on situations viewed through the video network. This would assist in providing a better service to the public. At the time of writing, the other services have not taken advantage of the system to boost their service delivery capabilities, although most are eager to integrate video monitoring into their processes.

Although the video network only covers the Gauteng area at the moment, political factors aside, it will over time expand to cover major arteries throughout South Africa and assist in improving the chaotic traffic situation we all face every day. In addition, it will also assist South Africa’s emergency services in responding faster with the people and equipment needed to resolve each situation.

Fact file

Installers/system integrators

Basix Technologies

Basix Technologies was the main contractor and project-managed all the subcontractors. The company was responsible for the installation of the CCTV cameras and the commissioning of the network and all network peripherals and will be responsible for the maintenance of all the recording and display equipment.

Basix Technologies +27 (0)11 949 1990, [email protected], www.basixtech.co.za

H3iSquared

H3iSquared designed the network that transports the Ethernet video streams from all the major highways and which caters for a large amount of cameras, as well as the IP address layout. The company is also responsible for all back-up and maintenance of the network.

H3iSquared +27 (0)11 454 6025, [email protected], www.h3isquared

Equipment suppliers

Norbain

Norbain SA supplied the Pelco Esprit Integrated Positioning System. The Pelco Esprit is an integrated high performance pan, tilt unit. Phase one was installed using the Pelco CC-3651H low light 480 line resolution colour camera with a 30x optical zoom lens of 5,5 mm to 165 mm. Phase two is making use of the Samsung Techwin SHC-721 high performance day/night 500 line resolution camera with Wide Dynamic Range and the same 30x optical zoom lens as used in phase one.

Norbain SA +27 (0)11 887 1546, [email protected], www.norbain.co.za

Elvey

Elvey Security Technologies supplied the Samsung Electronics SCC-C6407 1/4” day/night, wide dynamic range, pan-tilt-zoom dome cameras. The cameras contain a 32x built-in optical lens and 10x digital zoom to offer up to 320x zoom capability.

Elvey Security Technologies, +27 (0)11 401 6700, [email protected], www.elvey.co.za

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