SVS installs UK’s first radar-CCTV hybrid vehicle monitoring solution in Portsmouth
Wednesday, 17 March 2021
A first of its kind vehicle monitoring system using both CCTV and radar in the same unit has gone live on the M275 in Portsmouth. The system, brought to the UK by Smart Video and Sensing, features a radar capable of monitoring up to 12 lanes of traffic which has a two megapixel camera built in, meaning the traffic situation is visible to an operator allowing them to quickly verify a triggered event such as a stopped vehicle. The product, from German company smartmicro, is used to monitor vehicle classification and occupancy, queue and wrong way detection and also pedestrians and cyclists. Called TRUGRD STREAM, it has been installed on the M275 in Portsmouth as part of a trial to measure traffic statistics and to detect stopped and queuing vehicles. Data from the Portsmouth City Council trial will be shared with Highways England. “The specification for intersection sensors is self-evident,” explained SVS owner Peter Eccleson. “It is to effectively detect all traffic within the specified detection area, not just on the main carriageway but also approaches, filter lanes, bike lanes or even on pedestrian crossings. For confidence, safety and accuracy each leg of the intersection needs to be covered. Detection rates should achieve 99% with classification of vehicles and pedestrians at 95% or more. Ideally a detector should be relatively low powered and programmable and it should perform well under all-weather and lighting conditions while low-to-zero maintenance is obviously desirable. “TRUGRD STREAM does all these. The mixed technology allows this advanced detector to overcome the weaknesses of single technology detectors – this powerful combination provides a new standard in accurate detection. There are more than 88,000 smartmicro radar devices installed world-wide delivering maintenance free, reliable detection data under all-weather and lighting conditions. This technology provides true doppler speed measurement and has a range of up to 300 metres. Up to 12 lanes can be monitored from one device and up to a thousand objects tracked simultaneously. Outputs can be programmed via a traditional relay module to integrate with a traffic signal controller or may be integrated directly into the controller.” SVS says it has developed its NOVUS data analyser unit to be added to any of the smartmicro radar range to collect, analyse, store and forward traffic data to either a cloud-based back-office where planners can review the collected data or via an API and integrated into the customer’s existing traffic database. It explains the addition of NOVUS can be made as an aftermarket product and does not affect the detection capabilities and interface of the radar with the controller, but adds data analysis as a major enhancement – turning the intersection into a data collection site. “It’s definitely the first time a hybrid system has been used in the UK,” concluded Eccleson. “It may even be the first time in the world. We’re very excited to see the results in the next month or two, but have already committed to adding the technology to a tunnel and hopefully it’ll be installed into a major UK town in the near future too. It’s all about delivering a cost-effective safe solution which, because it works on 4G, can be installed almost anywhere.”
- Published in News 2021
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UPDATE: UK Road Tunnel Operators’ Forum Autumn 2021
Friday, 19 February 2021
We are pleased to confirm that the UK Road Tunnel Operators’ Forum event sponsored by SVS to be held at the Mandolay Hotel in Guildford has been re-scheduled to November 2021. This will be the first ‘live event’ for 2 years so get the date in the diary! If you have any queries, please email the SVS event team on RTOF@smartvideosensing.com who will be happy to assist. #UKRTOF2021 #tunnel #transport #networking #event #tunnels
- Published in News 2021
SVS installs radar-based MOVA solution for traffic lights in Taunton
Tuesday, 01 December 2020
Smart Video & Sensing Ltd have delivered yet another MOVA site using the smartmicro UMRR-11 multilane radar. Working with Consultant Matt Williams of JSTSM Ltd on behalf of Somerset County Council, two radars were installed on the busy A38 Wellington Road/Castle Street junction in Taunton. The versatility of the UMRR-11s were demonstrated with their multi-lane configuration capabilities. They were programmed for all MOVA loops on both carriageways in two directions as well as providing right turn demand at the junction. Matt Williams, experiencing the installation of the UMRR-11 for the very first time, commented on the cost effectiveness of a single detector providing so much versatility. Our engineer on site provided Matt with a swift course on programming the UMRR-11 via the TM Configurator software and left him with his own software copy for future installations. The TM Configurator, connected to the UMRR-11 via Wi-Fi will allow modifications and additions to me made to the installed programme within the radar detector. Such useful software tool will allow Consultants to make adjustments to the ’virtual’ loops size and positions which of course is impractical where conventional loops are concerned. Siemens Traffic engineers facilitated the installation in Taunton working alongside the commissioning engineers from SVS Ltd. The UMRR-11 has multi-target capability. The sensor can detect up to 128 objects over 4 lanes of traffic within the field of view at any one time. The sensor measures range, radial speed, horizontal and vertical angle, reflectivity and more parameters of multiple stationary and moving ‘targets’ simultaneously. It is capable of high definition (4D/HD), where HD resolution means that the sensor can separate objects by their speed and distance to the sensor. The UMRR-11 radar sensor is almost unaffected by weather, temperature, or lighting conditions.
- Published in News 2020
SVS presents at the 2020 JCT Traffic Signals Symposium
Thursday, 29 October 2020
For those who missed the great JCT 2020 event, a recording of our joint presentation on the smartmicro UMRR-11 multi-lane radar on the A27 is now available on youtube.
- Published in News 2020
SVS Achieves Disability Confident Accreditation
Tuesday, 27 October 2020
We are very proud to announce that we are Disability Confident Committed. This scheme gives us the chance to be formally recognised for our commitment to achieving a working environment which provides equality of opportunity and freedom from unlawful discrimination. #DisabilityConfident #Equality
- Published in News 2020
Radar-based tech solution for Dover traffic management installed
Friday, 23 October 2020
Last week we installed our smartmicro UMRR11 radars on two junctions in Dover to detect and monitor numbers of HGV traffic approaching the Port. The information is being interfaced into the MOVA system designed by 4Way Consulting. As an added ‘bonus’ we programmed a detection zone on one site to replace a faulty ‘right turn’ loop which demonstrates the flexibility of the UMRR11 in providing cost effective solutions for clients.
- Published in News 2020
SVS Achieves Cyber Essentials Certification
Tuesday, 22 September 2020
We are very pleased to announce we have achieved certification to the UK government’s Cyber Essentials scheme. Cyber Essentials is a widely recognised, government-backed scheme that assists businesses in protecting themselves against cyber-attacks, viruses and malware. In an age where organisations rely so heavily upon the sound operation of their IT infrastructures, a cyber-attack can have far reaching and devastating consequences costing organisations time, money and resources, as well as impacting heavily upon their reputation. This accreditation further evidences our commitment to always ensuring that sensitive and confidential information is handled securely and is safe from security breaches. Attaining Cyber Essentials certification shows that we take cyber security and the protection of our client’s data seriously.
- Published in News 2020
SVS maximise operator effectiveness on canal bridges
Wednesday, 29 July 2020
Smart Video & Sensing Ltd have completed a new CCTV installation and control room at the Lower Purton Bridge on the Gloucester-Sharpness canal on behalf of the Canal & River Trust allowing full operation of the Upper and Lower Purton swing bridges from one control centre. Eight new Hikvision CCTV cameras have been installed at strategic positions on both bridges giving one bridge-keeper full visibility of all areas via two large screen monitors allowing safe remote operation from the single location at Lower Purton. Cameras are linked via Wi-Fi between each bridge and the bridge-keeper can make audible announcements to any pedestrians at Upper Purton who may prevent safe operation of the swing bridge. Nick Cooke, Bridge-keeper at Purton commented on the new technology “This is just what we needed for remote single operation and the safety of the public during bridge swings. The cameras give us ‘eyes’ around the bend in the canal and speed up our overall operation.” He went on to say that SVS worked closely with the bridge-keepers to ensure that the CCTV cameras were positioned in the optimum locations allowing safe operation of these swing bridges. Smart Video & Sensing have completed several projects for Canal & River Trust from CCTV upgrades to automation. One of the most notable being achievement of SIL2 accreditation on Sandfield Bridge two years ago. SIL2 was reviewed and accredited by Det Norske Veritas via their London office. This was the first such accreditation for a bridge in Europe. “Sandfield was automated for unmanned operation which required high level of safety integrity within the system” commented Peter Eccleson, Managing Director of SVS. Adding that “Purton has been a pleasure to install in this idyllic and historic location near the banks of the River Severn and we are pleased that this system makes the bridge-keepers job so much easier and safer.”
- Published in News 2020
Radar traffic solution “exceeds expectations”
Monday, 06 July 2020
The NOVUS solution, trialled on the busy Eastern Road in Portsmouth, consists of a multi lane radar detector, the NOVUS M64 roadside data processor unit and a cloud hosted back office. The Innovate UK-funded project recognised the innovative approach to the collection of traffic data by radar which could also act as a junction loop emulation detector offering inputs to other traffic systems such as MOVA and SCOOT. NOVUS can be offered as an ‘after market’ add-on where the SVS smartmicro radars are already installed for loop emulation at traffic junctions thus adding tremendous value to the customer. NOVUS works across up to six traffic lanes and can collect data on count, speed, classification, gap, headway and XY data for each individual lane. The data is stored locally on the M64 and can be downloaded to a back-office dashboard for viewing and/or downloaded as .xml or .csv files. Commenting on the road trial Peter Eccleson, MD of Smart Video and Sensing said, “This first road trial exceeded my expectations. We literally have to complete some fine tuning of the software to have a really powerful product which will offer great value to the traffic market.” He went on to compliment his development team for delivering ahead of the scheduled programme. “There will be more trials of NOVUS over the coming weeks and will undertake a targeted customer feedback exercise to ensure we have all of the information in the format which the clients require. We will also offer a JSON interface to allow clients to integrate NOVUS into their existing traffic data systems if they so desire.” The 24Ghz smartmicro radar is at the heart of the system for multi-lane, multi-object tracking. It measures range, radial speed, horizontal and vertical angle, reflectivity and more parameters of multiple stationary and moving targets simultaneously. It is capable of high definition (4D/HD), where HD resolution means that the sensor can separate objects by speed and distance to the sensor. Pedestrians and bicycles can also be detected. Another plus is that the low power sensor is almost unaffected by weather, temperature and lighting conditions.
- Published in News 2020
SVS wins grant for traffic counting solution
Thursday, 11 June 2020
Smart Video and Sensing has been awarded a grant from Innovate UK to collect traffic data using smart radar in UK towns and cities. The so-called ‘de minimis’ grant is part of a multi-million pound government initiative to help support business led innovation in response to global disruption We spotted the fact that many local authorities were unable to deliver up-to-date data because their inductive loops etc were damaged to the point where data was unreliable. SVS is supplying three intelligent Smartmicro radars each of which can be used across up to six lanes of traffic to provide ‘virtual loops’ in the carriageway. The radar can also determine speed, gap, headway, classification and queue length which will be collected at the roadside and transmitted to a cloud-server for customer access. The funding allows the so-called NOVUS project to facilitate the collection of volumetric and classification data using ‘virtual loops’ without the need for in-carriageway loop sensors whilst still providing traffic management at the intersection via solutions such as MOVA and SCOOT. NOVUS will provide both the useful loop emulation facility on up to six lanes of traffic whilst simultaneously collecting and reporting data via the cloud server allowing the user, such as a Local Authority, to log-in an view their local traffic data on a dashboard and to download .csv files or JSOM files as required. SVS hopes to announce its first city partners in the coming days or weeks.
- Published in News 2020