*Traficon / AID plugin

Owned by Tom Polman
Last updated: Sept 21, 2022
4 min read

Technical Article | TA-20201002-TP-29

VDG Sense | VDG Integrations | Traficon

Introduction

With the FLIR ITS system (previously Traficon) for intelligent traffic solutions and the flexibility of VDG Sense, a system can be designed to provide the operator in the control room an overview of the installation as well as being automatically informed about (traffic) incidents. 

The FLIR ITS system is mainly used to help ensure safety in road tunnels where the following events can be detected:

  • Fallen Object

  • Inverse Direction

  • Pedestrian

  • Stopped Vehicle

  • Smoke

  • Underspeed

  • Overspeed

  • Bad Video

These events are send to VDG Sense and can be used to automatically inform the operator and, depending on the configuration, switch a layout with the cameras related to this event. A typical application of such a solution is shown in the diagram below showing a tunnel in which the camera positions are included. In both directions cameras are mounted every 50-100m (approximately):

How to create a practical solution in VDG Sense is explained in the next paragraph. More information on how to configure the Traficon/AID plugin can be found in the setup section: Read More.

Example 1

A practical solution in tunnel system for an operator in a control room, is to automatically switch a layout to show the camera on which the incident is detected and the cameras which are mounted before and after that camera. It is possible the incident covers more cameras so it is good to show them automatically. The procedure how to configure this in Sense is as follows:

  1. Setup communication with FLUX server

  2. Create (basic) layout which are used by Viewer Macros

  3. Create Viewer Macros for each of the cameras

Layout configuration

A typical layout configuration consists of three video panels which are dynamically configured with the correct cameras using viewer macros. Optionally more panels can be added to provide more information on the nature of the incident. See below for an example layout

The middle panel will be used in the viewer macros as ‘Alarm’ panel, which is the camera on which the incident occurs. For ease of use the name of each of the panels is changed. The left panel has the name ‘Before’ , the middle panel has the name ‘Alarm’ and the right panel has ‘After’ as name. The top of the layout has a label indicating this layout is used for incidents.

Viewer Macro configuration

After the layout for the incidents is created the viewer macros can be created. Assuming the layout should switch for any Traficon event the macro will have the following structure, assuming an alarm on camera 2:

Signals:

  1. Traficon Event for Camera 2 (any event)

Actions:

  1. Select Monitor 2

  2. Select Layout ‘Incidents’

  3. Select Panel ‘Before’

  4. Select Device ‘1’

  5. Select Panel ‘Alarm’

  6. Select Device ‘2’

  7. Select Panel ‘After’

  8. Select Device ‘3’

Operator View

This configuration will show the following layout when a traffic incident occurs. In this case the center video panel shows an ‘Stopped Vehicle’ incident. The left and right panels show the surrounding cameras.

Example 2

Another practical solution in tunnel system for an operator in a control room, is to automatically switch a layout to show the camera on which the incident is detected fullscreen. The procedure how to configure this in Sense is as follows:

  1. Setup communication with FLUX server

  2. Create (basic) layout which are used by Viewer Macros

  3. Create Viewer Macros for each of the cameras

Layout configuration

This layout has one video panel with the name ‘Alarm’. Optionally more panels can be added to provide more information on the nature of the incident. See below for an example layout:

Viewer Macro configuration

After the layout for the incidents is created the viewer macros can be created. Assuming the layout should switch for any Traficon event the macro will have the following structure, assuming an alarm on camera 2:

Signals:

  1. Traficon Event for Camera 2 (any event)

Actions:

  1. Select Monitor 2

  2. Select Layout ‘Incidents Fullscreen’

  3. Select Panel ‘Alarm’

  4. Select Device From Event

Search Events

To search for Traficon events the search layout needs to be used. To find events of a particular type follow this procedure:

  1. Open Sense Search layout and select Event tab

  2. In the Event Types  list find and select Traficon event

  3. In the Event Text  field enter a wilcard to search for specific events, see below for a complete list.

  4. Define start and end time 

  5. Press ‘Search’ button when all search criterias are defined

The full text of the event Values are as follows:

  • event_category=detector;type=no_video;zone_reference=2;zone_id=67;active=0;level=0

  • event_category=detector;type=communication_error;zone_reference=2;zone_id=67;active=0;level=0

  • event_category=detector;type=stopped_vehicle;zone_reference=2;zone_id=67;active=0;level=0

  • event_category=detector;type=inverse_direction;zone_reference=2;zone_id=67;active=0;level=0

  • event_category=detector;type=smoke;zone_reference=2;zone_id=67;active=0;level=0

  • event_category=detector;type=bad_video;zone_reference=2;zone_id=67;active=0;level=0

  • event_category=detector;type=pedestrian;zone_reference=2;zone_id=67;active=0;level=0

  • event_category=detector;type=cameramoved;zone_reference=2;zone_id=67;active=0;level=0

  • event_category=detector;type=fallenobject;zone_reference=2;zone_id=67;active=0;level=0

  • event_category=detector;type=underspeed;zone_reference=2;zone_id=67;active=0;level=0

  • event_category=detector;type=overspeed;zone_reference=2;zone_id=67;active=0;level=0

The type section in bold is important for viewer macro configuration and to search for events. The other values can be ignored.