Tunnel Safety and Surveillance — Redundant Network with Robust Devices in Malaga, Spain
Sector: Surveillance
Project: Tunnel Security
Location: Malaga, Spain
Background
Accidents in tunnels are some of the most dangerous road accidents recorded because of their structure, an explosion could cause significant damage. The propagation of smoke can cause poor visibility and a lack of oxygen. For the prevention of accidents and quick action during an emergency, surveillance, communication, and information systems need to be deployed along the tunnels’ interior and entrance. A Spanish institution needed to deploy an IP network with lighting systems, IP cameras, and digital signage, and VoIP phones along the tunnel, which require a stable LAN connection in a remote location.
Challenges
This customer needed to enable remote Ethernet access from the tunnel to the control center all year round without interruptions.
The tunnels are located in Malaga, Spain, a city only 130 km across the Ocean from Northern Africa, with a subtropical-Mediterranean climate characteristic of very hot summers.
Tunnels present unfavorable conditions for networking and electronic devices such as constant vibration, humidity, and high temperature.
Volktek Solution
INS-8528 Managed Industrial Network switches were used to solve this issue. The components are resistant to harsh environments, high vibration, electromagnetic discharge, and high temperatures.
The 8 copper ports with multi-rate speed allowed phones, signals, and cameras to connect in the same interface while having different speed requirements. The 2 SFP ports for uplink, enabled high bandwidth and uninterrupted noise-free fiber transmission of data to more than 100km, to build a ring topology with network redundancy with the capacity to recover quickly if the network collapses. When the network can be accessed remotely if it needs management, The Redundant Power and Alarm System ensures the continuous operation of the network during power outages connecting to an alternative emergency power source and sends alarms through the network when events take place.
Scalable network with fiber uplink for maximum distance transmission and speed. Ring topology with X-Press ring feature recovers in milliseconds.
Network segment by VLAN, IGMP for effective port utilization.
Redundant power inputs with power isolation to provide an emergency alternative when the main power source fails.
Can be stored in a roadside cabinet thanks to its compact size.
Conclusion
The solution can operate all year round thanks to its rugged hardware features, redundant power to assure it is always on, and Ring topology to make sure that data transmit with no interruption. If the devices needed to be replaced or the network needed expansion the solution offers simple scalability to change its size.
