Project Reference: A3 Project Name: Videosystem ITS Corridor: CROCODILE Project Location: Western part of Austria 1. DESCRIPTION OF THE PROBLEM ADDRESSED BY THE PROJECT 1.1 Nature of the Site The Austrian motorway network is relatively small in comparison to other European countries (2.183 km). Nevertheless due to the geographical situation a high percentage of the network is located in sensitive areas (length of motorway in tunnels: 369 km; number of bridges along the Austrian TEN-T network: 5.204) Figure 1 Location of the site 1.2 Issues Addressed Infrastructure providers, like ASFINAG, need rapid and accurate information of what is going in their network. The information needs to be shared nationwide with other departments and external partners and should be largely independent of location, i.e. from any location within the ASFINAG or even on mobile devices should be possible. The following issues are addressed by upgrade and extension of the ASFINAG the video system: Traffic monitoring as basis for the provision of EU-wide real-time traffic information services Support for snow clearance service
Incident detection Coordination of action forces Increase of security on resting areas Increase of traffic safety As further aspect, the video live images/ streams need to be highly available for all participants as it is a vital basis for operation and also information provision (data basis for the provision, where possible, of road safety-related minimum universal traffic information free of charge to users compare. commissions communication C(2013)886). For this purpose the camera images are provided to the European travellers via: ASFINAG Smartphone App (www.asfinag.at/app) ASFINAG website (www.asfinag.at/webcams) Traffic information Austria (www.asfinag.at/routenplaner) as well as via 50+ cooperation partners who are providing the images to their customer groups 2. DESCRIPTION OF THE ITS PROJECT 2.1 Project Objectives, incl. specificities / contextual useful information ASFINAG operates one of the largest CCTV systems in Austria to support operation of the Austrian motorway and expressway network. All tunnels, rest areas and open road sections are equipped with CCTV cameras whose images can be viewed Austrian-wide by authorized staff. By increasing road safety and providing relevant traffic information, the ASFINAG CCTV camera network thus make a major contribution towards achieving the company s strategic corporate goals. Cameras are usually built on these road sections: frequent accident spots neuralgic weather spots urban areas with heavy traffic Figure 2 CCTV camera at the ASFINAG TEN-T road network
With the project in hand to be evaluated, the existing CCTV network is to be expanded to further locations on the network after a pre evaluation of suitable locations have been carried out. The implementation is done as part of the Video Masterplan. By the time this report the number of 6.000 cameras have been reached (2.183 km of ASFINAGs total network length). Figure 3 below shows the evolution since the introduction of CCTV cameras in 2005. Figure 3 Evaluation of CCTV cameras in the last 10 years 2.2 Systems and Technologies Applied Existing and approved technologies along with advanced and most modern trends in video technology have been included into the ASFINAG video system. It is now in midterm and allows viewing videos at any location of the ASFINAG owned network according to specified user rights. For external purpose the video-system broadcasts the videos via TV and Internet to the end customer. This video system uses multicast technology with bandwidths up to 4Mbit/s per stream in SD resolution. A major feature of the developed ASFINAG video system is that different users (operators in traffic management centres, video control centres and tunnel control centres, police, highway surveillance centres, external users) can also use the system for their special needs. Suitable mechanisms of priority ranking and urgency assessment have been implemented to handle the correct management of possibly competing accesses. With the successful realisation and implementation of the video system ASFINAG has created a cutting edge, flexible, expandable digital video management system. When setting up a technical environment protection of investment has to be taken into account. ASFINAG has an own planning handbook (www.asfinag.net) where specifications and requirements can be found. In ASFINAG tenders those planning handbooks are mandatory. This assures a standardized infrastructure from camera and encoder to decoder and displays. An additional approach is that ASFINAG does periodic technical surveys to update those specifications. The next step is to migrate the core system to ONVIF standard and change compression algorithms from MPEG 4 to H.264. On camera side analogue cameras with standard definition (720 x 576) will be complemented
with high definition cameras (1280 x 720) which are present at the mass market. Sensors will capture image information progressive and transmit entire pictures instead of two interlaced pictures, which in combination with the higher resolution will lead to better video quality. In particular this assures digital end-to-end transmission from the digital sensor to the digital display, without the D/A and A/D conversion as present when analogue components are part of the chain. The video system is constructed to fulfil legal specifications. ASFINAG is by legal terms allowed to have a live-video system to ensure traffic flow and safety of traffic. Faces or number plates must not be recognized, so the adjustment and the resolution of the cameras are chosen accordingly. In tunnel surroundings ASFINAG is allowed to store all video data up to 72 hours. On resting areas all cameras are stored for a period of 48 hours and are handed over to police in case of court order. In open road stretches it is generally not allowed to store video data. Figure 4 A typical setup of a fixed camera in open road surrounding, that is provided to European travellers In the near future the ASFINAG video system will be supplemented with H.264 encoding/decoding and the use of ONVIF standardized operations for camera control to assure protection of investment. 2.3 Project Costs 2013 2014 2015 EUR 2.660.151,74 EUR 3.559.685,25 Project has not been finished yet. Therefore no final cost indication can be given. Table 1 Project Costs 2.4 Status of the Project (e.g. planned, implemented, operational)
ASFINAG is continuously extending the video system. By mid-2015 around 6.000 cameras are available to the various customers of it (compare Figure 3 as well as Chapter 1.2). Beside the upgrading and extension of road side cameras, the backend of the video-system will be renewed (as the current contract will soon hit end of life). Currently a regarded procurement is provided. In the course of the CROCODILE project also cameras from other partners (both on national level, e.g. county of Tyrol and on international level e.g. Slovenia or Bavaria) will be integrated and provided. Status of the project: under implementation 3. FOR PROJECTS TO BE IMPLEMENTED - EVALUATION PLAN 3.1 Objectives for the Evaluation (i.e. impacts to be evaluated) At ASFINAG level no evaluation on traffic related impacts of this implementation is planned at this stage as earlier attempts have not shown authoritative conclusions on a direct link to a traffic related impact. Nevertheless the video equipment is a vital basis for the operation and the provision of Traffic Information to the European travellers. 3.2 Timing and Type of Evaluation, including data needed and associated issues, methods, definitions/terminologies) At ASFINAG level no evaluation on traffic related impacts of this implementation is planned at this stage as earlier attempts have not shown authoritative conclusions on a direct link to a traffic related impact. Nevertheless the video equipment is a vital basis for the operation and the provision of Traffic Information to the European travellers.
4. FOR IMPLEMENTED PROJECTS RESULTS 4.1 Level of Deployment / level of services The implementation phase of the project for this report has not been finished yet, therefore no final evaluation results can be given. Table 2 is providing an overview based on the defined evaluation KPIs provided by the EIP+ forum. This overview are expected results for the time being. KPI category Deployment KPI Benefit KPI Table 2 Overview of LoS improvement KPI network coverage [km seen on video] number of cameras available Level before installation [01/2013] Expected level after installation [12/2015] 63,3% 87,6% 4.616 7.500 at this stage of the project no benefit KPI can be given As the Video-system is major component of the ISO 20.000 certification to be carried out by end of 2015 ASFINAG started to monitor the availability of this system. Figure 5 gives an overview of the system availability in the first 6 months of 2015. The internal goal set by ASFINAGs top management was set to 98.9% which have been successfully met each reporting period since recording. Figure 5 ISO20.000-conform Availability-Reporting of the ASFINAG video system
The next Figure 6 shows the usage of the video-system. More than 90 percent of the connections are made by the nine regional traffic management centres ( VMZ ). Figure 6 Access rate to the ASFINAG video system 4.2 Impacts / benefits The major impact of this deployment is the provision of a tool for ASFINAG operators, in order to document all events at the motorway (in addition to the roadside handling). This documentation is the real-time basis for traffic information services to support the European travellers at their journeys. A further benefit for the operators is the share-ability of the images with the emergency services (First aid organisations, fire-fighter departments, police stations) to ensure that proper actions are set in case of incidents without unnecessary timely delay. 4.2 Costs, including analysis of costs against performance/benefits With the following two Commission Delegated Regulations the need for a high qualitative data basis for traffic information services is clear: C(2015)962 Provision of EU-wide real-time traffic information services C(2013)886 Data and procedures for the provision, where possible, of road safety-related minimum universal traffic information free of charge to users Therefore ASFINAG is performing sustainable installations in order to set up this data basis. Beside a central tool for event management the video system (subject of this report) is a vital tool for the operators to perform - beside the handling of the event at the site a documentation of events. This documentation is to be used in real-time for the generation of ASFINAG traffic information. Table 1 is giving an overview of ASFINAG implementation costs. At ASFINAG level an earlier desk study did not show any traffic related impact of this implementation of a video-system. Nevertheless the video equipment is a vital basis for the operation and the provision of Traffic Information to the European travellers.
5. EUROPEAN DIMENSION: LIKELY TRANSFERABILITY OF THE RESULTS The system architecture used for the Austrian video-system was consequently designed to maximise the flexibility in the operations phase and to minimise the operational costs. Therefore also only minimal adoptions were needed at the backend side (standard product from a European supplier). As the system is also flexible in terms of camera vendors the transferability of the system is ensured to European operators with similar road-network topology.