New Tyne Tunnel Crossing

PROJECT DETAILS

Project Date: 2009 – 2012

End User: TT2 Limited

Client: SPIE-WHS

SYSTEMS PROVIDED

SCADA: Schneider

Network: Cisco 3750G Based

Incident: SCADA Interface

NVR: Sicura Systems

SERVICES PROVIDED

Site Surveys

System Architecture Design

Network Infrastructure Design

Software Development

SCADA Systems Integration

CAD Drawings

Containment Systems Design

Installation

Electrical Services

Testing and Commissioning

New Tyne Tunnel: Integrated SCADA System

The New Tyne Crossing project involved the design and build of a second vehicle tunnel under the River Tyne, and the refurbishment of the existing vehicle tunnel. Due to increases in traffic in the original contraflow, a second tunnel wasproposed to create a uni-directional system after the refurbishment of the original tunnel, increasing safety and decreasing traffic congestion.

Ematics were awarded the full SCADA and Data Comms design and build contract, including sub-systems integration and CCTV Video Wall and provision of a new control room fitting out with desks and video wall housing.

Dual Redundant SCADA.
Dual Redundant Traffic Control PLC system.
Dual Redundant Plant Control PLC system.
Ethernet Data Communications Network.
CCTV Video Wall
Historian Reporting System

SCADA Integration of Video Incident Detection System
SCADA Integration of CCTV System
SCADA Integration of Emergency Telephone system.
SCADA Integration of Fogtec Mist System.
SCADA Integration of Public Address System.
SCADA Integration of Network Management System.

The system is designed, installed and commissioned in two major phases:

Phase 1 – New Southbound Tunnel Operational in bi-directional mode.
Phase 2 – Refurbish Northbound Tunnel and both Tunnels operational each in uni-directional mode.

TCMS SCADA System

The Traffic Control and Monitoring System (TCMS) for the new Tyne Crossing provides monitoring and control functionality of the following equipment:

MS3 Variable Message Signs and Matrix Signs on the approach gantries.
Advance Signs on the Southbound and Northbound approaches.
MS4 Variable Message Signs and Matrix Signs at the tunnel entry portals
MS3 Variable Message Signs and Matrix Signs at the tunnel exit portals.
Lane control and speed restriction signs in the tunnels.
Traffic lights and barriers on the approaches.
Traffic Loop Detectors external to the tunnels.
Overheight vehicle detection on the tunnel approaches.
CCTV coverage at the portals.

EPCMS SCADA System

The Environmental Plant Control and Monitoring System (EPCMS) for the new Tyne Crossing provides monitoring and control functionality of the following equipment:

Tunnel Jet Fans
Pollution Axial fans in Adits
Tunnel Pollution Sensors
Tunnel, Extrenal and Adit Airflow Sensors
Differential Pressure Sensors
Gallery Pressurisation Fans
Modulating Dampers

Sump Pumps
Level Sensors
Sump Ventilation Fans
Mist System Valves and Pumps
Tunnel Message Signs
Escape Gallery Message Boards
HV and LV Boards

SCADA Subsystem Integration

As part of the project works, Ematics were engaged to develop suitable interfaces such that all tunnel subsystems could be integrated directly in to the SCADA system. This integration included the following subsystems:

CCTV Video Feeds and Video Wall Video selection.
Video Incident Detection
Public Address Systems including zone selection
Emergency Telephones.
Tunnel Fire Suppression System.
Radio System.
Traffic Signs

This required Ematics to carry out some custom software development using Microsoft Visual Studio such that each subsystem could be controlled and monitored from the SCADA mimics screen thus providing a feature rich user environment for the operators.

SCADA Incident Support

The approach to incident control adopted for Tyne was for the SCADA system to support the operators in their decision making process, rather than having the SCADA system automatically initiate any of the subsystems. An incident in the Tunnel is detected by one of the following events occur:

Smoke detected by VAID cameras
Stopped car detected by VAID cameras
Fire detected by Heat Detectors in Service Gallery
Fire detected by Break Glass units in Service Gallery
Fire detected by Break Glass units in PDPs
Unauthorised Access detected by EDP open
Unauthorised Access detected by Fire Door open
SOS Telephone in use (1 in each PDP)
Manually Initiated by an operator

When any of the above events are detected, the SCADA will automatically navigate to an incident support page where each sub system can be controlled and monitored via individual customised control panels offering only the controls that are appropriate for incident support, with recomendations on which to systems to operate based on the incident type.This new approach was design to “give back” control to the operators to get the SCADA to function alomg side their own incident hadliong procedures. To achive this, Ematics were required to get involved with the end users much earlir than normal so that we could understand their approach for each incident type, which was essential to enable the new SCADA system to be designed around these operating procedures.

CCTV Video Wall

The SCADA systems works, includes the design, supply and remodelling of the Main Control Room including a new state of the art CCTV video wall displaying both live and recorded CCTV video and the ability to send any of the SCADA mimics to the wall for display.The Video Wall is an IP system that connects to the Tyne Tunnel LAN and communicate with the CCTV NVRs and the SCADA Servers and clients. The Video Wall Server displays both the SCADA and/or the CCTV live and recorded feeds to any of the Video Wall Screens in any configuration.Developed by our sister company Sicura Systems, DigiArchive, DigiWall and DigiLive provides state of the art storage and retrieval solution designed for mission-critical applications that require instant access to digital content 24/7.

A total number of 96 CCTV cameras are available which can be displayed across the monitors using varying combinations views from single to 16 way split. The camera views can also be configured to run on a rotation across the monitor wall. These screen layout configurations can be saved for each operator allowing for easy customisation of the layouts.

PLC System

The Schneider Quantum CPUs were introduced as the Master PLC’s since they have a very high level of availability required by the project. These PLC’s, were configured using the Unity Pro software package and all software was designed to BS EN 61508 SIL2 as required for critical applications demanding high-availability control system architectures, where control system failures are out of the question.The Schneider Advantys STB Modular I/O system was used for connecting the field equipment to the SCADA /PLC Systems. Ethernet Network Interface Modules were used to provide a remote I/O Islands over Ethernet at each of the required locations ensuring a reliable, affordable and future proof solution that can be easily expanded using the new Ethernet infrastructure.

Each remote I/O island is expandable up to 32 modules per island making this a very flexible solution.

Ethernet Network Infrastructure

A new fibre backbone was designed and installed in the tunnels and buildings using the Cisco® Catalyst 3750G series Ethernet switches. These switches are multilayer with Fast Ethernet and Gigabit ports and featuring Cisco StackWise™ technology, allowing for the creation of highly resilient networks.

Cisco 3750G switches are used to provide a 3Gbps backbone during normal conditions, failing to a 2Gbps and then to a 1Gbps backbone in fault conditions. These switches are installed at strategic locations and are stacked to create a single virtual switch with a single IP Address, thus simplifying the topology of the network and reducing the convergence time of the network should a fault occur.

To create a dynamic fault tolerant network in the tunnels, the Lantech Industrial Ethernet switch was installed in the EDP cabinets, these switches provide four Ethernet 10/100 ports and two dual-purpose uplink ports which are populated with SFPs to connect back to the backbone.

Network Infrastructure Features

The network infrastructure was not just designed to support all the sub system upgrades provided by this project such that a common Ethernet solution could be provided through all sub systems, but to protect the investment of the project by future proofing the tunnel and the works by providing a modern expandable and resilient network structure capable of expansion without compromising reliability or performance. Some of the features provided by the infrastructure are:

Cisco Based Solution
Stackwise Technology for easy expansion
Broadcast segmentation of subsystems with VLANs
Virtual LAN (VLAN) support.
Inter VLAN routing.

Per port Unicast, Multicast & Broadcast Storm Control.
Switching loop protection using rSTP and MST (Rapid Spanning Tree).
No single point of failure.
Independent Network Management System.

Network Management System

A Network Management System (NMS) called Whatsup Gold was installed and configured for all switches to trigger alerts based on switch and port status including CPU usage, high bandwidth, switch uptimes and many more features that are required to provide a fully functional network management system.

The NMS is installed on a dedicated Dell PowerEdge server setup such that it can be accessed via any PC on the network via internet explorer to provide feature such as:

Predictive and pre-emptive monitoring of networks and systems infrastructure and core IP services.
Automated network discovery and mapping.
Alert management platform, featuring easy to use alarms, alerts and notification capabilities for real-time operations support
Quick navigation via Web and Windows consoles.
High security and configurable role-based management.