A new highway relies on AI-powered video, to keep traffic moving smoothly and safely and to provide operators with information on traffic volume and speed.
To link the cities of Vicenza and Treviso in Italy, the first stone of what is now the Pedemontana Veneta or “SPV” toll highway was laid in November 2011 in Romano d’Ezzelino, and in 2012 work began on the first stretch of the 2.6-billion-euro road. The SPV’s 162 kilometres interconnect with three national motorways.
Building the highway presented a number of engineering challenges including bridging the Poscola, Astico, Laverda, Muson and Brenta rivers – that last requiring a bridge of 430 metres long. The highway also features two natural tunnels and 33 artificial tunnels, the longest of six kilometres.
Given the amount of traffic expected, SPV’s operators wanted to keep the highway moving smoothly and safely and have access to data on traffic volumes and average speeds. They are using an AI-powered video surveillance system from Hanwha Techwin and its technology partner, Sprinx.
Italian distributor SIRIUS – COMPASS and systems integrators SIS scpa and Pagano Spa installed 600 cameras along the route, using Hanwha Techwin’s high-resolution Wisenet cameras with day and night ICR and a wide dynamic range to deliver images regardless of light levels. Also installed are Hanwha Techwin 32x zoom PTZ dome cameras, all managed through a Wisenet WAVE video management system.
The cameras are integrated with analytics product company Sprinx’s ‘traffix.ai’ solution, which uses deep learning and image processing to deliver a range of server-based analytic functions that here cover safety for road users and provide insight into how the highway is being used.
These functions include automatically detecting traffic incidents in real-time and alerting the highway’s operators to initiate an emergency response. Whether it is a stalled vehicle in one of the highway’s lanes, or a car travelling the wrong way, the system can detect events that could cause congestion at best and accidents at worst. The solution can also spot and alert operators to smoke in any of the highway’s many tunnels, which might indicate a traffic incident or a fire.
Using Hanwha Techwin’s cameras as a traffic sensor, the Sprinx software is also able to detect queues of traffic and objects in the road, such as cargo spilt by vehicles en route and which present a hazard for traffic. The system can alert operators to any pedestrians who have strayed onto the highway.
Deploying AI in the system delivers benefits for the SPV beyond safety. Using Sprinx’s traffic analytics, the system installed along the length of the highway keeps track of vehicles moving in any of the Wisenet cameras’ field of view, and is able to collect data on the highway’s two lanes at the same time and in both directions of travel. The traffic data that can be recorded and stored as a result provide a source of insight into how and when the highway is being used and by what types of vehicles. Operators can carry out vehicle counting, measure traffic density and ascertain the average speed of vehicles. Fully integrated with the Wisent Wave video management system, all this information is delivered via an intuitive web user interface.
Gerando Capezzuto of SIS scpa said: “Together, Hanwha Techwin and Sprinx make the Pedemontana Veneta highway safer for road users and help keep traffic flowing. Using the performing combination of Sprinx’s AI video analytics and the Wisenet Wave VMS platform of Hanwha Techwin, we are able to instantly detect incidents along hundreds of kilometres of road to provide a faster response, while the insights it has provided into how the highway is being used are proving invaluable in maximising the efficient use of the road.”
