Managing Hyderabad Traffic

Hyderabad’s vehicle density of 720 vehicles / km is the second largest in the country. When the Hyderabad police and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation decided to replace the 20-year-old standalone signals in 2011-2012, Bharat Electronics Limited won the contract to install automated and centrally controlled signals in 221 junction (180 existing + 41 new) in a phased manner. The scope of the project has been for supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance of New Integrated Traffic Signalling System in Hyderabad on Build, Transfer & Maintain (BTM) Model. The project is nearing completion.

First-of-its kind in India, H-TRIMS controls Vehicle Actuated Signals, with 800 Virtual Loop Cameras. All signals can be monitored and configured remotely from a Traffic Command Center. Leased line over fiber connectivity at each junction is provided and 3G connectivity as a fall back. The signals have extra bright LEDs with dimming feature. The other features include Remote Health Monitoring of the signals, Variable Message Sign Boards, Web based Compliant Monitoring System, Centralised Management Information System, Vehicle Actuated Signal and Corridor Synchonization.

“The requirement of the Hyderabad Traffic Police was for Vehicle actuation of Traffic Signal using camera. Though monochrome camera was sufficient to meet the customer compliance, Bharat Electronics Limited provided color camera with video streaming capability. Apart from vehicle actuation, live video of junction is also made available. For the end user (Traffic Police) it is a delight. Monochrome camera requires visit to each junction for drawing of virtual loop. With streaming camera in place, virtual loops can be drawn from a centralized location”, said V. Mohan Kumar, Additional General Manager, Projects & Consultancy & Solar Products, Bharat Electronics Limited.

Similarly, the AC power was sufficient as source of supply but the system is offered with solar power with power optimization techniques using MPPT (Maximum power point tracking). Solar power makes the customer happy as it reduces his operating cost.

Power Management module along with AC-DC charger & Solar Charger is a hybrid solution designed for efficient utilization of solar energy with the primary focus of keeping the battery fully charged. The battery in turn delivers power to traffic signal system. The module gives maximum preference for solar power and only in the absence of solar power; the grid power is used. The switching over to solar traffic signals facilitates energy savings (Approx: 1 lakh units for 100 junctions/year).

The software based selection, based on the time of day, results in reduced consumption of power when the signal is blinking, thus saving power.

HTRIMS solution is able to exploit the technological advantage at minimum cost by inducting the cutting edge technology with open architecture, open source code modules for building blocks. Through HTRIMS, market differentiation has been created and efforts put in will give dividends in future.

– V. Mohan Kumar