7Operation and Control requirements#

7.1General#

The control system requirements defined in MRTS201 General Equipment Requirements apply to this Technical Specification.

Additional control system requirements for equipment provided under this Technical Specification are described below.

The normal method of TCMS operation and control is via a local hand-held device (HHD). Where the HHD fails or is temporarily unavailable the TCMS shall provide a mechanism for manually displaying or changing to the desired message.

7.2Short-range Hand-held device (HHD)#

The following requirements shall apply to the use of the HHD:

  • it shall be a Mobile phone or tablet using industry standard Mobile technology.
  • it shall host an operating system platform such as Android® operating system or iOS, which are industry standards at the time of application of this Technical Specification, and
  • the application software shall be available to operate in either of the two platforms above.

Refer to Clause 9 for further requirements on the software application on the HHD.

7.3System diagnostics#

Each TCMS and HHD shall be able to detect system error or failure arising from network disruption or power failure. This can be implemented by employing a watchdog.

Once such failure is detected and resolved, the TCMS or HHD shall take corrective action to restore normal operation.

The occurrence of such intermittent faults shall not compromise the overall system operational reliability specified in Clause 5.3.

7.4Global Positioning System (GPS)#

Where required, each TCMS shall be fitted with a GPS receiver. The onboard GPS receiver shall monitor the location in three dimensions (latitude, longitude and altitude) of each sign and also synchronise the TCMS internal clock. The TCMS shall provide an alarm to the HHD if a sign is moved beyond a specified perimeter. This may be achieved using a virtual perimeter or 'geo-fence'.

7.5Directional compass capability#

Each TCMS may have the ability to discern the installed directional orientation and tilt, and whether any subsequent change in direction or tilt has been detected, through the use of inertial type sensor such as gyroscopes and/or accelerometers.

7.6Labelling and identification#

Each HHD and TCMS shall each have a unique alphanumeric communications ID.

A physical label displaying TCMS ID must be clearly visible on the TCMS.

7.7TCMS logs#

7.7.1General#

The TCMS system shall make provision for:

  • real-time monitoring and logging of the sign status (see Clause 7.7.2), and
  • Historical logging of TCMS operations (see Clause 7.7.3)

All logs shall be grouped by the sign (through its respective sign ID) and include the date and time stamp for all entries and may be exported in a readily acceptable format, such as comma delimited text file (.csv), Microsoft Excel (.xls) or other formats as agreed with the project representative.

The log storage shall be sufficient to allow at least 200 hours of continuous logging without overwriting. The oldest event record shall be overwritten first when the log file storage capacity has been exceeded.

Where a HHD connection is in session, the HHD software shall be synchronised and receive updates dynamically from the respective TCMS as well as upload log data to the remote server.

7.7.2Real time TCMS status logging and monitoring#

The real-time TCMS logging and monitoring to be displayed on the HHD while it is connected to the sign network shall as a minimum show:

  • TCMS unique ID and group ID/name
  • TCMS GPS location on map
  • Currently displayed message and the set of available messages on each TCMS
  • Whether the message request to the TCMS was implemented or not
  • Battery level
  • Network connectivity between TCMS and HHD
  • Network connectivity between HHD and remote server (refer to 9.3 for details of remote monitoring application)), where required, and
  • Other feedback status items during sign activation process.

7.7.3Historical logging of TCMS operations#

In addition to the real time status logging, the HHD shall capture time-stamped historical logging and monitoring information and make available for upload to a remote server for retrieval by the administrator. As a minimum the logged information for display by the remote server shall include:

  • User login activity including HHD message requests, the unique identifier of the HHD requesting message change and the username under which the request was made and the nature of the requested change (previous and current display)
  • device activation logs including initialisation of TCMS (power up and restarts)
  • loss of communication between HHD and TCMS
  • device update including all configuration changes (for example, made through HHD configuration software), and
  • change activity including clearance of faults, replacement of batteries, TCMS re-location.

7.7.4Critical faults#

Where critical faults occur:

  1. a)if the sign is connected to the HHD, an alarm shall also be generated on the user alarm monitoring interface, and
  2. b)the TCMS shall display the latest face prior to failure.
Source: MRTS249 · pages 11–13 Open PDF at this page Search this document