Remote operation of inland waterway infrastructure has been around for about 2 to 3 decades. It is now time to evolve towards a reference design so we can professionalize the way remote control is designed and implemented and benefit from the opportunities that lie ahead in the future of remote control.
Why do we not yet have a reference design?
Each bridge or lock is typically designed for its specific boundary conditions and reflects the state of the art of technology at the time of construction. This leads to a wide variety of design and implementations of structures and systems. They were never designed to be connected. This is major technical challenge when implementing remote control.
Currently, history repeats itself. Several locks and bridges are combined into increasingly larger corridors, operating from a control center. When building these centers, several design choices are made based on the involved structures and systems. Then again, this leads to a wide variety of design and implementations of control centers and Human-Machine-Interfaces (HMI). Therefore, these centers are not designed to be interoperable.
We make design choices based on the task at hand, the technology at our disposal and we search for the best fit. We don’t take the bigger picture and the future ahead into account, but we should.
Why do we need a reference design?
The introduction of remote operation is historically justified by two main arguments: increasing efficiency by saving manpower and expanding operating hours for waterways with lower volumes of traffic.
However, if we can evolve towards interoperable control centers and interchangeable HMI’s, several more advantages can be achieved:
- Increased safety by systematically reviewing and auditing both technical and operational standards
- Speed up implementation of remote control projects by reduced design effort
- Cost-cutting by standardization
- Allow for standardized and professional training of operators instead of on-the-job training
- Allow for back-up and fail-over scenarios for control centers in a mesh-like overall system
- Even more efficiency gains by flexibility in the scheduling of workforce
What are the challenges in establishing a reference design?
- Paper exercises have the risk of not addressing the real-life problems and discussions experienced in the field during construction; we need more than texts and drawings to communicate and discuss.
How do we establish a reference design?
De Vlaamse Waterweg NV has set up the AWATAR project. AWATAR stands for Automation of Waterways: Training and Reference.
The 3 main goals of AWATAR are:
- to establish and maintain the technical and operational reference
- to allow for standardized and professional training
- facilitate, professionalize and mature the way remote control is implemented
We made virtual 3D models of several lock and bridges, together with models of ships, cars, pedestrians, … inside a gaming engine. We connected these virtual models with real PLC and SCADA software and simulated different camera-viewpoints, traffic situations and weather conditions.
This allowes us to discuss and try very different HMI designs, camera-view points, functional behavior, operational procedures, … all without disturbing any real-life operation and in great detail.
We organized multiple participation sessions, workshops and feedback-loops with both engineers and operators. We used Virtual Reality Glasses to design the operator desk.
What is the result?
- A dominant design well documented by technical and operational standards, manuals … supported by both operators and engineers
- A design thoroughly checked on safety issues
- A detailed design and working prototype of the training-simulator
- A camera-simulator, to test camera-viewpoints
- A fully developed training program
- A solid foundation of thrust between engineers and operators
- a modular design, to allow for future changes and technological advancements.
What are the lessons learned?
- It takes time and effort to built trust and understanding and to get the right persons involved, but it is worth it;
- Integration of knowledge and experience from operators in an early stage, results in a more useful design;
- The more tangible and life-like the simulator, the more detailed and interesting the discussions get;
- To keep the engineers involved and the results usable in the field, built it with real automation components and software as much as possible;
- Use a contracter with experience in automation of waterway infrastructure;
What is the future?
This simulator is placed in an operator training center. This center is the meeting point where engineers and operators can thoroughly discuss issues, whereas the conclusions will then form the reference point for the whole organization. It is a physical location but at the same time, it forms a dynamic body of knowledge.
By having a clear and up-to-date reference, we professionalize our technology management. It allows to evolve to an interoperable and thus robust mesh-like setup of control centers. We will build a network of control centers, rather than separate islands.