NHW_N31

Transportation

National Highways

Wakefield, UK

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OVERVIEW
BACKGROUND
PROCESS
IMPACT
DETAILS

Man looking at the screen wall in front of him

 

Audiovisual technology helps National Highways keep traffic moving smoothly.

National Highways is a government-owned company that operates, manages and maintains England’s motorways and major roads to ensure that journeys are safe, smooth and reliable. To manage the network, National Highways operates seven Regional Operations Centres (ROCs) where teams monitor roads 24/7.

 

At the Yorkshire and North East ROC in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, National Highways invested in audiovisual systems from Sharp NEC in the control room and conference room. Control room operators can view traffic feeds from multiple sources on three large NEC LCD videowalls so they can make critical decisions and respond quickly to incidents. Other team members in the conference room can view the same information on 98-inch NEC displays to National Highway's mission-critical support and response management.

 

Electrosonic worked directly with National Highways to create an environment focused on the needs of the operators. Working in partnership with Sharp NEC, Electrosonic was responsible for designing, engineering, installing and integrating the audiovisual solution.

Man looking at the screen wall in front of him

 

Enabling operators to make critical decisions quickly and accurately.

National Highways operations teams work in a fast paced environment, monitoring roads and responding to incidents 24/7, deploying resources and coordinating emergency repairs. Their effectiveness depends on analyzing traffic feeds from many different sources and making real-time decisions about appropriate responses. From the outset, the team wanted to create the optimum environment for operations with a critical focus on human factors.

 

In the control room, they needed a videowall solution that would enable operators to monitor the status of the roads and focus on incidents as they occur. The videowalls had to offer optimum viewing from different angles under all lighting conditions, with the ability to zoom in on an area to gain real-time visibility on the roadways. In the conference room, team members need to access the same video feeds on a smaller display so they can plan and coordinate response and follow-up actions with field teams and other agencies.

Man looking at the screen wall in front of him

 

Close collaboration drives faster project delivery.

Electrosonic is highly experienced in designing and integrating audiovisual solutions for command and control rooms. Electrosonic has also worked previously with National Highways, providing support services for all seven Regional Operations Centres. At the Yorkshire and North East ROC, Electrosonic worked as part of a larger project team, including Sharp NEC, architects and building contractors. The close collaboration enabled a seamless, consistent approach throughout the project and ensured rapid delivery within an extremely tight timeframe.

 

The project covered audiovisual design and installation of three 2x4 55-inch narrow-bezel NEC LCD videowalls, a UVS videowall server and a 98-inch non-interactive NEC display screen with a Logitech tap and a Microsoft Teams system.

 

At the Design stage, our Technology Design Consulting team translated the operational and environmental requirements into a technology solution that was created to focus on human factors. The design process included detailed audiovisual design of videowalls, displays and servers. At the Build stage, Electrosonic provided comprehensive services, including technical direction, detailed engineering, fabrication, installation and integration, system programming, commissioning and project management.

 

 

 

Man looking at the screen wall in front of him

 

Audiovisual supports effective control of strategic road networks

Electrosonic’s solution for the Yorkshire and North East Regional Control Centre has helped to improve operational efficiency and plays a key role in the transition from just monitoring roads to actively managing them.

 

The NEC videowalls and conference room display support continuous effective monitoring and analysis and improved data visualisation, which improves situational awareness, reduces the risk of human error and enables faster collaborative decision-making and response times. By responding rapidly, control room operators can minimise delays to drivers, keep traffic moving and reduce the risk of further escalation when incidents occur.

 

Electrosonic’s audiovisual design teams were focused on the operator, enabling staff with a comfortable working environment, which improves efficiency and increases operational effectiveness.

Client:
National Highways

Location:
Wakefield, West Yorkshire, UK

Project partners:
Sharp NEC

Services:

  • Technology Design Consulting
  • Audiovisual Design
  • Build & System Integration
  • Project Management
  • Detailed Engineering
  • Technical Direction
  • Fabrication
  • Factory Acceptance Testing
  • Installation & Integration
  • System Commissioning
  • System Programming
  • Training

CONTROL ROOM

The 'eyes and ears' of the road network

The control room is the nerve center of operations at the Yorkshire and North East ROC. Operators monitor real-time road conditions on three large videowalls that provide live feeds from the regions’ motorways and main roads. The videowalls give operators continuous picture of overall traffic conditions, while enabling them to zoom in and view different angles of specific areas if an incident occurs.

Audible and visual alarms notify operators of an incident so that they can focus attention on the incident and initiate response procedures. The real-time traffic data also helps operators plan roadside signaling alerts or speed control measures to minimise congestion and reduce the risk of accidents during peak traffic, maintenance work, or poor weather conditions.

Side angle of video wall
A center angle of a video wall with 8 screens
Two men looking at a wall of screens from afar
Four men looking at 22 screens on a wall in the control room

CONFERENCE ROOM

Collaborative management of the roads  

The conference room is the key meeting area for response and management teams. The display screen provides the same video feeds as the videowalls in the control room, which enables the response team to coordinate activities based on up-to-date information.

Integration with Microsoft Teams enables the team to share data with police, and other agencies to provide a fully coordinated response.

Management teams can view historic data on the screens to review and analyse incidents or plan remedial measures to reduce risk in the future. Traffic data also helps them plan and manage maintenance programs to minimise disruption on the roads.

A screen on the wall and a desk with chairs in front of it
The conference room with a table and a side monitor used to control the main tv
Two men looking at the screen in the conference room
Three men in the conference room looking at a screen through the view behind blinds
Multiple people in a control room sitting down and staring at their computers

Best Practices for Control Room Audiovisual Design

Learn how holistic AV design for control rooms increases operational efficiency and improves working conditions in fast-paced environments.

LEARN MORE
The exterior of the National Highways building
The conference room through the view behind blinds
Two men looking at a screen in the conference room from an angled view with a screen in the corner
The conference room with a screen and a table with chairs taken from the back of the room
Two men looking at a video wall angled behind their heads
A side angle of the video wall
A man sitting down at his desk looking over the monitors to view the video wall
An angled view of the control room with monitors, desks and a video wall
Two blurred men staring at the video wall from the left side of the room
Electrosonic’s approach was focused and flexible. They worked closely with our Technical and Operational teams to better understand our needs, designing and building an audiovisual solution that helps us offer the best possible service to our team and helping to ensure our major roads are more dependable, durable and – most importantly – are safe.
Paul Trow, Senior Delivery Manager
National Highways