LonWorks Technology Ensures Safe Construction of Paris Peripheral Highway

When a large construction firm needed a reliable tracking system for a major underground project near Paris, it avoided tunnel vision with an open, LonWorks based system from Echelon.

SOCATOP is a consortium of construction companies (GTM Construction, VINCI, EIFFAGE, and COLAS) that specializes in building tunnels for highways and railroads in France. The company has been involved in major projects in the past, such as the French portion of the Chunnel connecting France and the United Kingdom. Today, SOCATOP is building a 10 mile (17 km), two-level tunnel starting at Rueil, Malmaison for the new western section of the outer peripheral highway around Paris, Route A86.

Digging for a Solution

Following a spate of tunnel accidents and fires in the past few years, special emphasis is being placed on safety, both in the operational and construction phases. Due to the extreme length and depth of the Route A86 tunnel, the ability to immediately locate traffic, equipment, and people in emergency situations is crucial.

The A86 West tunnel, when completed, will form the final link of the A86 ringroad around Greater Paris.

To improve safety and efficiency during construction, SOCATOP required a reliable system to track and locate all movement over the full length of the tunnel. Lacking the necessary communication infrastructure, it wanted a system that would operate over the tunnel’s existing electrical power lines, and which would continue to function as the power lines in the tunnel are extended. Moreover, it needed a system that included standalone back-up abilities, enabling it to continue working in the event of server failure or shutdown.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

SOCATOP selected a solution based on LonWorks. The LonWorks based EIRISTM Local Positioning System from ELPAS can locate and track workers and vehicles in real time inside the tunnel currently under construction. Echelon's LonWorks platform allows the integration of key subsystems (such as security, lighting, fire, and HVAC) from multiple manufacturers into a single, smart system. And, as new portions of the project are upgraded or entire new sites are added, users are free to pick products and services from any vendor they choose — without fear of being locked in to working with one supplier. “Relying on an open standard architecture allowed us to overcome challenges arising from having to work with a variety of vendors to implement one solution,” said Gabriel Garcia, Security Product Manager for CIAC, the system integrator on the A86 tunnel project.

The EIRIS Local Positioning System allows people, equipment, and vehicles, such as trains and trucks, to be displayed graphically, enabling the user to keep track of all movements on the site. Furthermore, the system provides continuous real-time location, condition, and operation status of tagged equipment. The equipment whereabouts, on/off status, etc. are instantly available to the user and are automatically recorded in the database. In addition, the end-user is provided with a TCP/IP development tool that enables full customization of SOCATOP’s interface to LonWorks devices.

“I am impressed with the reliability and accuracy of the system. It dramatically improved our level of safety, providing us with the relevant information as to who is where at all times. Thus, the system enabled us to react promptly to emergency events” stated Mr. Raynald Fréant, Principal Engineer with SOCATOP.

Real-time display of the directions of all the vehicles within the tunnel.

People, vehicles, and equipment are assigned badges and tags that transmit coded FR signals. These signals are processed by mounted readers (RDRs). The events are then processed by LPUs and sent over the network via existing electrical power lines over several kilometers in length. The server processes the data and displays the location information in real-time in a user-friendly graphical interface format.

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