Control Solutions for Variable Message Sign (VMS) Applications

Having developed extensive experience of controlling multiple I/Os and complex relationships between devices, and with considerable expertise in creating LED and LCD human/machine control interfaces, electronic signs and safety warning systems were a natural progression. From over-road Variable Message Signs (VMS) to in-road alert devices, our multifaceted skills, including RF and remote communications, data-logging and safety interlocks (systems that prevent an operation from occurring if an unsafe condition exists), have resulted in some innovative solutions to old problems.

CASE STUDY #1 - Over-road Electronic Variable Messaging Signs

While variable traffic signs are nothing new, it took PNE to add a user-friendly operator interface to the variable sign control and management system we developed for a major toll road project in Brisbane. Designed from the ground up, our system features automatic luminosity control, self-diagnostics and reporting systems, as well as a simple PC application that allows operators to generate text or graphics via a keyboard (for simple text) or more complex graphics via an intuitive pixel mapping system.

CASE STUDY #2 - In-Road Advance Warning Beacon

In 2004 a Sydney-based industrial designer had a concept for an in-road, solar powered, radio controlled, flashing warning beacon, that would be low cost and therefore more affordable for general deployment in school zones. The concept was devised after being challenged by his local school's P&C group in response to several near misses outside the school during school zone hours.

After presenting the concept on the ABC's New Inventors, we entered into discussions regarding how to commercialise the concept. After gaining approval for road trials by the NSW RTA, a system was engineered that was compact, low profile, entirely self contained, and battery powered (not solar, which proved too problematic), and would flash for three hours a day, five days a week, for up to five years, before having to be replaced.

The big R&D hurdle proved to be the RF control system, as communications with a device that stuck no more than 20mm out of the road and that could be occluded by passing or parked vehicles was never going to be an easy technical issue to resolve. However, a year after development started, we successfully deployed a system that proved to be highly reliable, was far cheaper to install than other hard-wired (externally powered and controlled) in-road lights, had rogrammable flash patterns, and where each light could be individually monitored remotely by teh road authority regading its operational status, thereby greatly improving management and maintenance.

After two design iterations, teh resulting product, called SafeZone, is a good example of how we have taken other people's ideas, worked with them to develop a functional specification, then engineered and manufactured a finished, self contained, end-to-end solution, then negotiated with the relevant government authorities to seek approvals to test and prove hte new technology.

Discover more at www.safezonealert.com.au