Skip to main content

Simulation Systems wins England traffic signal management upgrade

Highways England has awarded a contract to deliver a central traffic signal control and management system for south-east England to Simulation Systems Limited (SSL) Central to the contract, for England’s motorway and major A-roads, will be a Siemens Stratos system which is designed to be the UK’s first cloud-hosted, fully integrated traffic control and management solution. The project will also include Hosted-SCOOT, a real time UTC and adaptive traffic control system. It is already used to manage and
June 21, 2016 Read time: 3 mins
A single hosted solution for south-east England
Highways England has awarded a contract to deliver a central traffic signal control and management system for south-east England to Simulation Systems Limited (SSL)

Central to the contract, for England’s motorway and major A-roads, will be a 1134 Siemens Stratos system which is designed to be the UK’s first cloud-hosted, fully integrated traffic control and management solution.

The project will also include Hosted-SCOOT, a real time UTC and adaptive traffic control system. It is already used to manage and co-ordinate traffic control for 76 UK authorities, including the control of many 8100 Highways England junctions.

The Siemens Stratos system will replace the existing UTC control system for London’s orbital motorway, the M25. It will bring the control of sites in central southern England and the south-east under the control of the new system. There will be expansion capacity for other regional areas.

Gary Cox, product sales manager for Simulation Systems urban systems area, said the functionality offered by PC SCOOT has been migrated into Stratos to offer the module known as Hosted-SCOOT. “This allows UTC and SCOOT-controlled junctions to be quickly migrated to Stratos control where the sites already have UG405 outstations and IP communications in place,” he said.

SSL, based near Bristol in south-west England, has already started delivery of a traffic signals module to Highways England. When linked to the latest generation of IP outstations, it will offer on a single platform the functionality of two previously offered but separate systems.

This provides Highways England with a single hosted solution for both real-time control and monitoring. The hosted system will be accessed through secure internet-based connections providing the flexibility to operate the system from many locations by many operators.

SSL said that older sites can be easily upgraded by means of installing new UG405-compliant outstations and moving to IP communications. This can be done by either upgrading the existing analogue leased line to broadband or by providing easily deployed 3G technology.

A planned move to IP communications as part of this project implementation will allow Highways England to avoid any potential interruptions to future control as a result of withdrawing any analogue communication lines over the next few years. SSL said that Highways England has already made significant progress on this, noted SSL managing director Louis Thompson.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Safer construction sites with technology
    April 7, 2022
    Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon, is now offering upgrades to its modular safety awareness solutions. The Leica iCON PA10 and PA80 are suited for use on construction sites and were designed initially to concentrate on identifying pedestrians.
  • R&W takes in-house the recycling of dry and wet waste
    January 15, 2016
    With the introduction of EU regulations in 2012 controlling the disposal of dry and wet waste from road sweepings and gully waste and it is not acceptable to send this material to landfill. Many local authorities have had to find an alternative solution. R&W Civil Engineering in the southern UK country of Hampshire, is a specialist in highway construction, maintenance and other transport related services. It, along with other contractors started transporting waste material to the nearest processing stati
  • Smart constructioon with GIS, GPS design technology
    May 2, 2012
    A UK highway project has benefited from the latest software, GIS and GPS technology, Mike Woof reports. Sophisticated software, GIS and GPS technology has played an important role in a large highway upgrade project in the UK and helping to increase efficiency and drive down construction costs.
  • High quality paving has been achieved at the Silverstone race track
    April 6, 2020
    Contractor Tarmac helped provide a high-quality surface for the UK’s famous Silverstone F1 racetrack, with the help of sophisticated technology from Topcon Positioning and Volz Consulting