DILAX explains how it can offer passenger fl ow monitoring within railway stations. Stand F41
and other public spaces to be automatically monitored and recorded. There are many benefi ts to having this information includ- ing safety, station layout planning, com- mercial benefi ts and operations planning.
T
The DILAX solution technology uses im- age converters, essentially a camera with a wide-viewing angle, and a People Counting Unit (PCU). The image converter is used to continuously capture images of people’s movements and these images are relayed to the PCU, which uses specially developed image processing algorithms to recognise movements of individual pixels within the image. Certain procedures are then used to group the individual pixels into objects, which are tracked within a defi ned record- ing area.
This makes it possible to measure the movement trajectory of objects and if these objects fully cross a pre-defi ned counting line they increment a directionally specifi c counter. The counting line is freely confi gu- rable in terms of its form and position and can be adjusted at any time during subse- quent operations. The system is capable of differentiating between objects of different size, such as adults, children, station carts or suitcases.
A single image converter can be simultane- ously counting people in or out of an area or tracking their movements within a pre- defi ned boundary. Multiple image convert- ers can be linked such that a person can be tracked throughout their journey through the station or other open space. This tech- nology can provide invaluable information in a variety of situations within the railway station environment.
Safety considerations
Using the technology it is possible to con- tinuously monitor for overcrowding in var- ious parts of the station such as escalators, tunnels, ticket barriers and then to trigger a response such as a warning signal either direct to passengers by pre-recorded mes- sage or by alerting staff to take some re- medial action. Or the system might enable passengers to be automatically directed to another route if one entrance is becoming dangerously overcrowded.
echnology now exists that enables the fl ow of passengers in railway stations
Station layout planning
Over a period of time the system will ac- cumulate statistical data about the fl ow of people through the station and how this fl ow relates to the size and positioning of doorways, barriers, escalators and other areas of the station. The designers of new stations or re-modelled older stations can get valuable insight into the most effective use of space to facilitate the safe movement of passengers through the station complex.
Commercial applications
Stations are fast becoming retail centres in a similar progression to that seen in airports over recent years. Major London stations such as the newly refurbished St Pancras International are ‘shopping oppor- tunities’ for waiting passengers.
An automatic people counting system can provide the station operator with informa- tion about which locations in the station have the highest retail footfall so rents can be determined accordingly. In addition, the system could show how long people pause at advertising or other promotional materials.
Operations planning
The data gathered from an automatic peo- ple counting system will assist greatly in the planning of rail operations at a station. Monitoring on platforms will show how passengers’ behaviour affects train loading and dwell times.
A real time system might use the data to direct passengers to different parts of the train to avoid delays caused by bunching around particular doors.
Here in the UK and in Ireland we have installed over 800 rail vehicles with au- tomatic passenger counting systems and we are currently working with various train manufacturers on further installa- tions. We can provide UK-based expertise in both the system hardware and the man- agement of the data including analysis and report generation.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
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www.dilax.com rail technology magazine Apr/May 11 | 125
Installation
The system is easy to install using latest technology image converter devices that are powered over a single Ethernet cable to each device (Power over Ethernet or PoE). A central controller and server station can be installed at any convenient location where power and network connection is available. The image converters can be installed at any height, from a few metres to 30 metres or more, and thus can make effective use of the high roof heights in a typical major station.
Multiple locations
The system can be located in many stations and managed from a single server with ac- cess to the data from any PC connected to the internet.
DILAX Systems UK Limited is the UK and Ireland
subsidiary of DILAX Intelcom
GmbH, a major supplier of Automatic Pas- senger Counting Systems. We specialise in the supply of passenger counting solutions in the transport environment and we have completed over 400 projects successfully in this market.
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