Technical Specification for Remote Controlled Temporary Traffic Management Signs for use on the Highways Agency Strategic Road Network First published Printed and published by the Highways Agency Page 1 of 14
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Technical Specifications for Remote Controlled Temporary Traffic Management Signs Contents Chapter Page 1. Introduction 4 2. Functional Requirements 6 3. Optical Requirements 10 4. Electrical Requirements 12 5. Interface Requirements 13 6. Normative References 14 Page 3 of 14
1. Introduction 1.1. Scope 1.2. This Technical Specification details the functionality and performance requirements for remote controlled temporary traffic management signs for use on the Highways Agency trunk road and motorway network. 1.3. This Technical Specification is applicable to both fixed and portable devices. Approval 1.4. There is a statutory requirement under direction 56 of the Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 (TSRGD) that any equipment (including the content of all instructions stored in, or executable by it) used in connection with the signs is type approved in writing by the Secretary of State or the Scottish Ministers (Statutory Approval) before they may be placed on or adjacent to a road. 1.5. 'Road' in England or Wales is defined as 'any highway and any other road to which the public has access and includes bridges over which a road passes' (Road Traffic Act 1988 section 192 (1)). In Scotland, the definition is extended to include any way over which the public have a right of passage (Roads (Scotland) Act 1984 section 151(1)). 1.6. Statutory Approval (Approval) must be in accordance with the requirements for Self- Certification set out in TRG 0600. 1.7. Within this Technical Specification document, "The Product" is defined as all components necessary to provide a complete operational unit meeting the requirements of this document and the common requirements defined in TRG 0600. 1.8. Section 64 of the Road Traffic Regulation Act 1984 defines a "traffic sign" as "any object or device (whether fixed or portable) for conveying, to traffic on roads or any specified class of traffic, warnings, information, requirements, restrictions or prohibitions of any description" The Product is therefore considered to be a traffic sign as it provides information to road users. 1.9. The Product must comply with the Code of Connection Procedure specified in MCH1514. 1.10. The Product must have its performance required by this specification, for its intended use, declared under the Declaration of Performance and be CE marked in accordance with the relevant British adopted European standard or European Technical Approvals or Assessments and the regulation (EU) No 305/2011. The declared performance of the product shall meet the required performance of all the essential characteristics required by the specification. Declarations of performance required by the above regulation shall be provided to the Overseeing Organisation prior to installation or use or procurement or supply of the product. 1.11. Where directives 2006/95/EC or 2004/108/EC apply to the Product it must have affixed to it CE marking attesting to its conformity to the provisions of the applicable Page 4 of 14
directives. Declarations of conformity required by the above directives appropriate to the Product must be provided to the Overseeing Organisation prior to installation or use or procurement or supply of the equipment. Mutual Recognition 1.12. Where there is a requirement in this specification for compliance with any part of a British Standard or other technical specification, that requirement may be met by compliance with: (a) a standard or code of practice of a national standards body or equivalent body of any EEA state or Turkey; (b) any international standard recognised for use as a standard or code of practice by any EEA state or Turkey; (c) a technical specification recognised for use as a standard by a public authority of any EEA state or Turkey; or (d) a European Technical Assessment issued in accordance with the procedure set out in regulation (EU) No 305/2011 provided that the relevant standard imposes an equivalent level of performance and safety provided for by the stated Standard or technical specification. EEA State means a state which is a contracting party to the European Economic Area Agreement. British Standard means any standard published by the British Standards Institution including adopted European or other international standards. Implementation 1.13. Controlling Authority s Control System means a device or software used to control and monitor The Product from a location not directly adjacent to The Product, such as a depot or control centre. 1.14. Operated Locally means the use of a device to control and monitor The Product from a location adjacent to The Product, such as the roadside. 1.15. Point to Point Communications means the direct communication between a control device and The Product without the use of a third party communications bearer. Glossary of Terms 1.16. A comprehensive glossary of terms is given in Highways Agency document TA84 Code of Practice for Traffic Control and Information Systems for All-Purpose Roads. Page 5 of 14
2. Functional Requirements 2.1. The Product must be a self-contained unit and shall comply with regulation 58 of TSRGD. 2.2. The Product must only be used at road works to regulation 53 of TSRGD and individual units shall be capable of displaying one or more of the following diagrams and their permitted variants: 670 671 7001 7202 The diagrams will be prescribed in contract or scheme specific requirements. 2.3. Where required by TSRGD and Traffic Signs Manual, Chapter 8, The Product must also display the following supporting diagrams and their permitted variants: 572 645 7208 2.4. The supplier shall note that the devices may be implemented on carriageways employing between 2 and 5 lanes. Consideration should be given to the supply of devices with a range of display sizes to allow the implementation of those permitted variants of diagram 7202. The number of lanes will be prescribed in contract or scheme specific requirements. Operation and Timing Start up Sequence 2.5. Upon switch-on or restoration of power supply The Product must display the message requested by the control system. 2.6. If no message is requested then The Product must transition to or remain blank. Display 2.7. The initial message displayed to the road user when The Product is being set must be the message requested by the control system. Where this isn t possible, The Product must remain blank, then set the message as requested by the control system. 2.8. The Product must take no longer than 20 seconds to display a message from the time a command is received from the control system and in the transition between indications confusing information must not be displayed. Page 6 of 14
2.9. When The Product is not operational the display must remain blank and appear black or grey. Power Supply Interruptions 2.10. In the event of a power supply interruption to The Product equal to or less than 300ms The Product must continue to function correctly. 2.11. In the event of a power interruption to The Product greater than 300ms The Product must shutdown in a safe manner. On restoration of power The Product must follow the sequence specified in 2.5. Reliability 2.12. Electromechanical Products must have a failure rate of less than one in 1,250 operations. 2.13. An operation is defined as the setting, display and removal of the message from the display surface 2.14. Optoelectronic Products must have an MTBF of at least 30,000hours. 2.15. A failure is defined as The Product s inability to: Display the correct message when requested by the control system Stop displaying a message when requested by the control system Status and Fault Monitoring 2.16. The Product must monitor the status of all display elements and provide a positive confirmation to the control system that a requested message has been successfully set. 2.17. The Product must monitor all utilised power sources and report their status to the control system. 2.18. The Product must monitor for faults and report them to the control system. Product elements to be monitored for faults include: communications optoelectronic components electromechanical components control circuitry power systems 2.19. The Product must keep a log, in non-volatile form, of all faults that have occurred, including date and time stamped unique fault identification, for at least 28 days. The log must be retrievable and interrogatable both locally and by remote means. Fault Modes 2.20. The Product must monitor its own operation and enter a safe mode within 100ms if it detects a critical fault condition. Page 7 of 14
2.21. A critical fault condition is defined as a fault which may either cause the display to activate at a time other than when requested by the control system or lead to a message being displayed that might be misinterpreted or incorrect. Construction 2.22. The Product and its housing must meet the minimum requirements of BS EN 12966-1 to environmental classes shown in Table 2.1. Environmental Parameter Temperature Protection Pollution Table 2.1 Class T1 P3 D2 2.23. The Product and its housing must meet the minimum requirements of BS EN 12899-1 as detailed in Table 2.2 Requirement / Characteristic from Mandate Clauses in the European Standard meeting the Mandate Mandated Level or Class Fixings 7.1.14 Pass Wind actions 5.3.1 WL7 Temporary deflection (sign 5.4.1 TDB2 plates) bending Temporary deflection 5.4.1 TDB2 (supports) bending Temporary deflection 5.4.1 TDT5 (supports) torsion Permanent deflection 5.4.2 Pass Partial safety factor 5.2 PAF1 Impact resistance 4.1.2, 7.4.2.3 Pass Table 2.2 Product Configuration 2.24. The Product must allow local configuration of communications settings. Page 8 of 14
Additional Requirements 2.25. If The Product has the ability to rotate through 90 degrees, in either direction from its parked location about the vertical axis then rotation must be controlled as show in Table 2.3: Parameter Value Rotation 90 +/-1.0 degrees Maximum backlash +/- 0.5 degrees Table 2.3 2.26. If provided, this facility must be achieved using an electromechanical or equivalent actuator. In addition: The rotation of the sign shall take no longer than 30 seconds from parked to operational, and vice versa. The rotation may include slow-start and slow-stop in order to minimise undue wear. Its operation must be monitored for status and faults, and these shall be reported to the control system in accordance with 2.17. The reliability of this facility shall be in accordance with Clause 2.11. 2.27. The Product may include facilities to allow remote maintenance access to the sign in order to diagnose and resolve faults. Page 9 of 14
3. Optical Requirements General 3.1. The Product may incorporate retro-reflective or optoelectronic elements to achieve the functional requirements. Retro-reflective Elements 3.2. Retro-reflective elements must meet the requirements of BS EN 12899-1 to optical performance classes shown in Table 3.1. Photometric Parameter Daylight Chromaticity and Luminance Coefficient of Retroreflection Table 3.1 Class CR1 RA2 Optoelectronic Elements 3.3. Products making use of optoelectronic elements must conform to optical performance requirements shown in Table 3.2, as defined in BS EN 12966-1. Photometric Parameter Colour Luminance Luminance Ratio Beam Width Uniformity Visible Flicker Table 3.2 Optical Performance C2 L3 R3 B3 Pass Pass 3.4. The Product must display the colours required to accurately represent the diagrams as detailed in Clauses 2.2 and 2.3 of this document. Page 10 of 14
Dimming 3.5. Not precluding the requirements of BS EN 12966-1, The Product must provide two levels of luminance, with the Dim used at ambient light level of less than 390lx and Bright being used at values of 390lx and above. The Dim setting must be 1/20 th of the Luminance requirement defined in Table 3.1. 3.6. The Product must be configurable to allow luminance levels to be set by either the sign or the control system. Page 11 of 14
4. Electrical Requirements 4.1. The Product must incorporate a power source with sufficient capacity to operate, without external power for a minimum of 18 hours. 4.2. Any battery back-up arrangements employed must be such that the recovery time T R is less than five times the back-up time T B, where: T B is the maximum time for which the battery back-up arrangements are required to support autonomous operation; T R is the time taken for the battery back-up arrangements to recharge from a point where autonomous operation has occurred for a period equal to T B to a point where the battery back-up arrangements are capable of supporting autonomous operation for a period of at least 80% of T B. 4.3. T B is as per Clause 4.1. Additional Options and Requirements 4.4. The Product may operate from a mains power supply. 4.5. Where The Product makes use of an external power supply that falls within the definitions of Low Voltage Directive, it must comply with the requirements of the Directive and the requirements of BS 7671. 4.6. Where a mains power supply is used, the Product must incorporate the facility to automatically switch to the back-up battery in the event of a mains failure 4.7. This change over between power sources must not interfere with the operation of the Product given the restrictions of 2.10 and 2.11 above. 4.8. Where battery back-up is provided, The Product must include the facility to recharge the back-up battery using external energy generation. 4.9. The re-charging facility must form part of The Product s power system and must be status monitored as per Clause 2.16. Page 12 of 14
5. Interface and Communications Requirements 5.1. The Product must be communicated with by means of either wired or wireless communication bearers or both. 5.2. Where The Product is operated by a control system located in the Controlling Authority s premises then Clauses 5.3 to 5.6 apply. 5.3. The Product must incorporate an interface to allow connectivity with a control system. 5.4. The Product must be compliant with UTMC TS-003. 5.5. Data exchange with the control system must be achieved using the VMS MIB (UM/003) as defined in UTMC TS-004. 5.6. The Product must use a NRTS service to connect to the Controlling Authority's control system. These services will be a NRTS Service Category 8 wired connection, or NRTS SIM based provision for wireless connection. Exact connectivity services must be agreed with NRTS. 5.7. Where The Product is portable and operated locally, then a point to point communications system may be used. Page 13 of 14
6. Normative References 6.1. Where undated references are listed, the latest issue of the publication applies. British Standards 6.2. The British Standards Institution, London, publishes British Standards. Contact: +44 (0) 845 086 9001 www.bsigroup.co.uk/en-gb/standards BS 7671 BS EN 12899-1 BS EN 12966-1 Requirements for Electrical Installation Fixed, Vertical Road Traffic Signs Road Vertical Sign - Variable Message Traffic Signs Specifications 6.3. Specifications published by the Highways Agency. TR 2130 TRG 0600 MCH1514 Environmental Tests for Motorway Communications Equipment and Portable and Permanent Road Traffic Control Equipment Self-Certification Procedures for Statutory Approval of Traffic Control Equipment (2005/521/UK) Code of Connection: Application process for Agency Project Sponsors, Suppliers and Maintainers Download from: http://www.tssplansregistry.org Legislation Constructions Products Regulations 305/2011 Low Voltage Directive 2006/95/EC Electromagnetic Compatibility Directive 2004/108/EC The Traffic Signs Regulations and General Directions 2002 (SI 2002/3113) (as amended) (2011/005/UK) Note: This document was notified in draft to the European Commission in accordance with Directive 98/34/EC, as amended by Directive 98/48/EC Page 14 of 14