MNDOT - Web Enabled Freeway Gate Closure System

The Freeway Gates project was a pilot project to provide a means to remotely open, close, and monitor stretches of remote freeway during poor weather conditions. The typical system includes a pair of gates for each freeway direction under control, one for the on-ramp and one for the traffic lanes. Each gate has an associated camera that, under normal conditions when the gate is open, can be used as a general surveillance tool, with pan/tilt and zoom capabilities. During extreme weather conditions when the gates are closed, the cameras will detect and report vehicles that proceed past a gate and store a snapshot of the vehicle with the date and time of the violation. Finally, the system supports a number of warning signs placed well before the interchange that can be activated to warn travelers that the road is closed ahead. Gate control, viewing and reporting for the system are all provided to the user via a simple Web page interface.

Saturn Systems developed and integrated the server software that controls all of the devices used in the system and provides Internet browser based command and control for the site. All devices in the system are controlled via wireless radio connections to a Windows-based server residing in a nearby MNDOT maintenance shop. Devices are controlled and maintained using proven multi-device control server software developed by Saturn Systems. Creation of the Web pages, their interface to the device control software and access to a MySQL gate violation-tracking database is accomplished using Java Server Pages (JSP's) running on an Apache/Tomcat Web server. The resulting system is an extensible, cost-effective system for remote interchange management.

• Java Server Pages, Java Applets
• MySQL Database
• Motorola 5.0 GHz Wireless Ethernet
• Rabbit Semiconductor 900 MHz Radio
• Apache/Tomcat Web server