Traffic control on the A 2
The active traffic management system on the A 2 highway in Lower Saxony covers the 160 kilometers from the North Rhine-Westphalian to the Saxony-Anhalt state border, making it the largest continuous ATMS in Germany and most likely the largest in the world. Around 100 display panels with associated measuring traffic sensor sites are connected in each direction of travel. The software for control and operation was last updated by Heusch/Boesefeldt in 2017.
Due to the history of the system, different releases of the technical specifications for outstations (TLS) and transmission protocols are used in parallel. The oldest system parts are controlled via a total of five TC57 servers following TLS 92 via regular local field buses, whereas the newest system parts are controlled via TLSoverIP following TLS 2012. Different display technologies (halogen lamps/LED technology) and the activation of free text entries are also supported.
In terms of content, the sub-center meets all the requirements of the specification for the hardware and software equipment of traffic centers and sub-centers MARZ 99. In addition, however, enhancements have been implemented in the control system, such as the automatic program 130 and the automatic and time-delayed cancellation of route restrictions. During 2016, rotatable prism displays for dynamic lane assignment were added to the network area between the Hannover-Ost interchange and the Lehrte interchange. This is a measure to support the operational service, as the hard shoulder is here standardly used as a regular lane. When operation service is needed, the necessary lanes are made available to them.
The implemented solution is based on the GeoDyn2® software by Heusch/Boesefeldt and is realized on a Windows server. To increase availability, also with regard to blind operation phases during configuration extensions, the entire system of the A2 is designed redundantly and is usually operated as a hot-swap stand-by system.
