Subscriber Discussion

Tail Gating Solution For 18 Wheelers?

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keith maxwell
May 11, 2017
Northeast Remote Surveillance and alarm, LLC

I have a client requesting credential exit with a tailgating solution for car trucks and 18 wheelers on a sliding exit gate. Does anyone want to take a stab at it? My creativity is hitting a wall. They want to replace the security guard.

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Brian Rhodes
May 11, 2017
IPVMU Certified

18 Wheelers have 5-axles, right?

2-4-4 on the tractor

0----4-4 on the trailer

Use a beam or light curtain that counts the interrupts every time a wheeled axle crosses it.  Anything more than 5 breaks per card scan triggers an alarm.

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keith maxwell
May 11, 2017
Northeast Remote Surveillance and alarm, LLC

So how would it know if its looking for 2 or 5 axels? What if its a day tractor or short trailer and you have 3 axels?

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Brian Rhodes
May 11, 2017
IPVMU Certified

Ah, somehow I missed the 'cars and trucks' too part.

Is there a dual height reader they scan badges on at the gate?

If so it might be possible to assign logic to the scans depending on the station, ie: 'low' station scans are a max 5 count (anything more is alarm), and 'high' station scans are a max 6 count (since 18 wheelers ride higher).

I know there are some video analytics that can do this.  AgentVI claimed vehicle tailgating some years ago, but I'm not sure how good it was.

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Brian Rhodes
May 11, 2017
IPVMU Certified

^^^^  Disclosure: I have never done this before!  :)

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keith maxwell
May 11, 2017
Northeast Remote Surveillance and alarm, LLC

That makes 2 of us Brian. I think the guard may have job security. :)

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Michael Silva
May 12, 2017
Silva Consultants

We have designed automated gates for tractor-trailer rigs in the past. These typically included sallyports with interlocking gates and various types of detection devices such as multiple photoelectric beams. These types of installations require a serious engineering effort, lots of space, and a substantial budget.

The facilities where we did this had multiple gates, with at least one of them manned 24/7 by a security officer, and the rest remotely monitored and controlled. I think that trying to create an automated gate without at least one security officer at the facility would be problematic.  

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keith maxwell
May 12, 2017
Northeast Remote Surveillance and alarm, LLC

That's sounds great but being that only one trailer disappeared in the past 8 years, I think the bean counters would choke on the cost of the solution.

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Michael Silva
May 12, 2017
Silva Consultants

Yes, there are times when the cost of the solution exceeds the cost of the problem. We run into this all the time. The key is to avoid trying some half-baked solution that costs less but in ineffective.

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #1
May 12, 2017

How much activity is there? You could look at a remote video monitoring solution that verifies only one vehicle has left. 

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UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
May 12, 2017

Not a bad idea. You could setup a Break-Beam/Camera and put a number on the gate. Have the driver contact the number on the gate and be video verified (as well as logged) by the monitoring station. Then they can trigger a relay that opens the gate (I would pay the monitoring station per instance).  Just my 2-cents. 

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keith maxwell
May 13, 2017
Northeast Remote Surveillance and alarm, LLC

Thank you UD#2

That's a good idea. My Avigilon contact is convinced we can do it with analytics as well. Maybe implement both solutions.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #2
May 13, 2017

I would probably go with the Break-Beams just to make sure you don't get any false alerts, but that is just a personal preference. Best of luck. 

MM
Michael Miller
May 13, 2017
This is going to require careful placement of the camera if you're going to use Analytics as the camera is going to have to be far enough away with wide enough FOV to be able to detect a full truck and trailer.
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MB
Mark Bottomley
May 15, 2017

A break beam aimed vertically should be able to differentiate between vehicles as long as it doesn't "see" between the tractor and trailer - that may be solved by angling the beam forward/backward. Just a thought.

There are also cameras for viewing vehicle undersides that mount in a speed bump or an in-ground recess that might provide the needed input. The challenge is the same as central American speed bumps - the trucks will hit the brakes at the right time to have the trailer wheels rip the speed bump off the road although the vehicles should be moving slow at this gate. This type of camera could also be problematic if your target is a northern location with snow.

UI
Undisclosed Integrator #3
May 15, 2017

I did this for airports years ago with a video analytic.  The FOV should be large enough to see multiple vehicles.  Vehicles were classified in the FOV and counted as they left the area.  

If more than one was counted between the minimum time for the gate to open and close a tailgating event occurred. 

One reason this worked is that every vehicle exiting was required to see the gate close before leaving.

That analytics company is gone but others should be able to do it. 

GM
Gordon McFarland
May 15, 2017
Bowler Pons Solutions Consultants

We have done precisely this using a combination of loop detectors in the pavement and light curtains. All of this ties back to a PLC and NVR. 

The cost is high. (Ours is a high security location.)

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