Waterview tunnel optimizes security with IP public address and voice evacuation system

With the help of Sonotrack, an IP voice-voice public address and evacuation system has been installed in the longest tunnel in New Zealand, made up of 150 high power speakers, that helps protect the thousands of people who circulate daily through it.

To overcome the challenge of intelligibility levels presented by the Waterview tunnel in Auckland, a public address system and IP voice evacuation has been installed, which integrates the solutions of Sonotrack. With this infrastructure, security is improved by being able to issue clear and clear messages.

Safety in the tunnels through which thousands of people circulate daily is a key issue. In times of emergency, like a fire, it is vital to be able to carry out an evacuation quickly and effectively. And, to do that, a proper system is needed to direct people to the exit.

A tunnel is a complex acoustic environment, and public address and voice evacuation systems that are commonly installed in this field, they often suffer from a serious intelligibility problem, failing to deliver clearly understandable messages. This was the challenge they faced in New Zealand's longest tunnel., Waterview.

In this project a high level of intelligility was specified STI=0.5 with a noise level lower than 85 Db(To) And 0,45 with a noise level higher than 85 Db(To).

To respond to the requirements of this project has been installed a public address system and evacuation by IP voice integrated by 150 high power speakers, one hundred have been installed in the main tubes and the rest in the transverse evacuation corridors. Speakers were spaced out each 50 meters and each was connected to a dedicated amplification channel, to provide audio delay (Delay) and thus achieve a temporal alignment in the reception of the message.

An integration with the ventilation system was added so that the public address system could emit messages with a lower sound pressure, when the turbines were not in operation.

Sonotrack provided direct field support and made various adjustments, Integrations, corrections and configurations to optimize the solution and achieve the high requirements proposed, which were expanded and more precisely concretized by the property after various studies and tests.

The installed and configured system, met demanded performance specifications, was approved for use as an integral part of the tunnel safety and fire protection system, and obtained the corresponding certificates of approval issued by the local authorities.

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