AKRA - Turning potential into code

Quay systems, intelligently monitored

HPA Hamburg Port Authority

2021

Safety by sensor

Together with HafenCity University Hamburg (HCU), the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) has developed a prototype for monitoring quay facilities. Sensors attached to the quay wall monitor the condition of the quay wall system and sound the alarm if specified limit values are exceeded. In order to be able to integrate further quay facilities with state-of-the-art technologies, we developed a production-ready and scalable application together with the customer.

The Client

Since 2005, the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) has been at work wherever efficiency, safety and economic viability are at stake in the Port of Hamburg. In addition to planning and implementing infrastructure measures, it is the first point of contact on land and water for safe and smooth shipping traffic, port railway facilities and real estate as well as economic conditions in the port. The HPA meets the growing demands of the Port of Hamburg with intelligent and innovative solutions.

The Challenge

According to old calculation formulas, many quay facilities in the Port of Hamburg are significantly overloaded. In many cases, they should not even be able to withstand the load. However, since the majority of the quay facilities are still standing, it should be checked whether the calculations are outdated or whether there are other causes for the phenomenon. Since it would have severe economic consequences to close the facilities for inspection, the idea of a monitoring system was born, which would monitor the condition of the wharves and issue alerts. With the help of these alarms, it would then be possible to take individual wharves out of operation.

The Solution

After the successful proof of concept, we developed a completely new application with modern architecture. The monitoring relies on sensors attached to the quay wall. Inclination sensors record the inclination of the wall over time. Because several sensors are placed at different heights sensors are placed at different heights in the same section of the quay wall, it is possible to determine any deflection of the wall. This forms the basis for the limit value calculation and the alarm as soon as the limit value is exceeded. The application consists of several microservices for different purposes. The sensor data is transmitted from the measurement location to a collection point in the Microsoft Azure cloud. As soon as the data arrives, a service imports the raw data into a Fraunhofer FROST server (server Implementation of the OGC SensorThings API). Further microservices enrich the the measurement data with information such as offset correction and transformations and notify the responsible persons when limit values are exceeded. The front end is represented by a NuxtJS application, which can be used for data display and management, for the creation of new quay systems and measurement blocks as well as for the assignment of new sensors.

Services