Indra awarded six contracts for the Panama Canal expansion project worth €27.4m

Indra, Spain's leading technology multinational and one of the leaders in Europe and Latin America, has been awarded six contracts worth €27.4m to implement its technology within the framework of the Panama Canal expansion project, considered to be one of the greatest civil engineering projects in history. The company has won the six tenders called by Grupo Unidos por el Canal, the consortium responsible for the construction of the project for the Panama Canal Authority, led by Sacyr Vallehermoso.

These contracts make Indra a major technology partner in this global benchmark project and place the technology multinational in a strong position with regard to future tenders, both for the Panama Canal and for the provision of its cutting-edge smart solutions for other major infrastructure projects.

Specifically, Indra will be responsible for implementing an integrated security and access control system, a vessel detection system, all the communications technology, the fire detection and suppression systems, the public address systems, evacuation and an environmental sensors system for the third set of locks of the Panama Canal.

The integrated security and access control system will be equipped with the latest technologies and will include control of access to buildings, vehicular control, perimeter alarms, detection of intrusion in buildings and a video recording and control system for the locks on the Pacific and Atlantic sides of the canal and the associated buildings.

Using state-of-the-art technology, Indra's access control solution will enable the centralised management of the credentials of the more than 10,000 employees of the Panama Canal Authority and its contractors and the accesses to the 70 buildings that will enable the control and operation of the third set of locks. The system, equipped with more than 400 access control readers, will customise the security levels for the common areas used by the canal professionals and for other highly restricted areas, combining the use of individualised access cards with high security technology based on biometric credentials.

The video surveillance and video recording systems, with more than 350 cameras, will guarantee the security of the facilities and supervise the lock operations and vessel passages. These systems can be managed from the control centres and will be integrated with the perimeter and intrusion detection systems, equipped with more than 4,500 motion detectors, glass breakage detectors and magnetic or vibration contacts.

Traffic control at facilities and sluices

The aim of the vehicle control system is to prevent the entry into the enclosure of unauthorised vehicles, controlling internal traffic within the facilities and over the sluices of the canal, signal permission for people to pass over the sluices and prevent sabotage at the most sensitive zones of the canal. This system is of great importance because one of the new features of the new expanded canal is that vehicles can travel over two of the eight sluices when they are closed and pedestrians can walk over all of them.

Vehicles will be controlled with traffic lights, security barriers and road blockers, which are innovative high security devices developed entirely in Spain that are similar to the automatic bollards present in some cities but with a security cover of some three metres in width and the capacity to stop vehicles weighing several tonnes at speeds of over 60 km/h. This technology will prevent acts of sabotage and prevent authorised vehicles from falling into the sluices.

Indra will also implement a vessel detection system to identify all floating objects within the operational area of the chambers of the sluices to prevent the accidental closure of the sluices if a boat or any other object is present, thereby increasing the safety of the closure operation.

Network of environmental sensors

The network of environmental sensors included in the project will also provide the information necessary for the correct operation of the future facilities. The network that Indra is to design and install will be equipped with the latest technology in each one of the scopes it covers, including the system to measure the water level, whose main sensor is an electromagnetic radar that does not need to be in contact with the liquid; a system to measure that quality of the water, which detects in a single measuring unit magnitudes such as temperature, salinity, pressure, turbidity and fluorescence; the light control system, which will enable optimal management of energy spending; and the systems to measure the direction and speed of the wind and to measure and control gases in buildings.

State-of-the-art fire detection and suppression

The fire protection and detection systems to be designed and supplied by Indra, which will combat the threat that fire poses to the canal, both on board vessels and in cargo spilled into the water or in any of the facilities key to the operation and management of the systems of the canal, will also be at the cutting edge of technology. One of the features in this scope is the use of the FM-200 clean agent, which in addition to not posing an environmental threat or a risk to people has the main advantage of not causing damage to materials, making it perfect for enclosures with IT equipment, electrical infrastructure and paper files, and in certain circumstances it even enables the fire to be extinguished in occupied rooms.

The fire detection system will be integrated with the suppression system and the mass notification system, an innovative system in terms of standardisation (included in the latest edition of standard NFPA 72), also implemented by Indra and made up of the alarms, digital signalling, telephony, public address and evacuation systems. All this technology will also be integrated with the existing general control system (SCADA), involving an extraordinary systems integration and coordination effort.

Latest communications technology

Finally, the communications contract awarded to Indra encompasses the systems to provide voice, data, video and wireless communications for the various buildings that form the complex and their interconnection with the solutions already in operation in the current facilities of the canal, guaranteeing the continuity of all types of communications.

The company will deploy an IP telephony solution, with more than 400 analogue and IP terminals, which will use the same platform, taking advantage of its central intelligence to guarantee communication.

It will also implement a multi-band solution with fixed and transportable repeaters to provide mobile, VHF, UHF and Wi-Fi services. This solution will guarantee coverage in maintenance tunnels and difficult to reach areas, with the consequent improvement in safety for the operations and maintenance personnel, who will be able to access the voice and data communications services at any point in the new facilities.

The contract contemplates a fibre optic infrastructure for the facilities. Indra is also responsible for its design and implementation, which will provide an almost unlimited capacity to exchange information between the various buildings and central points.

Equip infrastructure with intelligence

These projects for the expansion of the Panama Canal will strengthen Indra's experience in the use of new technologies to equip infrastructure with intelligence and make it more ecologically and economically efficient and sustainable. These smart technologies provide information in real time for decision making and provide citizens with added value, increasing the levels of safety, efficacy and respect for the environment, equipping infrastructure with greater control and improving the mobility of people and goods.

Indra is the leading technology multinational in Spain and a leader in Europe and Latin America. It is the second European company in its sector in terms of R&D, with €550 million invested in the last three years. Its turnover in 2011 was €2.688 million, and more than half of its income is currently from international markets. The company employs 40,000 professionals and has customers in 118 countries.