26 December 2022
Maccaferri HELLOMAC system in Hong Kong and Australia
HELLOMAC is the latest alert system from Maccaferri developed to monitor rockfall protections. The system can monitor rockfall events in remote areas which might be difficult to access and in area very near to urban areas for an immediate intervention.
Rockfall poses a serious threat to transportation infrastructures and urban areas.
In site conditions where ample space is available, large-scale mitigation measures such as rockfall embankments are utilised. Whereas, in areas with limited space availability, smaller rockfall barriers or secured or simple drapery system are commonly used.
The latter measures are very much lower in terms of capital expenditure but need to be monitored for maintenance. The maintenance crews need to also have real-time capabilities to detect rockfall in order to activate emergency traffic safety measures once rockfall impacts are detected.
This is extremely important especially in countries like Hong Kong and Australia.
Hong Kong is particularly vulnerable to landslides and rockfall events because of its hilly topographical setting and the very dense population. Areas prone to rockfall events are in the vicinity of infrastructure and urban centres. This makes important to have an alert system that allows to take immediate action after an event.
In Australia most rockfall events occur in remote and difficult to reach areas. Having a monitoring system helps to recognize when the event has occurred and proceed with the maintenance operations.
HELLOMAC is the latest alert system from Maccaferri.
The system can be divided into two main components which are the sensory device called the HELLOMAC device and a repeater device called the HUBIR.
The HELLOMAC device disc casing houses the sensors. These electronic sensors have specially designed and calibrated springs which are connected to eight wire legs. These legs are connected to specific points on the interception panel. When a minimum defined traction force is applied to the wire legs, the sensors are activated, and a signal is transmitted to the repeater device.
The HUBIR is a repeater device which receives data signals from the HELLOMAC device and uplinks to the satellite or transmits via the designated GSM mobile network to the end user.
For more information about HELLOMAC alert system, please contact us.