The sale of New Year flowers were held as scheduled in 2021 under the epidemic. To avoid gathering of the crowd and reduce the risk of virus transmission, the EMSD designed and deployed a footfall monitoring, queuing and ticketing system for the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) and completed the arrangements at 15 flower sale points promptly, by making good use of the technology. The system enabled members of the public to visit flower sale points to enjoy the festive vibes while observing social distancing.
Early in the year, the epidemic situation was fluctuating. As soon as the Government decided to open the flower sale points, we had to race against time and immediately set up various E&M systems at the 15 flower sale points across the territory within only two weeks. Apart from making on-site arrangements for temporary electricity supply and lighting, the EMSD also deployed different teams to install the cloud-based central footfall monitoring system, together with the sensors, ticketing systems and display screens, at 15 flower sale points, to enable our client department to control the crowd by monitoring the number of visitors and making arrangements for visitors to queue up for tickets.
The EMSD has extensive experience in setting up indoor footfall systems. However, given the uncertain factors like outdoor weather conditions and the potential reverse flow of visitors walking at the outdoor venues, three sets of infrared sensors were set up at every entrance and exit of each flower sale point for counting footfall to provide multiple assurance. After computation by the cloud-based systems, the footfall data collected were shown on the display screens, and the green, amber and red indicator lights for entrance were on correspondingly on site. Also, the Government-wide Internet of Things Network (GWIN) gateways, which were set up at all sale points, rapidly addressed the need of the footfall monitoring systems for network connection, and facilitated the receipt of data from the infrared sensors for footfall monitoring and the dissemination of signals for controlling the green, amber and red indicator lights and screen display. A mobile gateway was also installed at each sale point to enhance network reliability.
In the flower sale points, we also had to respond quickly to unexpected circumstances. The weather once deteriorated during the time when the flower sales were held. Water-filled barriers installed with sensors were blown down by the strong wind. Our on-site colleagues immediately arranged for re-instating and testing of the sensors to ensure normal operation of the footfall monitoring system.
While our frontliners were racing against time, our support teammates stood fast on their posts at the Central Control and Command Centre established at the EMSD Headquarters, where our senior engineers worked on shifts to monitor and co-ordinate the situation of all sale points. With this two-pronged approach, the flower sales were successfully held as scheduled, extending warm wishes to members of the public during the Lunar New Year.
The valuable experience gained from the event lays a foundation for future crowd control and monitoring at similar large-scale events.
For any enquiry on crowd control solutions, please contact Mr. Chan Hor-yin, Steve, our Senior Engineer, on 2808 3593.