In most developed countries more people are killed in winter traffic crashes than any other weather-related disaster. Monitoring the current conditions on roadways nearby and remote motorways is critical to performing winter maintenance operations. Ministries of transportations, departments of transportation, cities, counties, and townships all have a need to monitor road weather conditions.
The fixed weather stations are usually located in areas identified as problem spots or cold regions through thermal mapping. Stations are also usually placed in locations of unusual weather or remote from other forms of communication. Since bridges and other elevated roadways typically freeze before road surfaces, sites are typically located near a bridge so both a road and bridge reading can be done at the same time.
The UnicamWIM system is a state-of-the art solution for a variety of high and low speed Weigh-In-Motion (HS/LS-WIM) applications as needed by international standards (e.g. COST323, ASTM E1318). It measures and records weights of wheels, axles and vehicles (gross) passing over weighing sensors embedded in the road pavement.
Vehicle images are captured by ANPR/ADR cameras which non-invasively monitoring free owing vehicles driving at speeds up to 250 km/h without the need to install any external triggers (inductive loops etc.). The cameras can be used for a large variety of traffic applications including spot and section speed enforcement, road lane surveillance, red light enforcement, dangerous goods control, stolen vehicle search etc.
Automatic number plate recognition software (ANPR) processes images captured by ANPR/ADR cameras and allows automatic detection and reading of a vehicle’s plates using optical character recognition (OCR). ADR (Accord Dangereux Routier) label reading software also processes images captured by ANPR/ADR cameras during detection and automatically reads warning signs placed on vehicles which transport dangerous goods.
Traffic classification and data collection can be done using different traffic Unicam sensors including cameras with video detection and ANPR/ADR software, radars, inductive loops, weighing/position sensors etc. For most application traffic classifiers e.g. radar or loops technologies can be used. For applications where classification into many classes is required, advanced solutions are also available.
Note that no sensor for complete traffic data measurement exists. Available sensors use various measurement principles with different accuracy, data availability and confidence levels. So to improve quality of traffic data collection, fusion of values from various sensors can be used.
Since Vaisala Oyj. has become a world leader of premium weather instruments supplier, we have received a great opportunity to present this worldwide famous brand on the territory of Ukraine in Aviation, Energy, Meteorology, Hydrology and Roads safety segments.