Jon Tarleton with one of the Vaisala - equipped vehicles
As this ITS World Congress ends, a fleet of 144 Vaisala-equipped vehicles will leave Vienna to begin a remarkable European journey back to the company’s global headquarters in Finland.
Tracks Across Europe - A Road Technology Tour is using a variety of vehicles to highlight the flexibility of Vaisala Condition Patrol, which uses an array of sensors, software and communication technology to provide a complete mobile weather monitoring system. All of the readings gathered by the system aid a road maintenance decision maker in determining what actions, if necessary, need to be taken to ensure the road remains safe for passing cars.
Recorded data is stored on-board the vehicle in a small computer and is displayed on a smart phone app visible to the driver, but more importantly can be transmitted through the smart phone back to a central location, where a supervisor in a distant location can see the location of the mobile weather information.
“Vaisala Condition Patrol will help road maintenance agencies make accurate decisions about how and when to treat roads during winter conditions, but it is our vision that the technology will be used for other weather conditions, not just winter,” says Jon Tarleton, Vaisala’s global roads marketing manager.
As Tarleton points out, fixed sensors are extremely accurate, but the number of monitoring stations agencies can practically locate is limited. “Customers benefit most by using both,” he says. “Mobile data collection is less expensive to deploy, highly versatile and gives a view of conditions along a whole route.”
Tracks Across Europe - A Road Technology Tour is using a variety of vehicles to highlight the flexibility of Vaisala Condition Patrol, which uses an array of sensors, software and communication technology to provide a complete mobile weather monitoring system. All of the readings gathered by the system aid a road maintenance decision maker in determining what actions, if necessary, need to be taken to ensure the road remains safe for passing cars.
Recorded data is stored on-board the vehicle in a small computer and is displayed on a smart phone app visible to the driver, but more importantly can be transmitted through the smart phone back to a central location, where a supervisor in a distant location can see the location of the mobile weather information.
“Vaisala Condition Patrol will help road maintenance agencies make accurate decisions about how and when to treat roads during winter conditions, but it is our vision that the technology will be used for other weather conditions, not just winter,” says Jon Tarleton, Vaisala’s global roads marketing manager.
As Tarleton points out, fixed sensors are extremely accurate, but the number of monitoring stations agencies can practically locate is limited. “Customers benefit most by using both,” he says. “Mobile data collection is less expensive to deploy, highly versatile and gives a view of conditions along a whole route.”
