Setting a new standard in Automated Road Weather Information Systems
Traditional automated RoadWeather Information Systems (RWIS) have been reliant upon "one size fits all," ac-powered PC electronics that were expensive and inflexible. Additional engineering fees were often required to customize the system.
Campbell Scientific offers fully NTCIP-compliant, RWIS systems that use Customer-in-Control Technologies™ (CCT) Remote Processing Units (RPUs). With a CCT RPU, customers can choose the best sensors, telecommunication method, and software for their needs, including equipment from other CCT vendors. The choice of sensors allows the station to be configured for the unique microclimate where it will be deployed. The customer owns the RWIS data and may modify or redistribute the data at their discretion without additional expense.
Each RWIS network has several roadside Environmental Sensor Stations (ESS) and one or more computer sites. A typical ESS consists of a tower, RPU (datalogger), power supply, environmental enclosure, remote communication hardware, two intelligent road sensors, and meteorological sensors. The road sensors monitor road surface and subsurface temperatures, residual salt content, road surface freezing temperature, water film level, and road surface condition (dry, moist, wet, ice, or snow). Meteorological parameters commonly measured include wind speed and direction, air temperature, relative humidity, barometric pressure, solar radiation, and precipitation.
Software support for our RWIS is provided by BlackTop™ PC Software and LoggerNet Datalogger Support Software. BlackTop Software is a web-based package that complies with the NTCIP standards. It collects data from each RPU, stores the data in an industry-standard relational database (MS SQL Server), reports atmospheric weather and road surface conditions, and displays alarm notifications when critical parameters have been reached. BlackTop's open architecture and clearly defined user interfaces allow easy integration into other sub-systems such as bulletin boards, web display, and second party forecasting services. Measurements can be displayed in engineering units of the customer's choice. LoggerNet allows customers to develop/edit custom RPU programs and retrieve/archive RPU diagnostic information by automatic schedule or on demand.
