Light going: Vaisala's Andy WcDonald, on the use of infrared technology to measure road surface friction and so determine the deteriorations in road surface conditions caused by winter weather

摘要

Road weather measurement technology has for many years relied upon the installation of sensors into the road to determine properties of the surface such as temperature and road state. However, field testing of a completely new road surface condition sensor based on optical spectroscopy and short-distance remote sensing has produced some exciting results - the sensor has shown that it can accurately and remotely measure the amount of water, ice and snow on a road surface, permitting the direct modelling of the deterioration in road surface friction caused by winter weather. In recent years, a number of Northern European countries have turned to using the parameter of road surface friction (rather than other more traditional surrogate measurements such as freezing point depression) as a key indicator of winter road surface quality for the driving public. There is a clear correlation between hazardous driving conditions and reduced surface friction values. Indeed, in several countries, treatment actions (such as salting) and contractor performance are assessed by the independent measurement of surface friction.