Vaisala hits the road in the US with Condition Patrol

355 Vaisala, a global leader in environmental management, is launching Condition Patrol with the promise that, for the first time, road maintenance departments now have the ability to access weather data from their entire networks of roads with mobile sensor technology developed by the company.

To coincide with the announcement of its Condition Patrol technology, the company is launching Vaisala Across America, a cross-country tour that started yesterday from the company's US headquarters in Louisville, Colorado. The tour will visit more than 40 cities over 16 weeks, culminating in its arrival at the 3278 ITS America Annual Meeting and Exposition, being held in National Harbor, MD, from 21-23 May.

"Vaisala is excited to offer this first-of-its-kind mobile data collection system for our road customers in cities, counties and departments of transportation around the country. We look forward to giving our US customers and the public a unique, hands-on experience with the product during the Vaisala Across America tour," said Antero Jarvinen, director of Vaisala's road and rail market segment.

Vaisala developed Condition Patrol in response to industry demands for mobile solutions. The system allows road maintenance crews to gather pavement temperature, air temperature, road conditions, and road friction levels from across their entire network of roads. The data is collected using laser and infrared observations from sensors mounted on maintenance vehicles as opposed to fixed spots along authorities' road networks. The real-time data is then downloaded to a software programme that provides recommendations to the maintenance supervisor about road treatment options, allowing them to make more informed decisions - which in turn reduces costs and improves road safety for all drivers.