Skip to main content

Winter on the Vaisala Wx Horizon

Vaisala’s latest Wx Horizon Premium, a weather hazard impact portal, delivers insights into current and future road conditions.
By David Arminas November 10, 2022 Read time: 2 mins
Vaisla’s Ground Cast Sensor is at the heart of the company’s latest Wx Horizon Premium, a weather hazard impact portal that is sold as a subscription service

Winter road maintenance professionals need to monitor road conditions and predict surface freezing risk across the road network to make proactive treatment decisions. They’ll want the most accurate systems but they can be costly to maintain over the long run.

Imagine having the best system but with no system maintenance cost. Imagine Vaisala’s latest Wx Horizon Premium, a weather hazard impact portal. It delivers insights into current and future road conditions but is sold as a subscription service meaning there are no ongoing maintenance costs or large upfront investments.

Wx Horizon allows road maintenance organisations to prepare for upcoming storms with high-quality pavement and atmospheric forecasts. To deliver this critical information and keep it relevant for use specifically in transportation, the system fuses measurements with industry-leading weather forecasting and road weather models.
 
At the heart of this service is Vaisala’s Ground Cast Sensor. It measures road surface temperature and the amount of residual treatment material, providing highway maintenance teams with reference grade observations and location-specific forecasts.

Importantly, it has multi-level road temperature measurement, from ground level as well as 6cm and 30cm below road surface. Road surface temperature accuracy is ±0.2C° This is specifically designed to improve pavement forecasts and helps proactively keep roads safe by targeting treatments and validating effectiveness in real time.

No infrastructure or cables are needed thanks to a built-in battery and wireless NB-IoT communications. With no power or other infrastructure required, you can install it virtually anywhere with NB IoT connectivity.

The Wx Horizon Premium and Ground Cast Sensor combination results in more environmentally friendly road maintenance and cost savings. Road maintenance personnel can remain at ease because they will be continually informed of changes that need their attention.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • High-tech, high places: 3M in US and MetService in New Zealand
    August 1, 2017
    The US state of Michigan sets up a high-tech test road while New Zealand’s transport officials buy in some high-tech weather forecasting. The road safety division of 3M will provide the US state of Michigan with lane markings and retroreflective signs for a connected vehicle technologies trial along the I-75 highway. Around 5km of the Interstate 75 work zone in Oakland County will be transformed over the next four months to improve safety for drivers and test advanced vehicle-to-infrastructure technologie
  • TrafficLand-Exelis platform offers key hyperlocal weather info to drivers
    January 7, 2014
    TrafficLand, the largest authorised aggregator of live traffic video in the United States, and global aerospace and defense firm Exelis, have teamed up to deliver “game-changing” real-time information to motorists about hyperlocal weather conditions. The Helios environmental intelligence platform uses proprietary algorithms that give users the ability to monitor current conditions and detect changes in visibility, precipitation and road surface conditions at a hyperlocal, or street scale. Helios can then i
  • Webinar: AI and road asset management
    May 19, 2021
    Vaisala RoadAI creates faster, more detailed, accurate and cost-effective road condition surveys
  • In control - with machine control technology
    June 21, 2016
    Advances with machine control technologies are providing major benefits right across the construction sector - Mike Woof writes With the massive bauma 2016 exhibition now having run its course, the construction sector look set to benefit from a range of new machine control technologies. These systems are being offered across a range of different segments in the equipment sector. Bulldozing was one of the first portions of the earthmoving segment to benefit from machine control systems, but a vast array o