Road Temperature Monitoring

Winter maintenance programmes are critical to the safety of drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians using the road network, cycle paths, and footpaths during cold weather. For a local authority, the cost of treating their entire priority road network can be in excess of £40,000 per night. In many cases, variation in conditions across the network means that some areas will require treatment while others will not. An effective and efficient treatment strategy can deliver significant cost savings and improved road safety by targeting resources to the areas which need them.

Making effective treatment decisions requires accurate real-time data from across the road network. Roadside weather stations provide detailed information to forecasters, but only from a small number of locations. The cost of installing weather stations across the entire road network is prohibitive. This is where IoT+ sensors come in.

Installation of low-cost, battery-operated devices with wireless connectivity allows densification of your sensor network without breaking the bank. IoT+ sensors can be integrated with existing forecasting systems as well as the IoT+ Hub. With a range of connectivity options including LoRaWAN and satellite, our sensors can be deployed in hard-to-reach places where cellular coverage is not available.

Case Study: Norfolk County Council

 Norfolk County Council has been installing our road temperature monitoring sensors since 2018. Using their county-wide LoRaWAN network they have been able to connect sensors without the need for airtime contracts or SIM cards.

Following a successful deployment in Great Yarmouth, the sensors have been rolled out to further gritting routes including Kings Lynn, Norwich, and North Norfolk. The additional data has been particularly useful where gritting areas include both urban and rural sections. Road conditions can vary significantly in a relatively small geographic area, so it is not always necessary to treat every route in that area.

“More detailed temperature data from across the network allows savings of thousands of pounds every gritting season” – Alex Cliff, Highways Innovation Manager (Norfolk County Council)