Monitoring meteorological factors on highways in the Sverdlovsk region Russia

Background

The highways in the Sverdlovsk region are equipped with professional, high-precision weather stations from the Finnish company Vaisala. These weather stations measure wind speed and direction, humidity, air and road surface temperature, monitor precipitation types and amounts, and determine road adhesion coefficients. This data is sent to the server of the State Institution of Sverdlovsk Region "Road Management" for an objective assessment of weather conditions, road surface status, and forecasts of adverse meteorological factors, such as ice.

Vaisala weather stations lack the capability to store data archives, and their data transmission mechanism to the server has vulnerabilities that can lead to the loss of timely data, for example, due to a lack of cellular connectivity or network failures.

Ensuring reliable data transmission to the State Institution of Sverdlovsk Region "Road Management" is crucial for monitoring contractors, determining the volume of required and completed work, and calculating their costs.

Ultrastar specialists explored several options for ensuring reliable transmission of meteorological data to the State Institution of Sverdlovsk Region "Road Management." For instance, they considered retrofitting Vaisala weather stations with an in-house backup system for data transmission and storage. However, due to the high cost of this solution, it was rejected. A more effective and cost-efficient solution was adopted—creating a data transmission system based on Galileosky trackers.

Project objective

• Provide a backup data transmission channel with two SIM cards from different operators.

• Ensure long-term storage of meteorological data in the tracker when there is no possibility to send it to the server.

• Monitor power supply availability for the weather stations and immediately notify responsible personnel in case of disconnection.

Solution

Ultrastar engineers utilized Easy Logic technology from Galileosky to develop a control algorithm for the system based on Galileosky trackers. The algorithm programs the device to request data in Vaisala protocol via RS 485 and RS 232 digital ports. The received data is saved in a user tag within the tracker and sent to the State Institution of Sverdlovsk Region "Road Management" server.

In this solution, it is the Galileosky tracker that initiates data transmission. In case of unsuccessful sending (for any reason), the tracker continues attempting to send the data while simultaneously storing it in its internal non-volatile memory.

Result

Thanks to Galileosky trackers and Ultrastar specialists' experience with Easy Logic programming technology, a reliable alternative was created for the standard data transmission system from weather stations to the State Institution of Sverdlovsk Region "Road Management."

Stable information transmission allowed timely dispatching of road maintenance equipment to address adverse meteorological factors (snow, snow drifts, ice) and ensured accuracy and objectivity in contractor work calculations.

The developed solution has several times helped restore meteorological data after failures in the standard system; meanwhile, no failures were recorded in the backup system where Galileosky trackers operated.

Currently, a software-hardware complex is being implemented to monitor energy facilities within road infrastructure (lighting sections of roads, traffic lights, projectors, pedestrian crossing light signals).