A UK-based meteorological specialist will introduce its range of advanced weather and visibility sensors to the highways and transportation industry at the Highways Management Show, which takes place at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry, in the UK, on September 20-21.
Biral will be exhibiting at the show for the first time, as part of the two-day event and conference, which will target and explore topics surrounding UK highways, including how smart technology can be used on highways, the latest maintenance innovations, the future of the industry, and others. Biral will demonstrate its full product range, which is designed to detect, monitor and report current weather conditions, which are often the cause of safety risks on the country’s roads. As a leading designer and manufacturer of groundbreaking meteorological equipment, Biral works with companies and organizations across all industries, including road and transportation, to deliver solutions that can monitor visibility and local weather conditions as part of smart road systems and intelligent transport networks.
Biral’s VPF and SWS Visibility and Present Weather Sensors ranges are particularly beneficial to highways applications, due to their highly reliable and accurate readings. These sensors can be used for applications such as roadside fog warnings, tunnel visibility, bridges and general meteorological reporting, which can allow authorities and highways management to give the correct precautionary information to road users, such as adjusting carriageway speed limits, and issuing fog and reduced visibility warnings. The SWS range is especially well suited to highways applications as its combination of serial and analogue interfaces can assist with local signage control and can be directly connected to a wider network. The sensors are also used indirectly, to monitor pollution levels in tunnels and control ventilation systems. They can also act as secondary fire detectors in tunnels due to their sensitivity to smoke particles.
The company will also exhibit a range of products from German manufacturer Adolf Thies & Co., for which Biral is the exclusive UK distributor. The range includes meteorological sensors for relative humidity, temperature, air pressure, radiation, wind speed and direction, and precipitation. In offering Thies products alongside its own, Biral is able to offer the complete range of meteorological measurements required by local, national and governmental level authorities across the UK transport network. A selection of Biral and Thies instruments that the company is using to create its new Road Weather Information System (RWIS) – which will be launched to the industry next year – will also be on display at the show. The system will combine all of the key meteorological measurements into one compact, reliable and easy to install and use system.
Biral has also developed equipment with the ability to accurately monitor the movement of lightning. The company’s BTD-300 Thunderstorm Detection system boasts unrivalled reliability, with the ability to detect lightning strikes within a 51-mile range (83km). The standalone unit warns of approaching thunderstorms and reports back to the control center, giving operators enough time to safely shut down or postpone operations until the system has detected the strike to have safely passed.
