– In the past, winter road maintenance was basically about plowing and salting car roads. Today, much of it is about ensuring that residents can cycle safely in winter, says Jörgen Bogren, lecturer at the Department of Earth Science.
Together with Torbjörn Gustavsson at the same department, he has researched road climate since the early 1990s. From their research, digital solutions have developed that transform winter road maintenance.
Torbjörn Gustavsson and Jörgen Bogren have developed and patented a data platform that can accurately predict weather conditions along entire road networks, both in real time and up to 72 hours ahead. By combining data from road weather stations with information from connected vehicles, topography and maintenance performed on winter roads, detailed road weather forecasts can be produced.
– Predicting road climate and ensuring the right road maintenance measures are implemented is not just a safety issue. It is also an environmental and economic issue, says Jörgen Bogren, who together with Torbjörn Gustavsson started the company Klimator to develop the new technology.
Weather affect behaviour
According to the researchers, optimized winter road maintenance can result in cost savings of up to 20-30 percent. Reducing the use of salt to the amount actually required for a given road situation also benefits the environment.
Road conditions are also becoming increasingly important for business.
– The weather affects how we behave. Do you go to IKEA with a trailer and shop when the weather is bad or wait until another day? Such decisions can have consequences for how a store is staffed or for calculating road maintenance work in parking areas,” says Torbjörn Gustavsson.
It is the core of our basic research on climate models from the early 90s that has new relevance today
An business sector that is well aware of the impact of climate on road conditions is the aviation industry. In an ongoing research project, Jörgen Bogren and Torbjörn Gustavsson are investigating autonomous friction measurement and monitoring of airports. The project tests both the camera technology in operation on the runway and a visualization system, which in real time shows the status of the surface to the air traffic control tower. The goal is to be able to make fully autonomous runway friction measurements to provide accurate warnings and information to maintenance staff and other users.
Weather and road climate data is also crucial to autonomous vehicles.
– Autonomous vehicles need to understand that it is slippery. This is a major challenge in the automotive industry that we are currently investigating, says Torbjörn Gustavsson.
- The funny thing is that it is the core of our basic research on climate models from the early 90s that has new relevance today. What we knew from the research at that time was not possible to apply because the technology was lacking. Today, technology has caught up and research can be used in a completely different way.
By: Jenny Meyer Daneback
