Lufft won a big project in 2012 to install 20 new ARWIS systems along the roads of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the United States. The installation was completed in winter 2013 and the roads have become safer from then on. Why the stations are thus useful there and which Lufft sensors were installed, you can read in this post…
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northeastern part of the split state Michigan. It is surrounded by the northern Wisconsin, Lake Superior, Lake Huron and Lake Michigan, on the border of Canada. The state is best known as American center of the automotive industry. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is dominated by a humid, continental climate with rather short summers and long snowy winters. The frost-free period is just 60 to 120 days per year. The annual average temperature is 4.4 degrees Celsius. These values have a significant impact on traffic and the associated risk of accidents across the region.
At the end of 2012 Lufft USA won a tender for the installation of 20 new ARWIS systems on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. The ice detection systems are used to monitor the local roads and to ensure more safety in traffic. The awarding of the bid could not only be a price assessment, but also on the technical implementation. Especially important for the winning of Lufft USA were the open system architecture of the offered systems as open interfaces, intelligent sensors and an easy integration of sensors from other manufacturers. For example some of the ARWIS systems installed by Lufft were able to integrate advanced radar traffic detectors, thereby completing the offering to the customer and enhancing the benefits to the driver.
In winter 2013, the masts were built in the first phase and sensors such as the compact weather stations WS200-UMB and WS300-UMB as well as the radar rain sensor R2S-UMB were installed. In addition, the cabinet was put into operation. In the second stage, when the roads were clear of snow and ice again, the road sensors were installed. The installed systems were immediately operational. Until the integration of the data for the Michigan Department Of Transportation (MDOT), the software solution SmartView3 by Lufft was used. In the coming first practice winter Lufft will train the staff of the MDOT on site continuously and offer support.
