Mobile Detector MD30

The MD30 is the first detector designed specifically for snow plows, and it works well as a standalone sensor or to help fill in data between stationary weather stations. Molded to withstand continuous vibration while preventing water ingress, its design ensures reliable road weather data in challenging weather conditions on all vehicle types.

With this detector, it’s easy for municipalities, transportation authorities, and airport operators to get real-time data on road surface state; layer thicknesses of water, ice, and snow; grip; relative humidity; dew point; and road and air temperature data, directly from plows.

Vaisala’s MD30 fills in the blanks for both winter road maintenance supervisors and plow operators, providing real-time data for informed decision making, including:

• What's happening between weather stations
• How to best drive the pavement forecast
• Whether too much, too little, or the proper amount and type of material is being used
• Whether trucks are where they should be, and if they’re clearing the most impacted and important routes first

Snow plow operators will be informed about:

• Black ice
• Whether glare, water, or ice exists, or if the pavement is actually moist or just darker in color
• When pavement temperature is falling and treatment is needed to prevent a potential icy situation
• If more or less material should be applied
• What's left after the plow blade has passed

Optional data visualization leverages live data and video imagery, with the data viewable in the vehicle or remotely depending setup options. This additional advantage of the MD30 sensor supports:

• Optimal treatment actions on winter roads/runways
• Road surface defect analysis as part of AI-enabled pavement condition inventory

MD30 is the perfect instrument to integrate into dynamic spreader control systems, which determine the optimal spreading rate for each location based on real-time MD30 data. This empowers agencies to maximize resources while minimizing environmental impacts.