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Transport/
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Roads and bridgesRoads and bridges, watched in every season.
A road network is safe when its operators know the surface, the weather, the traffic and the condition of its bridges before drivers find out. Road weather stations, counters, structural sensors and cameras report to one record the traffic centre, the winter crews and the bridge engineers all read.
Plan a deploymentHow it worksStation Builder- Industry
- Transport
- Measurements
- 6
- Sources cited
- 7
Transport · Roads and bridges
Before the driver finds out
Ice forms on a bridge deck before the road around it, a river scours a pier during a flood, and a queue builds behind an incident in minutes. Road operators who know the surface, the structure and the traffic before drivers do can treat, close or divert in time, and prove later why they acted.
What is measured
Surface, weather, traffic and structure
Road weather stations read surface state and temperature with air temperature, humidity, wind and precipitation. Counters measure volume, speed and vehicle class. Accelerometers and tilt sensors follow bridge members and bearings, scour sensors watch river piers, and cameras confirm what the numbers show.
- Instruments
- Road weather stations · Traffic counters · Bridge sensors · Scour sensors · Cameras
The base node
A node that forecasts the surface
Each roadside node reads its sensors, signs every value and keeps it through a lost link. It forecasts the surface from the last hours and raises an ice warning before the deck freezes, counts traffic locally and records bridge vibration at a high rate only when a threshold is crossed.
Radio and links
Cellular along the road, fibre where it runs
Most roadside points reach the traffic centre over cellular. Where the road has its own fibre, cameras and stations connect to it directly, and small sensors on bridges and culverts report over LoRaWAN to a gateway at the nearest station.
- Links
- Public cellular · Fibre · LoRaWAN
How it works
From a cold deck to a gritter
A bridge deck sensor reads the surface cooling toward freezing. The node signs it, forecasts ice within the hour and sends a warning over cellular to the traffic centre, where the winter service decision system routes a gritter. The record keeps the reading, the warning and the treatment.
From order to operation · Order
Scope the corridor and the duties
The scope reads the network, the winter service plan, the bridge inventory and its inspection cycle, and the traffic data the authority must share. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the point plan by section and structure, the radio design, the integration with traffic and maintenance systems and a price per point and per service.
Plan a deploymentFrom order to operation · Survey
Find the cold spots and the weak points
Crews drive the corridor with the authority’s engineers, using thermal maps where they exist to find cold spots, and inspect bridges for the members and piers to monitor. They choose sites with safe access off the carriageway, check coverage and power, and record traffic management needed for each visit.
From order to operation · Permits
Road space and structures
Work on a live road needs a traffic management plan and road space booked with the operator. Fixings to bridges are approved by the bridge engineer, and river works need the water authority’s consent. Every approval is kept with the point it covers.
From order to operation · Build
Build for the roadside
Stations, counters, bridge sensors, cameras and nodes are built, tested together and enrolled with their identities. Ice thresholds and alarm levels come from the winter service plan and the bridge engineer, and every part is labelled for a quick swap from the hard shoulder.
Open the Station BuilderFrom order to operation · Install
Install under traffic management
Crews install behind barriers in booked road space: surface sensors in the running lane, masts set back from the carriageway, counters at their sections, accelerometers and tilt sensors on bridge members and scour sensors on piers. Every point is photographed and located for the record.
From order to operation · Commission
Check against the road and the structure
Each node proves its identity. Surface temperature is checked with a reference, counts against a manual count, bridge sensors against a known load or ambient record, and scour sensors against a sounding. Ice and structural alarms are tested to the traffic centre and the engineer on call.
From order to operation · Operate
Treat, manage and inspect on evidence
Winter crews treat roads before ice forms, the traffic centre manages incidents with counts and images, and bridge engineers see vibration, movement and scour between inspections. Traffic and road weather data are published for travel services, and every decision is logged with its readings.
From order to operation · Maintain
Keep stations true through winter
Surface sensors are checked before each winter and after resurfacing, cameras cleaned, counters checked against manual counts and bridge sensors reviewed at each inspection. Every change is recorded, so the network’s road weather and structural series stay comparable year to year.
Book field servicesData products
For crews, engineers and travellers
Winter crews and traffic centres receive surface state and ice warnings; planners and travel services receive traffic volumes, speeds and classes; bridge engineers and asset managers receive structural and scour alarms; emergency services receive incident images. Each product carries the siting and calibration behind it.
See the data productsEvidence
Decisions that hold up afterwards
Every reading, warning, treatment and alarm is signed and kept with its time and place. Stations follow road weather siting guidance, structural monitoring follows ISO practice beside the regulated inspection cycle, and traffic data is exchanged in DATEX II, so an auditor or court can check what was known.
- Drawn against
- FHWA RWIS siting · ISO 16587 · National Bridge Inspection Standards · DATEX II
What you get
Transport and logistics corridor sensing
Road weather, rail condition, port and cold-chain sensing along corridors, with connectivity where coverage ends. Delivered as managed service and data licence, for transport agencies, rail and port operators, logistics firms. Scale: Corridor to network. Service levels are written as numbers you can measure on your own dashboard.
Talk to salesNext step
Plan roads and bridges with us
Tell us the site, the measurements and the rules it answers to. We reply with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for roads and bridges. An engineer replies with a survey proposal and a scope, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need, at your pace.
Plan a deploymentOpen the Station BuilderOpen the Studio
01The place and its hazards
Where it runs, and what can go wrong.
Operating contextRoad authorities and concessionaires operate highways, their bridges and their winter service. They treat roads before ice forms, manage incidents and congestion, inspect bridges on a regulated cycle and watch for scour at river crossings. Intelligent transport rules expect traffic and travel information to be shared in common formats.
Hazards
- Ice and snow catching drivers before crews arrive
- Bridge scour and damage in floods
- Fatigue and deterioration of structures between inspections
- Incidents and queues on high-speed roads
- Crews and equipment working beside live traffic
02What must be measured
What, where, how often, and under which rules.
Each measurement names where it is taken, how often, and the public standard or regulation behind it. Numbers in the sources column open the cited source below.
| Measurement | Where | Cadence | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| Road surface state and temperature | Road weather stations at cold spots, bridges and exposed sections | Continuous, reported at short intervals in winter | 1 |
| Air temperature, humidity, wind and precipitation | The same stations, sited to road weather guidance | Continuous | 12 |
| Traffic volume, speed and class | Counting sites on each link and at junctions | Continuous, aggregated at short intervals | 34 |
| Bridge vibration and movement | Critical members, bearings and joints of monitored bridges | Continuous, with triggered recording | 56 |
| Scour and water level | Piers and abutments of bridges over rivers | Continuous, faster in floods | 7 |
| Visual confirmation | Cameras at stations, bridges and incident hot spots | Images on schedule and on alarm | 3 |
03The observation stack
From one base unit to a network.
The same blocks at every scale: instruments and a base node, a site with its radio, a fleet run as one, and a network federated on the open protocol.
- 01
Base unit
A roadside point: a road weather station, a counter or bridge sensors read by an edge node that signs every value.
Build a station → - 02
Site
A corridor section: points along it, cameras and a cellular or fibre link to the traffic centre.
Plan a site → - 03
Fleet
Every point of a network run as one fleet, with one calibration process and one record.
Managed offers → - 04
Network
Road authorities, concessionaires and travel services exchange traffic and road weather data through open standards.
The open protocol →
- 01Compact weather station
- 02Traffic and people counter
- 03Vibration and condition monitor
- 04Fixed camera
- 05Edge node (Wedge)
- 06Cellular modem/router
- 07Fibre terminal
- 08Solar array
- 09Pole
Radio and links
Public cellular
Roadside points along most corridors have cellular coverage, the quickest path to the traffic centre.
Radio and links
Fibre
Where the road has its own fibre duct, cameras and stations connect to it directly.
Radio and links
LoRaWAN
Small sensors on bridges and culverts report at low power to a gateway at the nearest station.
Edge computeThe station’s node forecasts surface state from the last hours, raises ice warnings before the surface freezes, counts and classifies traffic locally and records bridge vibration at a high rate only when a threshold is crossed.
PowerStations run on mains where the road has it, otherwise on solar with batteries sized for winter days; bridge sensors run on batteries or harvested power.
04How it works
From the instrument to the product.
One observation’s path, tier by tier, with the interface on every link and a bill of materials below; then how the one node grows to a site, a fleet and federated networks.
Roads and bridges: data path
– of 06
01 Instruments Measurement with sensor identity andcalibration 02 Node – Wrap in an observation envelope with timequality– Measure quality and uncertainty, attachquality flags– Buffer locally (store-and-forward when thelink drops) 03 Backhaul Commit with transactional outbox andpublish, delivered at least once 04 Site Consumer inbox deduplicates and applieseach record once into governed data 05 Data store Governed product through API, map orexport, correction-aware 06 Products DATEX IIOGC SensorThings APICommon Alerting Protocol 07 Power and structure Supplies 12 V DC, 24 V DC, 48 V DC to thefield equipment 01 Compact weather station SDI-12 · RS-485 · Ethernet 02 Traffic and people counter SDI-12 · RS-485 · Ethernet 03 Vibration and condition monitor Analogue I/O · RS-485 · Ethernet 04 Fixed camera Ethernet 05 Edge node (Wedge) Ethernet · Fibre · USB · RS-485 ·BMC 06 Cellular modem/router Ethernet · USB · RS-232 07 Fibre terminal Fibre · Ethernet Site MQTT 5 with Sparkplug B Governed data store Versioned, correction-aware Surface state and ice warnings Traffic volumes, speeds and classes Bridge condition and scour alarms Incident images 08 Solar array RS-485 09 Pole RS-485 RS-485 RS-485 Ethernet · RTSP/ONVIF Ethernet Fibre LTE/NR Fibre| Item | Equipment | Data ports | Protocols | Power in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Compact weather stationAll-in-one or compact station for temperature, humidity, pressure, wind and rain at a site. | SDI-12RS-485Ethernet | SDI-12, Modbus, MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC |
| 02 | Traffic and people counterCounter for vehicles, bicycles or pedestrians using radar, vision or loops, reporting counts without identities. | SDI-12RS-485Ethernet | SDI-12, Modbus, MQTT 5, OGC SensorThings API | 12 V DC |
| 03 | Vibration and condition monitorAccelerometer-based vibration and temperature sensor for rotating machinery and structural condition monitoring. | Analogue I/ORS-485Ethernet | Modbus, OPC UA, MQTT 5 | 12 V DC |
| 04 | Fixed cameraFixed visible-light camera for site security, scene monitoring and machine vision. | Ethernet | RTSP with ONVIF profiles, MQTT 5 | PoE |
| 05 | Edge node (Wedge)Rugged edge node that boots from signed media, attests itself and establishes a site cell from little or no infrastructure. | EthernetFibreUSBRS-485BMC | MQTT 5, DMTF Redfish, IEEE 1588 PTP, NTP with NTS, OPC UA | 12 V DC, 24 V DC, 48 V DC, AC mains |
| 06 | Cellular modem/routerLTE or NR modem or router that uses a public carrier or private network as backhaul. | EthernetUSBRS-232 | 3GPP E-UTRA air interface, 3GPP NR air interface, OMA LwM2M | 12 V DC, PoE |
| 07 | Fibre terminalOptical network terminal or media converter that lands fibre backhaul at a site. | FibreEthernet | IEEE 1588 PTP | 12 V DC, 48 V DC, AC mains |
| 08 | Solar arrayPV modules with charge controller sized to the site’s load and climate. | RS-485 | Modbus | — |
| 09 | PoleUtility, street or dedicated pole with clamp positions. | — | — | — |
How it scales
01 Instruments Arbitrary qualified sensors and instruments whosemeasurements are ingested with calibration, units,geometry, time, custody and uncertainty. ×n 02 Node The minimum useful deployable unit: server, ruggedappliance, radio node, sensor gateway, satelliteterminal, AI, scientific, vehicle or virtual node. Node Node agent 03 Site The minimum independently operable localgovernance and failure domain: one or more nodesplus local network, identity, policy, evidence,storage, products and operator surfaces.SITE
Node Node Node ×n 04 Cluster An optional scale or specialisation domain forscheduling, shared storage, accelerators or datalocality.CLUSTER
×n 05 Fleet Coordinates plans, acknowledgements,convergence evidence, update campaigns andcorrection propagation across nodes and sites.FLEET
Fleet controller ×n 06 Federation An exchange of products, capabilities, events orwork across approved, independently administeredtrust domains, using explicit trust, policy,data-locality, version and correction contracts.TRUST DOMAIN
TRUST DOMAIN
TRUST DOMAIN
×n Verifier Applications Data in the field Telemetry Control Data upstream Control Data upstream Control Exchange Evidence Events Exchange- Data in the field
- MQTT 5 with Sparkplug B; connectors for LoRaWAN, OPC UA and instrument buses.
- Telemetry
- OpenTelemetry OTLP.
- Control
- TLS 1.3 with mutual authentication; protobuf messages over gRPC or HTTP/2.
- Data upstream
- At-least-once publication with repeat-safe keys over the control channel or NATS JetStream; QUIC MAY be used on lossy links.
- Evidence
- DSSE-signed in-toto statements; SLSA provenance; SCITT transparency receipts.
- Events
- Event envelopes mapped to CloudEvents 1.0; channels described in AsyncAPI 3.
- Exchange
- OpenAPI 3.1; the OGC API family; SensorThings; STAC; WIS 2.0.
05From order to operation
Every step, from the first call to a running site.
The same crew and the same record carry the work from scope to maintenance.
- 01 Order
Scope the corridor and the duties
The scope reads the network, the winter service plan, the bridge inventory and its inspection cycle, and the traffic data the authority must share. Nexus Observatory Inc. returns the point plan by section and structure, the radio design, the integration with traffic and maintenance systems and a price per point and per service. 63
- 02 Survey
Find the cold spots and the weak points
Crews drive the corridor with the authority’s engineers, using thermal maps where they exist to find cold spots, and inspect bridges for the members and piers to monitor. They choose sites with safe access off the carriageway, check coverage and power, and record traffic management needed for each visit. 1
- 03 Permits
Road space and structures
Work on a live road needs a traffic management plan and road space booked with the operator. Fixings to bridges are approved by the bridge engineer, and river works need the water authority’s consent. Every approval is kept with the point it covers.
- 04 Build
Build for the roadside
Stations, counters, bridge sensors, cameras and nodes are built, tested together and enrolled with their identities. Ice thresholds and alarm levels come from the winter service plan and the bridge engineer, and every part is labelled for a quick swap from the hard shoulder.
- 05 Install
Install under traffic management
Crews install behind barriers in booked road space: surface sensors in the running lane, masts set back from the carriageway, counters at their sections, accelerometers and tilt sensors on bridge members and scour sensors on piers. Every point is photographed and located for the record.
- 06 Commission
Check against the road and the structure
Each node proves its identity. Surface temperature is checked with a reference, counts against a manual count, bridge sensors against a known load or ambient record, and scour sensors against a sounding. Ice and structural alarms are tested to the traffic centre and the engineer on call.
- 07 Operate
Treat, manage and inspect on evidence
Winter crews treat roads before ice forms, the traffic centre manages incidents with counts and images, and bridge engineers see vibration, movement and scour between inspections. Traffic and road weather data are published for travel services, and every decision is logged with its readings. 47
- 08 Maintain
Keep stations true through winter
Surface sensors are checked before each winter and after resurfacing, cameras cleaned, counters checked against manual counts and bridge sensors reviewed at each inspection. Every change is recorded, so the network’s road weather and structural series stay comparable year to year.
06Data products and integration
What it delivers, to whom, and into which systems.
Data products
- Surface state and ice warningsWinter service crews and traffic centres
- Traffic volumes, speeds and classesTraffic centres, planners and travel services
- Bridge condition and scour alarmsBridge engineers and asset managers
- Incident imagesTraffic centres and emergency services
Integration
- Traffic management centreTraffic and road weather data are delivered in DATEX II for the centre and for travel services.
- Winter maintenance decision supportSurface state and forecasts feed the route planning crews already use.
- Bridge management systemStructural series and alarms join each structure’s record between inspections.
Exchanged through DATEX II, OGC SensorThings API, Common Alerting Protocol.
07Questions buyers ask
Before you scope it.
Does monitoring replace bridge inspections?
No. Inspections stay on their cycle; monitoring shows what happens between them.
Can our existing stations be connected?
Yes. Stations with standard outputs are read by the same node and join the same record.
How are crews kept safe?
Every visit is planned with traffic management, and points are placed for access off the carriageway.
Who can use the traffic data?
The authority decides; it can be published to travel services in DATEX II.
08Resources
The sources behind this page.
Public standards, regulations and guidance, cited where they apply. Each applies only where its jurisdiction or scope does.
- 1Road Weather Information System Environmental Sensor Station Siting GuidelinesUnited States Federal Highway Administration · 2008
- 2Guide to Instruments and Methods of Observation (WMO-No. 8)World Meteorological Organization
- 3Directive 2010/40/EU on intelligent transport systemsEuropean Union · 2010
- 4DATEX II (CEN/TS 16157): exchange of traffic and travel informationEuropean Committee for Standardization
- 5ISO 16587: Mechanical vibration and shock, performance parameters for condition monitoring of structuresInternational Organization for Standardization
- 6National Bridge Inspection Standards (23 CFR 650 Subpart C)United States Federal Highway Administration
- 7Evaluating Scour at Bridges (Hydraulic Engineering Circular No. 18)United States Federal Highway Administration
09Related
Use cases and solutions.
Use caseRoad weather corridor node
Pavement and visibility sensors with cameras and a traffic counter on a roadside pole, feeding maintenance decisions.The full use case →Use caseHighway corridor coverage and safety sensing
Small cells with satellite backhaul along an unserved highway, with road-weather and camera nodes.The full use case →SolutionTransport and logistics corridor sensing
Road weather, rail condition, port and cold-chain sensing along corridors, with connectivity where coverage ends.Solutions for transport →SolutionStructural and ground-movement monitoring
GNSS, InSAR, tilt, strain and fibre sensing on bridges, dams, slopes, tailings and pipelines, with alert thresholds set by the owner.Solutions for transport →10Transport: specialized fields
Other fields of this industry.
Specialized fieldRailways
Earthworks and structures, track-side weather and flooding, rail temperature and cameras at level crossings, on the railway’s own mobile network and fibre, for fewer speed restrictions and safer lines.The full field →Specialized fieldPorts and terminals
Wind for cranes, water levels and depths, air quality and noise at the boundary, and cameras over the quays, on a private 5G network across the terminal and fibre to the port’s systems.The full field →Specialized fieldAirports
Weather beside the runways, wind shear and visibility support, aircraft noise and air quality in the communities around, on the airport’s fibre and private network, alongside the official aviation weather service.The full field →Specialized fieldRoad and rail tunnels
Air quality and visibility, air flow and ventilation, fire detection, cameras and radio coverage inside the tube, on a radiating cable and fibre with an industrial network kept apart from the internet.The full field →Specialized fieldUrban transit
Passenger counts, station air and climate, escalator and lift condition, traction energy and cameras for metros, trams and buses, on private 5G and fibre, with real-time information riders can use.The full field →Specialized fieldInland waterways and locks
Water levels and depths, flows at weirs, wind and visibility, and cameras at locks and bridges, on LoRaWAN and cellular along the river, feeding the river information services skippers use.The full field →Bring us the site.
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