The Fog Warning System in the Venice Region (Concept)
Pilot 3: The Fog Warning System in the Venice Region (Concept)
Purpose of the Pilot
The aim of this draft pilot is to:
- Install specific sensors suitable for visibility measurement and/or estimation;
- Identify and collect data related to fog and low visibility conditions;
- Combine the identified data in an optimal way accounting for their relative quality;
- Generate visibility products suitable for various categories of end users;
- Test the dissemination of visibility products through various channels to various categories of end users;
- Obtain selected feedback from end users on reliability and usefulness of the visibility products.
The main contributor in this pilot is ARPAV which at this stage underlines that the large part of their effort in ROADIDEA is concentrated on the installation of visibility sensors and the optimal combination of the various visibility-related data, as well as the product generation. The dissemination part, therefore, will be investigated and tested in an experimental rather than operational configuration.
The main goal of the pilot is to set up a system which allows possibly large end users groups to access visibility information in real time as an important element for their pretravel or on-route decision making process. This process can lead to pursue several options:
- Change of route in view of thick fog. For professional end users this can mean taking a detour but saving travel time and lowering the risk to incur in an accident.
- Break the trip until visibility conditions improve. For professional truck drivers who are subject to systematic rests this could optimize their planning.
- Privates could decide to modify the route, take the train instead of the car, or simply postpone the trip.
- There are numerous scenarios which can illustrate the usefulness of such a service in making travelling and transport more efficient and less dangerous.
Background and Motivation
Fog is a relatively frequent phenomenon in the Po Valley and constitutes a major issue for all road traffic. Fog monitoring is particularly difficult because of the phenomenon exhibits large horizontal variability and is measured at only very few sites as such sensors are not part of the standard equipment of the principal meteorological surface monitoring network. Satellite observations can partially contribute to observing fog and low visibility but they need to be suitably combined with surface observations.
Description of the Draft Pilot
For the purpose of describing the draft pilot it makes sense to structure the system in three distinct parts (figure 6), i.e.:
1. production layer;
2. dissemination layer,
3. end user layer.
Production layer
The production layer includes the data collection, integration and fusion. A variety of visibility information will be processed and combined with satellite observations. As visibility measurements are not standard meteorological quantities in the sense that they are not routinely measured by automatic weather stations, ARPAV is in the process of installing a network of 10 visibility meters in ROADIDEA. Any other qualitative or semi-quantitative visibility information, as for instance coming from CAN BUS data (fog lights on/off), can be accounted for.
As mentioned already, the production layer constitutes the part of the system which requires most of our attention in ROADIDEA, in that a network of visibility-related sensors has to be acquired and installed, and an optimal combination of these with other visibility-related data has to be devised. Finally, suitable products for a number of potentially different end users need to be developed, as well as useful alert levels identified. The main data sources comprise:
- the to-be-installed visibility meters;
- Meteosat-9 satellite products;
- temperature and wind profilers, i.e. radiometers and sodars;
- traditional meteorological surface observations.
In the course of the project ARPAV will evaluate whether it is feasible and beneficial to add data sources like:
- web cams;
- reports from traffic participants.
Dissemination layer
The dissemination layer could be based on the following chief dissemination channels:
- Internet-ARPAV web site: visibility products would be made available online in real-time for end users having internet access. It can be mentioned that wireless internet access is becoming increasingly popular and accessible in Italy (an In Europe in general) so that this channel may be more efficient than one might anticipate.
- ARPAV plans to make visibility product available on mobile phones on request, i.e. a graphically tuned product can be requested when being on the road. This channel is to be constructed, as it is not currently used in ARPAV. Its functionality could be tested just from a technical point of view with selected users.
End user layer
The pilot service is likely to be used by road managers, and the general public via publication on the web. On the end user layer a number of distinctions can be made, in that they can be private, professional, and institutional, and they can be at home or in the office planning a trip, or being on the road having to take decisions concerning the route. If they have, in the planning stages, access to the internet this would be the most natural and comprehensive option. If on the road, the MMS/WAP option could be an alternative to access visibility information needed to make a decision.
Road management companies could be very interested in fog monitoring products. Contacts will be held with two highways management companies operating in the region.
The Challenge for Innovation
The aim of the Partner is to develop an area monitoring system of the fog presence on their territory combining in a novel way ground based observations and satellite imagery, and to develop suitable products for disseminating to the end users, where various end users groups with potentially different needs will have to be identified.
These fog monitoring products have to be clear and simple to understand and suitable for broadcast via Internet and mobile phones.
Data Needs and Available Data Sources
The following data sources will be the basis for the construction of fog monitoring products:
- Data from the surface visibilimeters network
- Satellite imagery (MSG).
- Data from the meteorological network of ARPAV (temperature, humidity, solar radiation and other sensors).
- Historical data about fog occurrence in the Venice Region (e.g. the number and distribution of foggy days per year and the seasonality of fog occurrence).
- Technical parameters of road network in the region (e.g. the length and form of network and number of junctions).
- Traffic data (e.g. volume, number of heavy vehicles and speed distributions).
- Crash data of the road network in the pilot region (number and distribution of fog-related accidents during the last five years).
The pilot is conceived to work with the data acquired by ARPAV alone. Hence, in the most basic version no data from the platform is needed. However, advanced ROADIDEA type data, such as fog light on/off, could be integrated and could come from the ROADIDEA platform.
The expected data output consists of regional alert levels for fog and severe fog. ARPAV could provide direct visibility measure and selected visibility related satellite information. Pilot products are not intended to be uploaded onto the platform.
Necessary Local Partners
The main local partners envisaged are Motorway Agencies and other potential high level end users. Such a partnership is important for feedback from the product.
Necessary ROADIDEA Partners
The possible input of the following partners has been discussed in a preliminary way:
- VTT for evaluation
- FMI for evaluation and concept building
- RODS for analysis of studies, materials and information from the literature about the realized or planned fog warning systems all over the world & study about the situation in Hungary (details of traffic safety problems in fog and low visibility circumstances on the basis of Hungarian Accident Database and reports of Hungarian Meteorological Service; evaluation of usability of the concept at the Hungarian motorway network)
Next Steps and Outlook
- Installation of the visibilimeter network (10 instruments in the Veneto plain);
- Acquisition and visualization of real time visibility data;
- Handling of satellite data in a common database with ground monitoring data;
- Development and testing of algorithms and methods for merging of ground and satellite information;
- Evaluation of alert criteria;
- Development of suitable end user products, with particular attention to the clarity;
- Evaluation of dissemination methods.
Estimated Pilot Schedule
A draft schedule for the realization of the pilot activities is as follows:
- 2009/Q1-Q2: conceptual refinement of the fog pilot;
- 2009/Q2-Q3: design of both an internet site and a test WAP site for products dissemination;
- 2009/Q3: fog alert scheme definition in collaboration with end users;
- 2009/Q4: product definition and generation, and tests of the dissemination procedures;
- 2010/Q1-Q2: test dissemination in real time;
- 2010/Q2: evaluation of dissemination methods and end user feedback