ETI Software Solutions has entered a partnership to reduce roadwork fatalities in the UK with its Beamfly platform which collects data from motion sensor devices on traffic cones.
The data allows contractors to monitor the location and status of the cones on a map as well as trigger alarms when a cone has been struck and workers may be in danger.
Funded by the European Union, the collaboration includes New Wave Innovation, Highway Resource Solutions, ETI Software's Beamfly platform, Philips, Eldes, and Colas, a prime contractor for highways maintenance in the UK.
The solution, called Intellicone, seamlessly operates in with existing cones. They can be used in a variety of settings including road closures, lane closures, tapers, gates, safe working areas, slip road closures, lane change over and contraflow. When a cone is struck, audio and visual alerts are sounded.
Beamfly's remote device management solution provides a web portal which logs the status of each device as well as its location and displays this on a map in real time.
Remote monitoring and automatic reporting features make it easy to obtain accurate time and date stamps for any incidents as well as providing a rich data set to report on deployments.
Alarms are instantly activated when a cone is struck, improving the ability of workers to move to safety. In addition, near misses can be investigated in further detail to improve future working conditions.
"This is a timely example of how the Internet of Things can impact an industry," said Nick Wilcox, CEO of the UK division of ETI Software. "It is more than making a ‘dumb' traffic cone ‘smarter', it's the ability to use the data collected to affect the greater good."