Components / The chain

Four parts, one measurement chain.

We are often asked for a price on a sensor. The more useful conversation is about the whole chain, because an enforceable weight depends on every link between the wheel and the record.

Talk to a Systems Engineer See the principle

Data acquisition unit inside a roadside cabinet — Roadside acquisition: the least photographed and most important part of the system.

01 / The four blocks

What actually sits in the lane.

Sensing, identity, decision and acquisition. A site may use all four or a subset, but the interfaces between them are designed together.

01Sensing

Wide-flange plate sensor

A 58 mm plate buried flush, with no civil foundation pit. IP68, 150% overload tolerance, and full-wheel load integration that removes eccentric-driving error. Dynamic accuracy of ±0.5% across 1–100 km/h when configured as a lane.

Sensor specifications 02Identity

ANPR capture

Automatic number plate recognition attaches a vehicle identity to the axle-load record, with image capture and video linkage for a defensible evidence file.

How ANPR fits

03Decision

LED information board

A roadside display, in the signal-yellow language of a variable message sign, tells the driver immediately whether the pass is within limit, over speed or over weight. It closes the loop at the lane rather than in an office days later.

Used where the output of the measurement is an instruction to the driver.

04Acquisition

Data acquisition unit

The subsystem that turns a wheel signal into a dated, stored record: image capture and video linkage, local caching when the network drops, and central supervision of many sites. It is the part that makes 7×24 unattended operation honest.

Used everywhere — even a single-lane pilot needs a reliable record.

02 / Integration

Buying the parts separately is where projects go wrong.

A sensor from one supplier, a camera from another and software from a third leaves the integrator to reconcile timestamps, formats and failure behaviour. Our research, manufacturing, installation and maintenance teams work from one specification, so the interface between the plate and the record is designed rather than improvised on site.

That is also why the accuracy figure is quoted for the configured lane. The chain is the product.

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