Helios – Providing Realtime Ground Intelligence

Microclimates are on the rise, and as a result, there are extreme deviations of wind, snow, fog and visibility even over short distances. Hyperlocal ground information enhances operational efficiencies and decision making that can save time, money, property and even lives. Case in point, tropical depression Nicholas. Helios Road Wetness Analytic provides confirmation of precipitation affecting road or pavement conditions and notifies users of wet or dry pavement and potentially dangerous areas during a storm event. Below are some of the images we captured as tropical depression Nicholas advanced onto New Orleans and Baton Rouge. Helios provided real-time situational awareness for decision makers on the ground.

Some of the benefits Helios provides to state, local and federal government decision makers:

Real-time localized information

• Better road coverage increasing awareness for response to your customers – Harris continues to enlarge its network
• Combined data produces a complete picture of the impacts of weather
• Capture of extremely localized conditions (i.e. fog)
• Improved visibility monitoring from limited ground station views
• Historical archives of events not available from the source providers

Verification

• More complete and comprehensive verification of all forms of precipitation.
• Improved post processing model validation

Additionally

• Uses machine learning to extract environmental and scene activity data from existing terrestrial camera networks
• Helios’ can repurpose any persistent camera into a “smart” sensor without retrofit
• Single frame/low resolution detection
• Provides accurate ground condition observations; impact, trending and analysis of ground weather

Happy reading; send me a note and let me know if you have any questions for me. Have a great weekend, Christian