MDSS Products

Software Release 5.0

Significant changes were made to the MDSS software for the winter 2007-2008 Colorado field demonstration. Two of the most notable changes to the system include the following:

• The Road Condition and Treatment Module (RCTM) was upgraded to use a different road temperature model. METRo, a road condition model developed at Environment Canada was chosen to replace SNTHERM, which is no longer being actively supported. METRo has functionality similar to that of SNTHERM; however, METRo is much easier for users to implement and adapt.
• The MDSS display was completely revised. While much of the look and feel remains the same, the underlying code base was ported to an entirely new Java visualization framework. The new framework provides better support for asynchronous data retrieval, time selection, and emerging standard data formats.

From this web site you can select the MDSS Release-5.0 components you are interested in and they will be shipped to you on a CD. The CD will include code, documentation, and specifications.

As seen in the system architecture diagram, the Research Applications Laboratory uses the Road Weather Forecast System (RWFS) to produce weather forecasts for the MDSS. The RWFS is not distributed as part of the Federal Prototype MDSS, but if an organization or individual is interested in using this code, they may contact Carol Makowski (ph. 303.497.8450 | email: makowski@ucar.edu). A free one-year trial license is available for the RWFS.

Updates for Release 5.0

Instructions for downloading MDSS R5 .tar file and letter from Federal Highways Administration

Updates From Release 4 to Release 5.0

A summary of MDSS prototype enhancements since Release 4.0 is provided below:

Road Condition and Treatment Module:

• Replaced SNTHERM with METRo
• Simplification of configuration files

Display Application:

• Added new gridded datasets:
• National radar mosaic
• Combined satellite visible image
• Combined satellite infrared image
• Combined satellite water vapor
• Added real-time truck AVL data
• Added dynamic basemaps
• Added map variable selection for road segments
• Added independent controls for weather, road, and observed variables
• Added road temperature and freezing precipitation alerts
• Enabled archive browsing from the real-time display
• Added arbitrary panning and zooming
• Isolated and simplified configuration

Frost Module

• Updated code to handle new configuration files
• Embedded material properties for asphalt, concrete, etc. into code

Alert Generation Module

• Developed new module that generates hazard alerts
• Hazards contain predicted bad road conditions and observed inclement weather

Gridded Data Set Servers

• Developed server capabilities to provide radar, satellite, or other gridded data sets to display
• Publicly available Unidata servers were configured for this purpose
• Technically not part of MDSS, but capability completes proof of concept

From this web site you can select the MDSS Release-5.0 components you are interested in and they will be shipped to you on a CD. The CD will include code, documentation, and specifications.

As seen in the system architecture diagram, the Research Applications Laboratory uses the Road Weather Forecast System (RWFS) to produce weather forecasts for the MDSS. The RWFS is not distributed as part of the Federal Prototype MDSS, but if an organization or individual is interested in using this code, they may contact Carol Makowski (ph. 303.497.8450 | email: makowski@ucar.edu). A free one-year trial license is available for the RWFS.