Metrological Assurance of Automated Weight and Dimension Control Systems: Problems and Solutions for Improving Measurement Accuracy

Automated weight and dimension control systems (WIM systems) are a crucial tool for transportation organization, an effective factor in ensuring road safety and preserving road infrastructure. Such systems represent a complex of measuring instruments for weight, axle loads, and dimensions of vehicles and are subject to metrological assurance, like all measuring instruments under state regulation.

However, the metrological assurance system for automated WIM systems faces a number of challenges that affect measurement accuracy and law enforcement practice. In particular, significant discrepancies are observed in the determination of key metrological characteristics: parts of the axle load measurement range, the operating speed range, and the relative error.

The objectives of this study are to systematize the problems of metrological assurance of automated weight and dimension control systems (WIM systems) and to propose ways to solve them in order to improve measurement accuracy.

The starting point of the study was a review of the metrological and technical characteristics of the most common approved types of automated WIM systems, based on data from the Federal Information Fund for Ensuring the Uniformity of Measurements. The capabilities of metrological assurance for WIM systems were schematized regarding axle load measurements at various speeds, indicating axle load and speed measurement ranges that are fully metrologically assured, partially assured, and lacking metrological assurance.

A metrological study of the load-receiving modules of an automated WIM system was conducted under dynamic loading using a working standard of dynamic force.

As a result, new calibration methods have been proposed, in particular, modular testing. The necessity of developing dynamic force standards for more accurate replication of real-world loading conditions and for eliminating the risks associated with on-road tests has been substantiated.

The authors are confident that the significance of the topic raised in this article is not limited to the metrological community. Ensuring the accuracy of measurements performed by automated weight and dimension control systems (WIM systems) will have a beneficial impact on the development of the entire transport infrastructure in the country and will contribute to enhancing the safety of vehicle operation.

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