Green roadside radars in the land of black gold

08.02.2010

The United Arab Emirates is deploying solar-powered speed control radars, a new technology from Sagem Sécurité, a Safran group company.

Environmental challenges are planet-wide, and any new project has global consequences as well. An excellent example is the decision by Abu Dhabi, one of the United Arab Emirates, to install solar-powered automated radars to control speeding on its roads. Today, these “green” road safety systems are deployed in big cities and along major highways.

“There is significant car and truck traffic here and speed control systems improve safety on our roads,” says Richard Mikhael, director of the local branch. “Since being installed, these systems have changed drivers’ behavior and saved lives.”

A logical solution

The problem was the lack of an electrical grid that could power fixed radars along Al Silaa Road. The solution was solar power, and it was provided by Sagem Sécurité (Safran group), a long-standing expert in roadside radars with several decades of experience. The company’s latest-generation Mesta radars are totally automated and operate day and night. They are based on the well-known Doppler principle, in which a signal emitted by the directional antenna on the radar is reflected by the moving target and compared to the original signal, thus providing speed readings.

Sagem Sécurité is one of the first companies in the world to have developed radars powered by renewable energy, further consolidating its leadership in R&D and commitment to advanced road safety solutions. These energy-efficient standalone systems can be adapted to any type of road infrastructure.

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