Experienced drivers who drive late at night must have encountered this situation - staring at the blurry guidance screen on a heavy rainy day, unable to see which lane to take. An incident like this happened last year on the Beijing-Hong Kong-Macao Expressway. Three trucks rear-ended each other because they misread the guidance information. Afterwards, upon investigation, it was discovered that the fault was caused by insufficient brightness of the induction screen. Today we are going to discuss how much knowledge is hidden in the traffic guidance screens we see every day.

Tricks in hardware configuration

Don't underestimate that dark screen, the doorway here is more complicated than the configuration of the mobile phone. Let’s talk about the most terrible waterproof performance first. Last year, the induction screen installed in a southern city was “crying” when people in Nantian came across it. The screen was as blurry as frosted glass. ​ ​A truly reliable product must reach IP65 protection level​ ​, what does it mean? Even if I pointed a fire hose at it for half an hour, no water would come in.

Let’s talk about brightness adjustment. A good screen can do:

• Automatically reaches 5,500 nits on sunny days (you can see clearly even under direct sunlight at noon)
• On a cloudy day, the nits drop to 3,000 nits, which is not dazzling.
• Maintain 800 nits late at night without dazzling

This is similar to the automatic brightness of a mobile phone, but the technical difficulty is more than ten times higher. There is a data that you may not believe: the average failure rate of induced screens with intelligent light sensing systems is 43% lower than that of ordinary products.

Software system is the real core

Last month, I visited a command center and saw with my own eyes that the attendant used a tablet computer to control 18 induction screens at the same time. The key here is that​ ​Distributed control system​ ​, simply put:

1. The front screen only displays
2. Repeaters are responsible for signal transmission
3. Unified scheduling of backend systems

The best thing is that some systems can predict road conditions. For example, if an accident is detected 3 kilometers ahead, the distance prompt on the rear guidance screen will be automatically changed from "2km" to "5km". This technology was put into trial operation on the Shanghai-Kunming Expressway last year, and the misjudgment rate was directly reduced by 70%.

Hidden costs of installation and maintenance

Newbies are most likely to get stuck in the installation process. Let me tell you a true story: In order to save budget, a third-tier city installed the induction screen behind the green belt. As a result, the driver had to crane his neck to see it, and in the end he had to spend double the money to move it. Remember these three prime locations:

1. 300 meters before the intersection (give the driver enough reaction time)
2. Outside of the curve (to avoid visual blind spots)
3. Slope change points (downhill sections should be installed higher)

Speaking of maintenance, cutting-edge technology now enables remote diagnosis. For example, if some screens have missing color blocks, the backend can directly locate the module in which row and column that has the problem without waiting for a repairman to come. Last year, this technology was used on a highway section in northwest China, and maintenance time was shortened from an average of 8 hours to 2 hours.

Question and answer time

Q: Why is the price difference of induction screens of the same size tens of thousands?
A: The main difference lies in lamp life and power module. High-quality lamp beads can be used for 100,000 hours without color fading, while poor ones will turn yellow after less than 30,000 hours. There is a simple way to detect it: when the screen is turned on and the screen is white, look closely to see if there are any dark spots, just like checking for dead pixels on a mobile phone.

Q: How to judge whether the control system is stable?
A: Request a demonstration of the "full screen refresh" function. A good system can update the entire screen content synchronously in 0.1 seconds, while a bad system will have obvious scan lines. This is the same as watching TV and changing channels without lag.

Q: What should I do if I encounter extreme weather?
A: Focus on the operating temperature range. Nowadays, high-end products can work normally from -40°C to 85°C, which is equivalent to withstanding the cold winter in Northeast China to the scorching heat of Turpan. The batch of screens used by Heihe last year can still display clearly at minus 38 degrees Celsius, relying on special heating film technology.

To be honest, when choosing an induction screen, don’t just look at the price. Some bargains look great at first, and you can buy a new one with less than two years of maintenance costs. On the other hand, those manufacturers that are willing to use aviation plugs and industrial-grade chips, although their quotations are 20% higher, don't have to worry about using them for five years. Remember to ask more questions when bidding next time: "How many years will it last without fading?", and you will definitely be able to filter out a lot of people trying to fish in troubled waters!

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