Findlay Irvine has begun field tests of a new sensor product that monitors the conditions of roads and airport runways.

The Penicuik, Midlothian, company is developing a prototype with backing from Censis, the Scottish Innovation Centre for Sensors and Imaging Systems. The device uses infra-red light to determine road conditions, including whether snow and ice are present.

The resulting information can then be used to provide information such as the optimum time to put grit on roads and also make sure that the right amount of salt is added, in order to avoid damaging the surface.

Currently, sensors usually have to be embedded into a road, meaning closures and groundworks.

However, the new product can be placed alongside a carriageway, giving greater flexibility of deployment and reducing the need for any infrastructure work.

Up to 10 of the new sensors will be deployed across Scotland and England this winter, to monitor performance; it is expected that a commercial launch could happen as soon as 2015.

Mr Irvine added: “We are going to look at the data that comes back from the trials. By the end of next winter, hopefully we will have the model refined, and the intention is to offer it as a product at that point in time.”