Jan. 16, 2014

SNOWsat has been given an award in the category of "Industry & Services" for its management system for snow grooming and artificial snow production after taking part for the first time in the French innovation award Trophées Cap'Tronic. This nomination honours the "remarkable" innovation through the introduction of "electronic and software solutions" represented by the GPS solution integrated in the PistenBully vehicles.

Snow depth measurement - a powerful tool for optimising snow production.
As a pioneer in the field of GPS-guided snow groomers, SNOWsat has been developing management solutions for snow grooming fleets for more than ten years. These solutions not only enable operators to locate their snow groomers and analyse vehicle parameters (engine speed, idle time, winch use etc.), but also to display the status of the groomed and non-groomed slopes, or to view a general overview of all the data for the day/week etc.

Furthermore, the SNOWsat flagship facilitates reliable and accurate measurement of changes in snow depth across an entire ski resort. The captured data are particularly useful for ski resort operators if they are interested in making savings, minimising environmental impact and conserving natural resources.

The data supplied by SNOWsat enable operators to produce an homogeneous snow covering at night and to adapt their snow production to actual need, i.e. to produce "exactly the right amount of snow" at "exactly the right place". This results not only in savings in terms of machine hours in the amount of 8 %, but also in much lower consumption of water and power.

Unique measuring accuracy.
The system screen integrated in the cockpit displays a real-time cartographic picture of the slopes, which is created from position and depth data calculated using GPS with millimetre accuracy. The collated data are compared with the ski resort's reference cartographic picture. The snow depth under the vehicle is calculated in real time from the height difference. A powerful inertial navigation system corrects the projection of the GPS position, which deviates because of the steep incline and, thus, facilitates accuracy of 5 cm in measuring the depth of the snow covering.

A growth of 100 % over the next two years.
As a subsidiary of Kässbohrer E.S.E., SNOWsat has installed over a hundred systems to date in 9 countries (Europe and USA). Sales are projected in an additional 25 ski resorts over the next two years.

The Cap'Tronic programme.
The aim of the Cap'Tronic programme is to assist French companies to increase their competitive edge through electronic and software solutions. Out of more than 40 projects submitted for the seventh year of the Trophées Cap'Tronic, the jury members chose 12 from companies that have demonstrated particular innovation. The Cap'Tronic programme has been run by the "JESSICA France" association since 1999, which was created with financial assistance from the Ministry for the Economy.

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