System and Method for Determining Road Conditions

• US 20110029243A1
• Filed: 07/31/2009
• Published: 02/03/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Baron Services Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Baron Services Incorporated
• Inventors: Dreisewerd, Robert J., McHenry, John N., Gallagher, Daniel R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,645,067 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 702/3
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 7/42 Circuits effecting compensation of thermal inertia; Circuits for predicting the stationary value of a temperature
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/00 Meteorology

Abstract

A road data apparatus is disclosed that predicts road conditions comprising a land surface data generator which derives a land surface data output from a plurality of current and forecast weather and location data, said current and forecast weather and location data comprising surface temperature, subsurface temperature, and precipitation depth, a pavement data generator which derives a road temperature and a road condition from said land surface data output and a plurality of pavement generator input data, said plurality of pavement generator input data comprising road layer data; and a roadway status indicator generator which derives a roadway status indicator from said road temperature, road condition and precipitation data. In one embodiment, the roadway status indicator is communicated to an end user through a distribution network.

Claims

1. A computer implemented method of determining a road temperature and road condition, comprising the steps of:

a. collecting a plurality of weather data;

b. collecting a plurality of location data;

c. deriving a plurality of land surface data from said weather and location data; and

d. deriving a road temperature and road condition from said land surface data and a plurality of pavement generator input data

wherein the above identified steps are performed on a computer.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising collecting current precipitation data and deriving a roadway status indicator from current precipitation data and said road temperature and road condition.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of collecting observation data and current precipitation data and deriving a roadway status indicator from said road temperature, road condition, current precipitation data and observation data.

4. The method of claim 1 where said land surface data comprises surface temperature, subsurface temperature and precipitation depth.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of pavement generator input data comprises road layer data.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of pavement generator input comprises observation data.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the road temperature and road condition are associated with a geographic grid cell.

8. The method of claim 2 where said roadway status indicator is communicated to an end user through a distribution network.

9. A road data system, wherein the system comprises a software or firmware encoded on a tangible media operated on by one or more processors, said processors being programmed to perform the steps of:

a. collecting a plurality of current and forecast weather and location data;

b. deriving a land surface data output from said current and forecast weather and location data;

c. deriving a road temperature and road condition from said land surface data and a plurality of pavement generator input data.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 further comprising logic configured to collect current precipitation data and derive a roadway status indicator from said road temperature, road condition and current precipitation data.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 further comprising logic configured to collect observation data and current precipitation data and derive a roadway status indicator from said road temperature, road condition, current precipitation and observation data.

12. The apparatus of claim 9 where said current and forecast weather and location data comprises current precipitation data.

13. The apparatus of claim 9 where said current forecast weather and location data comprises at least one of the following soil characteristic data, land use/land cover data or topography/terrain data.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein the road temperature and road condition are associated with a geographic grid cell.

15. The apparatus of claim 9 wherein said system is in communication with a distribution network for distributing said road status indicator.

16. A road data apparatus that predicts road conditions comprising:

a. a land surface data generator which derives a land surface data output from a plurality of current and forecast weather and location data, said current and forecast weather and location data comprising surface temperature, subsurface temperature, and precipitation depth;

b. a pavement data generator which derives a road temperature and a road condition from said land surface data output and a plurality of pavement generator input data, said plurality of pavement generator input data comprising road layer data; and

c. a roadway status indicator generator which derives a roadway status indicator from said road temperature, road condition and precipitation data.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said plurality of current and forecast weather and location data comprises land use/land cover data and topography data.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 where said pavement generator input data further comprises precipitation type data and observation data.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 wherein said apparatus is in communication with a distribution network for distributing said road status indicator.

20. The apparatus of claim 16 where said road temperature and road condition are associated with a geographic grid cell.