DISTRIBUTED ROAD ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

• US 20130082857A1
• Filed: 08/26/2011
• Published: 04/04/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC (Government of the United States of America)
• Original Assignee: Lawrence Livermore National Security LLC (Government of the United States of America)
• Inventors: Beer, N. Reginald, Paglieroni, David W.
• Granted Patent: US 8,681,036 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/22
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/003 Bistatic radar systems; Multistatic radar systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/885 for ground probing prospecting or detecting using electromagnetic waves G01V3/12
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 13/90 using synthetic aperture techniques , e.g. synthetic aperture radar [SAR] techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/12 operating with electromagnetic waves operating with millimetre waves G01V8/005
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 3/15 specially adapted for use during transport, e.g. by a person, vehicle or boat
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 99/00 Subject matter not provided for in other groups of this subclass

Abstract

A system that detects damage on or below the surface of a paved structure or pavement is provided. A distributed road assessment system includes road assessment pods and a road assessment server. Each road assessment pod includes a ground-penetrating radar antenna array and a detection system that detects road damage from the return signals as the vehicle on which the pod is mounted travels down a road. Each road assessment pod transmits to the road assessment server occurrence information describing each occurrence of road damage that is newly detected on a current scan of a road. The road assessment server maintains a road damage database of occurrence information describing the previously detected occurrences of road damage. After the road assessment server receives occurrence information for newly detected occurrences of road damage for a portion of a road, the road assessment server determines which newly detected occurrences correspond to which previously detected occurrences of road damage.

Claims

1. A system for inspecting roads comprising:

a road assessment pod capable of being coupled to a vehicle, the road assessment pod including;

a collection of antennas for emitting ground-penetrating radar and receiving return signals as the vehicle travels down a road;

a damage assessment component that analyzes the return signals to detect occurrences of damage and that determines the type of each occurrence of damage; and

a transmission component that, for each occurrence of damage, transmits occurrence information that includes location and type of the occurrences; and

a road assessment server including;

a component that receives the occurrence information transmitted by the road assessment pod;

a correspondence component that identifies correspondences between newly detected occurrences and previously detected occurrences;

a component that, when no correspondence is identified between a newly detected occurrence and any previously detected occurrence, indicates that the newly detected occurrence represents damage not previously detected; and

a component that, when a correspondence is identified between a newly detected occurrence and a previously detected occurrence, updates information for that previously detected occurrence based on that newly detected occurrence.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the correspondence component identifies a root correspondence between a newly detected occurrence and a previously detected occurrence and then identifies correspondences between other newly detected occurrences and previously detected occurrences based on that root correspondence.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the correspondence component identifies correspondences between other newly detected occurrences and previously detected occurrences further based on locations of the occurrences relative to the root correspondence.

4. The system of claim 3 wherein the correspondence component identifies correspondences between other newly detected occurrences and previously detected occurrences further based on types of the occurrences.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the road assessment server includes a component that provides a user interface for receiving from a user a query relating to road damage and for displaying a map indicating locations of road damage.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the damage assessment component includes a detection component that detects objects from the return signals and a classification component that classifies the detected objects as representing road damage or not representing road damage.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the road assessment server receives transmitted occurrence information from a plurality of road assessment pods.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the road assessment server includes a component that provides instructions to the road assessment pod indicating a road that the road assessment pod is to inspect for damage.

9. A road assessment pod for collecting road damage information as a vehicle travels down a road, the road assessment pod comprising:

a collection of antennas for emitting ground-penetrating radar and receiving return signals as the vehicle travels down a road;

a detection component that analyzes the return signals to detect objects on or below the surface of the road;

a classification component that determines whether a detected object represents an occurrence of road damage;

a type component that determines a type of each occurrence of damage; and

a transmission component that, for each occurrence of damage, transmits occurrence information that includes location and type of the occurrence.

10. The road assessment pod of claim 9 wherein the collection of antennas includes transceivers that operate in multistatic mode.

11. The road assessment pod of claim 9 including a navigation component that determines current location of the road assessment pod.

12. The road assessment pod of claim 9 wherein power for the road assessment pod is provided by the vehicle on which it is mounted.

13. The road assessment pod of claim 9 including a component that transmits images generated by the detection component to a road assessment server.

14. The road assessment pod of claim 9 wherein the road damage information is collected as the vehicle travels at highway speeds.

15. A road assessment system for collecting road damage information from road assessment pods as vehicles on which the road assessment pods are mounted travel down a road, comprising:

a component that receives occurrence information transmitted by road assessment pods, the occurrence information indicating newly detected occurrences of damage to the road;

a correspondence component that identifies correspondences between newly detected occurrences and previously detected occurrences;

a component that, when no correspondence is identified between a newly detected occurrence and any previously detected occurrence, indicates that the newly detected occurrence represents damage not previously detected; and

a component that, when a correspondence is identified between a newly detected occurrence and a previously detected occurrence, updates information for that previously detected occurrence based on that newly detected occurrence.

16. The system of claim 15 wherein the correspondence component identifies a root correspondence between a newly detected occurrence and a previously detected occurrence and then identifies correspondences between other newly detected occurrences and previously detected occurrences based on that root correspondence.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the correspondence component identifies correspondences between other newly detected occurrences and previously detected occurrences further based on locations of the occurrences relative to the root correspondence.

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the correspondence component identifies correspondences between other newly detected occurrences and previously detected occurrences further based on types of the occurrences.

19. The system of claim 15 including a component that provides a user interface for receiving from a user a query relating to road damage and for displaying a map indicating locations of road damage.

20. A method for inspecting roads, the method comprising:

collecting by a road assessment pod road damage information as a vehicle on which the road assessment pod is mounted travels down a road, the road assessment pod using ground-penetrating radar to identify occurrences of damage to the road;

transmitting by the road assessment pod occurrence information in real time to a road assessment server, the occurrence information including location and type of each occurrence of damage identified by the road assessment pod; and

processing by the road assessment server the occurrence information to identify new occurrences of damage and changes to existing occurrences of damage based on the locations of newly detected occurrences of damage compared to locations of previously detected occurrences of damage.