Evaluating road conditions using a mobile vehicle

• US 8,731,807 B2
• Filed: 08/08/2013
• Issued: 05/20/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/28/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Friedlander, Robert R., Kraemer, James R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Beaulieu, Yonel
• Application Number:
  US13/962,665
• Publication Number:
  US 20130325308A1
• Time in Patent Office: 285 Days
• Field of Search: 701117-119, 701/400
• US Class Current: 701/117
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/06 Road conditions
• CPC Class Codes: E01C 23/01 Devices or auxiliary means for setting-out or checking the configuration of new surfacing, e.g. templates, screed or reference line supports form rails E01C19/50; Applications of apparatus for measuring, indicating, or recording the surface configuration of existing surfacing, e.g. profilographs E01C23/07 takes precedence; measuring roughness or irregularity in general G01B
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 29/04 Analysing solids using acoustic emission techniques G01N29/14
• CPC Class Codes: G08G 1/00 Traffic control systems for road vehicles arrangement of road signs or traffic signals E01F9/00 ; automatic vehicle control B62D

Abstract

A method, system, and/or computer program product evaluates a real-time condition of a construct of a roadway. A processor receives a set of roadway acoustic sound patterns from a mobile microphone that is mounted on a terrestrial vehicle as it travels along a roadway. This set of roadway acoustic sound patterns is created by a physical contact between a roadway surface of the roadway and a tire on the terrestrial vehicle. The processor also receives a set of transient data from a probe on the terrestrial vehicle. This transient data describes a real-time transient environmental condition at the roadway. The set of roadway acoustic sound patterns and the set of transient data are input into an analysis algorithm to determine a real-time physical condition of a construct of the roadway. Data describing the real-time physical condition of the construct of the roadway is then transmitted to a remote computer.

Claims

1. A method of evaluating a real-time physical condition of a construct of a roadway, the method comprising:

receiving, by a processor executing instructions from a non-transitory computer readable storage media, a set of roadway acoustic sound patterns from a mobile microphone, wherein the mobile microphone is mounted on a terrestrial vehicle that is traveling on a roadway, and wherein the set of roadway acoustic sound patterns describes an oscillation of air pressure that is created by a physical contact between a roadway surface of the roadway and at least one tire on the terrestrial vehicle;

receiving, by the processor executing instructions from the non-transitory computer readable storage media, a set of transient data from a probe on the terrestrial vehicle, wherein the transient data describes a real-time transient environmental condition at the roadway;

inputting, by the processor executing instructions from the non-transitory computer readable storage media, the set of roadway acoustic sound patterns and the set of transient data into an analysis algorithm in order to generate a set of data that describes real-time physical conditions of a construct of the roadway, wherein the analysis algorithm removes any effect the set of transient data has on the set of roadway acoustic sound patterns; and

transmitting, by the processor executing instructions from the non-transitory computer readable storage media, the set of data that describes the real-time physical condition of the construct of the roadway to a receiver on a remote computing device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the processor executing instruction from the non-transitory computer readable storage media, the real-time physical conditions of the construct of the roadway by comparing the set of roadway acoustic sound patterns to a known set of roadway acoustic sound patterns.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the processor executing instruction from the non-transitory computer readable storage media, that data describing the real-time physical conditions of the construct of the roadway fall outside a predetermined nominal range; and

initiating, by the processor executing instruction from the non-transitory computer readable storage media, corrective measures to return a physical condition of the roadway back within the predetermined nominal range.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the processor executing instruction from the non-transitory computer readable storage media, that data describing the real-time physical conditions of the construct of the roadway fall outside a predetermined nominal range; and

initiating, by the processor executing instruction from the non-transitory computer readable storage media, corrective measures to reroute traffic away from the roadway until the real-time physical conditions of the construct of the roadway return back within the predetermined nominal range.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

analyzing, by the processor executing instruction from the non-transitory computer readable storage media, a series of sets of roadway acoustic sound patterns in order to determine a trend in a deterioration of a physical condition of the construct of the roadway.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

generating, by the processor executing instruction from the non-transitory computer readable storage media, a report that describes the real-time physical condition of the construct of the roadway.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the real-time transient environmental condition at the roadway is a presence of liquid on a surface of the roadway.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the real-time transient environmental condition at the roadway is an out-of-range temperature on a surface of the roadway.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, from the mobile microphone, a set of acoustic sound patterns that is generated in response to the terrestrial vehicle encountering a change in a planar state of the roadway surface; and

inputting, by the processor executing instruction from the non-transitory computer readable storage media, the set of acoustic sound patterns, which is generated in response to the terrestrial vehicle encountering the change in the planar state of the roadway surface, into the analysis algorithm in order to further determine the real-time physical condition of the construct of the roadway.

10. A computer program product for evaluating a real-time physical condition of a construct of a roadway, the computer program product comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable storage media;

first program instructions to receive a set of roadway acoustic sound patterns from a mobile microphone, wherein the mobile microphone is mounted on a terrestrial vehicle that is traveling on a roadway, and wherein the set of roadway acoustic sound patterns describes an oscillation of air pressure that is created by a physical contact between a roadway surface of the roadway and at least one tire on the terrestrial vehicle;

second program instructions to receive a set of transient data from a probe on the terrestrial vehicle, wherein the transient data describes a real-time transient environmental condition at the roadway;

third program instructions to receive an input of the set of roadway acoustic sound patterns and the set of transient data into an analysis algorithm in order to generate a set of data that describes real-time physical conditions of a construct of the roadway, wherein the analysis algorithm removes any effect the set of transient data has on the set of roadway acoustic sound patterns;

fourth program instructions to transmit the set of data that describes the real-time physical condition of the construct of the roadway to a receiver on a remote computing device;

and wherein

the first, second, third, and fourth program instructions are stored on the non-transitory computer readable storage media.

11. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising:

fifth program instructions to determine that data describing the real-time physical conditions of the construct of the roadway fall outside a predetermined nominal range; and

sixth program instructions to initiate corrective measures to return a physical condition of the roadway back within the predetermined nominal range; and

wherein the fifth and sixth program instructions are stored on the non-transitory computer readable storage media.

12. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising:

fifth program instructions to determine that data describing the real-time physical conditions of the construct of the roadway fall outside a predetermined nominal range; and

sixth program instructions to initiate corrective measures to reroute traffic away from the roadway until the real-time physical conditions of the construct of the roadway return back within the predetermined nominal range; and

wherein

the fifth and sixth program instructions are stored on the non-transitory computer readable storage media.

13. The computer program product of claim 10, further comprising:

fifth program instructions to generate a report that describes the real-time physical condition of the construct of the roadway; and

wherein

the fifth program instructions are stored on the non-transitory computer readable storage media.

14. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the real-time transient environmental condition at the roadway is particulates on a surface of the roadway.

15. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the real-time transient environmental condition at the roadway is liquid on a surface of the roadway.

16. The computer program product of claim 10, wherein the real-time transient environmental condition at the roadway is an out-of-range temperature on a surface of the roadway.

17. A system comprising:

a processor, a computer readable memory, and a computer readable storage media;

first program instructions to receive a set of roadway acoustic sound patterns from a mobile microphone, wherein the mobile microphone is mounted on a terrestrial vehicle that is traveling on a roadway, and wherein the set of roadway acoustic sound patterns describes an oscillation of air pressure that is created by a physical contact between a roadway surface of the roadway and at least one tire on the terrestrial vehicle;

second program instructions to receive a set of transient data from a probe on the terrestrial vehicle, wherein the transient data describes a real-time transient environmental condition at the roadway;

third program instructions to receive an input of the set of roadway acoustic sound patterns and the set of transient data into an analysis algorithm in order to generate a set of data that describes real-time physical conditions of a construct of the roadway, wherein the analysis algorithm removes any effect the set of transient data has on the set of roadway acoustic sound patterns;

fourth program instructions to transmit the set of data that describes the real-time physical condition of the construct of the roadway to a receiver on a remote computing device;

and wherein

the first, second, third, and fourth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the processor via the computer readable memory.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

fifth program instructions to determine the real-time physical conditions of the construct of the roadway by comparing the set of roadway acoustic sound patterns to a known set of roadway acoustic sound patterns; and

wherein the fifth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the processor via the computer readable memory.

19. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

fifth program instructions to determine that data describing the real-time physical conditions of the construct of the roadway fall outside a predetermined nominal range; and

sixth program instructions to initiate corrective measures to return a physical condition of the roadway back within the predetermined nominal range; and

wherein

the fifth and sixth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the processor via the computer readable memory.

20. The system of claim 17, further comprising:

fifth program instructions to determine that data describing the real-time physical conditions of the construct of the roadway fall outside a predetermined nominal range; and

sixth program instructions to initiate corrective measures to reroute traffic away from the roadway until the real-time physical conditions of the construct of the roadway return back within the predetermined nominal range; and

wherein

the fifth and sixth program instructions are stored on the computer readable storage media for execution by the processor via the computer readable memory.