Management tools for quantification and simulation of performance and outcome of winter transportation infrastructure maintenance activities

• US 9,262,559 B2
• Filed: 01/29/2013
• Issued: 02/16/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: DTN, LLC (TBG AG)
• Original Assignee: Iteris Incorporated
• Inventors: Mewes, John J., Kuntz, Jeffrey J., Zarns, Kristopher A., Ostermeier, Gregory M.
• Primary Examiner(s): PENG, CHARLIE YU
• Application Number:
  US13/753,114
• Publication Number:
  US 20130197889A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,113 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 30/20 Design optimisation, verification or simulation optimisation, verification or simulation of circuit designs G06F30/30
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/20 Administration of product repair or maintenance

Abstract

An apparatus and system for evaluating winter transportation infrastructure maintenance operations includes a quantification component and a simulation component. Input data representative of collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data and observed transportation infrastructure data are modeled in a comprehensive data processing mechanism to measure and carry out effective and efficient winter maintenance planning and operations.

Claims

1. A method of evaluating and identifying appropriate maintenance responses in a winter transportation infrastructure, comprising:

ingesting input data from a plurality of external databases, the input data including

     1) collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data, the collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data including a plurality of treatment data, road network data, weather data, and component apportionment data and

     2) observed transportation infrastructure data, including weather data, environmental data, roadway characteristics data, maintenance resources data, and maintenance policies data to a plurality of modules configured to perform multiple data processing functions to

     1) model a performance of the winter transportation infrastructure maintenance activities and

     2) model roadway conditions with maintenance responses to weather conditions experienced in at least a portion of a transportation infrastructure;

quantifying the collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data by applying the multiple data processing functions to associate one or more of maintenance actions, road network information, weather events, and specific maintenance component applications by

receiving GPS data and lane position data from treatment data comprised of raw GPS-tagged vehicle reports and data reported directly by maintenance vehicle operators to extract a heading and speed of a reporting maintenance vehicle, define a coordinate system along the transportation infrastructure using successive positions of maintenance vehicles along this coordinate system, and define directions of travel of maintenance vehicles to assign the collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data to the transportation infrastructure, and to segment the transportation infrastructure using the location, direction of travel, and lane position data to associate and calculate values for plurality of segments that are pre-defined by agency specification,

wherein the GPS data and the lane position data enable an aggregation and interpretation of the raw GPS-tagged vehicle reports and of time-tagged vehicle reports in the treatment data into comprehensive, spatially, and temporally-cohesive representations of collective fleet maintenance activities during one or more treatment activities on pre-defined segments of the transportation infrastructure that are comparable to simulated maintenance responses and agency treatment guidelines,

and wherein the GPS data and the lane position data permit detection and prevention of erroneous accrual of data either due to GPS stray while an associated vehicle is stationary or due to road network complexities such as intersecting or vertically stacked network segments,

and

specifying component materials and apportionments of component materials in at least one selectable mixture comprising the component apportionment data to compare utilization of the component materials and mixtures being applied to the transportation infrastructure; and

applying a road condition model to generate a simulation of road conditions responsive to maintenance activities and weather conditions experienced in at least a portion of a transportation infrastructure by integrating the weather data, environmental data, roadway characteristics data, and one or more behavioral characteristics of specific treatments applied to the transportation infrastructure in the multiple data processing functions;

modulating the road condition model generating the simulation of road conditions responsive to maintenance activities and weather conditions experienced in at least a portion of a transportation infrastructure by applying a maintenance prescription model representative of an agency'"'"'s standard maintenance treatment in at least one of a rules-based model for a specific weather and treatment situation and a dynamically-determined response based on available maintenance resources to generate a simulated impact of candidate maintenance treatments, the applying and modulating of the road condition model generating simulated road condition and maintenance data; and

generating output metrics against which

     1) an outcome of a specific winter transportation maintenance infrastructure activity is comparable to evaluate an effectiveness and an efficiency of winter maintenance activities and

     2) an outcome of specific maintenance responses are evaluated to enable identification of one or more appropriate maintenance response for each situation requiring maintenance.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising presenting quantified maintenance data and simulated road condition and maintenance data in a graphical user interface.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising presenting, on the graphical user interface, selectable characteristics in a plurality of pull-down menus and enabling a plurality of views of the quantified maintenance data and the simulated road condition and maintenance data, the plurality of views at least including a tabular format and a map-based format.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising communicating with the plurality of external databases to request the input data from the plurality of external databases as needed.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the communicating with the plurality of external databases further comprises communicating with at least one mobile data collection and automated vehicle location system coupled to at least one maintenance vehicle.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising executing on or more program instructions resident in at least one memory module and configured to be accessed to perform the multiple data processing functions.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the maintenance prescription model representative of an agency'"'"'s standard maintenance treatment in at least one of a rules-based model for a specific weather and treatment situation and a dynamically-determined response based on available maintenance resources to generate a simulated impact of candidate maintenance treatments further comprises modulating the simulation with data representative of traffic patterns and road construction characteristics appropriate for the corresponding locations within the infrastructure.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the modulating the road condition model generating the simulation of road conditions responsive to maintenance activities and weather conditions experienced in at least a portion of a transportation infrastructure by applying a maintenance prescription model representative of an agency'"'"'s standard maintenance treatment further comprises selecting maintenance treatments appropriate for adherence to road condition policies of one or more responsible agencies to account for varying levels of service using available component materials, personnel, and equipment.

9. A method of managing performance and outcome of winter transportation infrastructure maintenance activities, comprising:

modeling a performance of the winter transportation infrastructure maintenance activities by processing input data in a first plurality of data normalization functions to associate winter transportation maintenance actions with weather events and treatment recommendations, the first plurality of data normalization functions including

receiving GPS data and lane position data from treatment data comprised of raw GPS-tagged vehicle reports and data reported directly by maintenance vehicle operators to extract a heading and speed of a reporting maintenance vehicle, define a coordinate system along a transportation infrastructure using successive positions of maintenance vehicles along this coordinate system, and define directions of travel of maintenance vehicles to assign the collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data to the transportation infrastructure, and to segment the transportation infrastructure using the location, direction of travel, and lane position data to associate and calculate values for plurality of segments that are pre-defined by agency specification,

wherein the GPS data and the lane position data enable an aggregation and interpretation of the raw GPS-tagged vehicle reports and of time-tagged vehicle reports in the treatment data into comprehensive, spatially, and temporally-cohesive representations of collective fleet maintenance activities during one or more treatment activities on pre-defined segments of the transportation infrastructure that are comparable to simulated maintenance responses and agency treatment guidelines,

and wherein the GPS data and the lane position data permit detection and prevention of erroneous accrual of data either due to GPS stray while an associated vehicle is stationary or due to road network complexities such as intersecting or vertically stacked network segments,

and

specifying component materials and apportionments of component materials in at least one selectable mixture comprising the component apportionment data to compare utilization of the component materials and mixtures being applied to the transportation infrastructure;

modeling roadway conditions and maintenance responses to weather conditions experienced in at least a portion of a transportation infrastructure by processing the input data in a second plurality of data normalization functions configured to associate the weather condition data to transportation network data, relate a road condition model with one or more behavioral characteristics of specific treatments applied to the transportation network, and apply at least one of a rules-based model for a specific weather and treatment situation and a dynamically-determined response based on available maintenance resources to generate a simulated impact of candidate maintenance treatments;

generating a plurality of output data capable of manipulation to quantify and simulate winter transportation maintenance infrastructure activities to evaluate and identify one or more appropriate maintenance response for as specific situation requiring maintenance; and

presenting the output data to a user in one or more sets of indicia on a graphical user interface, the graphical user interface enabling the user to perform a plurality of customizable applications to the output data further comprising presenting the user with selectable characteristics in a plurality of pull-down menus on the graphical user interface, and enabling a plurality of views of the output data, the plurality of views at least including a tabular format and a map-based format.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising ingesting the input data into a plurality of modules configured to model the performance of the winter transportation infrastructure maintenance activities and to model roadway conditions and maintenance responses to weather conditions experienced in at least a portion of a transportation infrastructure ,the input data including 1) collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data, the collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data including a plurality of road treatment data, transportation network data, weather data, and component apportionment data and 2) observed transportation infrastructure data, including weather data, environmental data, and roadway characteristics data.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising receiving additional input data from a maintenance policies database and a maintenance resources database to apply at least one of a rules-based model for a specific weather and treatment situation and a dynamically-determined response based on available maintenance resources to generate a simulated impact of candidate maintenance treatments.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising communicating with a plurality of external databases to request the input data and the additional input data from the plurality of external databases as needed.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the communicating with the plurality of external databases further comprises communicating with at least one mobile data collection and automated vehicle location system coupled to at least one maintenance vehicle to receive at least a portion of the input data.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the relating the road condition model with one or more behavioral characteristics of specific treatments applied to the transportation network in the second plurality of data normalization functions further comprises modeling a plurality of processes associated with pavement behavior, the plurality of processes including at least one of heat exchange between air and pavement, emission, reflectance and absorption of solar and infrared radiation, time-varying pavement reflectance, and internal heat conduction.

15. The method of claim 9, wherein the relating the road condition model with one or more behavioral characteristics of specific treatments applied to the transportation infrastructure in the second plurality of data normalization functions further comprises modeling a plurality of processes associated with precipitation, the plurality of processes at least including evaporation, sublimation, condensation, frost formation, conduction of heat, natural phase changes, and insulation.

16. The method of claim 9, wherein the relating the road condition model with one or more behavioral characteristics of specific treatments applied to the transportation network in the second plurality of data normalization functions further comprise modeling a plurality of processes associated with external influences, the plurality of processes at least including effects of traffic spray, traffic compaction, effects of treatment vehicles, condition-dependent precipitation adherence, water runoff, chemical runoff, chemically-induced phase changes, chemical dilution, chemical removal, and effects of residual chemicals.

17. A winter transportation infrastructure maintenance evaluation tool, comprising:

a quantification module integrating collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data from a plurality of external databases and comprising one or more program instructions configured to execute a plurality of data processing functions on the collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data, the plurality of data processing functions normalizing the collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data by associating maintenance actions, road network information, weather events, and specific maintenance component applications by

receiving GPS data and lane position data from treatment data comprised of raw GPS-tagged vehicle reports and data reported directly by maintenance vehicle operators to extract a heading and speed of a reporting maintenance vehicle, define a coordinate system along a transportation infrastructure using successive positions of maintenance vehicles along this coordinate system, and define directions of travel of maintenance vehicles to assign the collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data to the transportation infrastructure, and to segment the transportation infrastructure using the location, direction of travel, and lane position data to associate and calculate values for plurality of segments that are pre-defined by agency specification,

wherein the GPS data and the lane position data enable an aggregation and interpretation of the raw GPS-tagged vehicle reports and of time-tagged vehicle reports in the treatment data into comprehensive, spatially, and temporally-cohesive representations of collective fleet maintenance activities during one or more treatment activities on pre-defined segments of the transportation infrastructure that are comparable to simulated maintenance responses and agency treatment guidelines,

and wherein the GPS data and the lane position data permit detection and prevention of erroneous accrual of data either due to GPS stray while an associated vehicle is stationary or due to road network complexities such as intersecting or vertically stacked network segments,

and

specifying component materials and apportionments of component materials in at least one selectable mixture comprising the component apportionment data to compare utilization of the component materials and mixtures being applied to the transportation infrastructure; and

a simulation module processing observed transportation infrastructure maintenance data from a plurality of external databases and comprising one or more program instructions configured to execute a plurality of data processing functions on the observed transportation infrastructure maintenance data, the plurality of data processing functions normalizing the observed transportation infrastructure data by performing a road condition model by integrating weather data, environmental data, and roadway characteristics data, and one or more behavioral characteristics of specific treatments applied to the transportation infrastructure in multiple data processing functions, and modulating the simulation of the road condition model with maintenance responses to weather conditions experienced in at least a portion of a transportation infrastructure by applying at least one of a rules-based model for a specific weather and treatment situation and a dynamically-determined response based on available maintenance resources to generate a simulated impact of candidate maintenance treatment; and

a graphical user interface module aggregating output data from the quantification module and output data from the simulation module for presentation to a user in a graphical user interface tool configured to enable the user to perform a plurality of customizable applications,

the quantification module and the simulation module generating the output data capable of manipulation to evaluate and identify one or more appropriate maintenance response for specific situations requiring maintenance.

18. The system of claim 17, further comprising at least one processor and at least one memory module in which the one or more program instructions are configured to perform the plurality of data processing functions normalizing the collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data and the plurality of data processing functions normalizing the observed transportation infrastructure maintenance data.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the graphical user interface tool includes a plurality of sets of indicia presenting the user with selectable characteristics for analyzing the output data from the quantification module and output data from the simulation module in a plurality of pull-down menus and viewing the output data from the quantification module and output data from the simulation module in a plurality of views at least including a tabular format and a map-based format.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein the simulation module integrates additional input data from a maintenance policies database and a maintenance resources database among the plurality of external databases to apply the at least one of a rules-based model for a specific weather and treatment situation and a dynamically-determined response based on available maintenance resources to generate a simulated impact of candidate maintenance treatment.

21. The system of claim 17, wherein the plurality of external databases includes at least one mobile data collection and automated vehicle location system coupled to at least one maintenance vehicle to receive at least a portion of the collected winter transportation infrastructure maintenance data.

22. The system of claim 17, wherein the multiple data processing functions integrating the road condition model with one or more behavioral characteristics of specific treatments applied to the transportation infrastructure include a plurality of processes associated with pavement behavior, a plurality of processes associated with precipitation, and a plurality of processes associated with external influences.