Roaming mobile sensor platform for collecting geo-referenced data and creating thematic maps

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9377528-B2
Application number	US-201113636112-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 21, 2011
Priority date	Mar 19, 2010
Publication date	Jun 28, 2016
Grant date	Jun 28, 2016

Abstract

A roaming sensor system collects data on the condition of roads and bridge decks and identifies and maps defects, including cracks, potholes, debonding, tracking, delamination, surface ice, surface water, and rebar corrosion. Data are collected by a vehicle or a fleet of vehicles driven at normal traffic speeds. The vehicle is outfitted with sensors that collect data using acoustic surface waves, ground penetrating radar, mm wave surface radar, and/or video images. The data are transmitted to a control center for analysis and distribution.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A roaming sensor system for mapping roadway surface and subsurface conditions, the system comprising:
a positioning subsystem on a vehicle, wherein the positioning subsystem collects geoposition data of a vehicle as it travels on a roadway;
a tire excited acoustic sensor system (TEAS) comprising an array of directional microphones mounted under the vehicle for detecting acoustic waves excited by one or more tires of the vehicle moving over a roadway surface as the vehicle travels on the roadway; and
a computer that:
identifies, from the detected acoustic waves, first acoustic waves excited in the air from the tire-road interface,
generates roadway surface condition data from the first identified acoustic waves,
identifies, from the detected acoustic waves, second acoustic waves radiated from elastic surface waves excited along the roadway surface from the tire-road interface,
generates roadway subsurface condition data from the second identified acoustic waves, and
correlates the geoposition data with the roadway surface condition data and the roadway subsurface condition data and produces a map of the roadway surface and subsurface conditions.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the TEAS detects said acoustic waves at an ordinary driving speed for the roadway and the roaming sensor system accurately determines roadway surface and subsurface conditions from data gathered at the ordinary driving speed.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the roaming sensor system accurately determines roadway surface and subsurface conditions from data gathered at a speed of at least 65 mph.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the computer is remotely located from the vehicle.

5. The system of claim 4 , further comprising a data transmission subsystem that wirelessly transmits the geoposition data, the roadway surface condition data and the roadway subsurface condition data in at least one of raw and processed form to the computer.

6. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a main controller that accepts data from the TEAS and transmits the data in at least one of raw and processed form to the computer.

7. The system of claim 5 , further comprising a main controller that accepts data from the TEAS and transmits the data in at least the one of raw and processed form to the data transmission subsystem.

8. The system of claim 6 , wherein the main controller further accepts geoposition data from the positioning subsystem and correlates the geoposition data with the roadway surface condition data and the roadway subsurface condition data before transmitting the road surface and subsurface condition data.

9. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a sensor subsystem collecting additional roadway condition data as the vehicle travels on the roadway.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the sensor subsystem comprises one or more sensors selected from the group consisting of acoustic sensors, electromagnetic sensors, and optical sensors; and wherein the sensor subsystem detects a surface acoustic wave, a surface radar reflection, a subsurface radar reflection, an optical image, or a combination thereof.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the sensor subsystem comprises an air coupled ground penetrating radar (GPR) system.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the GPR system collects at least 16 channels of data across a width of the roadway.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the GPR system collects data with a spatial resolution in a range of 1-5 cm along a length of the roadway while the vehicle is driven at a speed of at least 65 mph.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein the sensor subsystem comprises a surface looking millimeter wave radar (SLMR) system.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein the sensor subsystem comprises a video-based surface sensing system, an optical profilometry system, or a differential optical profilometry system.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the sensor subsystem produces a topography map of the roadway surface with at least 2 mm resolution.

17. The system of claim 1 , further comprising one or more auxiliary sensors selected from the group consisting of a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a laser profilometer, and an accelerometer.

18. The system of claim 1 , wherein the roaming sensor system comprises at least two different types of sensors.

19. The system of claim 18 , comprising at least two sensor types selected from the group consisting of the TEAS, a GPR, an SLMR, and an optical sensor.

20. The system of claim 19 , comprising the TEAS, a GPR, an SLMR, and an optical sensor.

21. The system of claim 1 , comprising a plurality of said vehicles, each vehicle comprising a said positioning subsystem and a said TEAS, wherein data from each of the positioning subsystems and the TEAS are transmitted to one or more computers at a single control center.

22. The system of claim 20 , comprising at least ten said vehicles.

23. The system of claim 1 that produces a GIS map of roadway surface and subsurface conditions having two or more layers.

24. The system of claim 1 , wherein the system is capable of identifying roadway damage selected from the group consisting of cracks, potholes, debonding, tracking, delamination, and rebar corrosion.

25. A method of mapping a condition of a roadway, the method comprising the steps of:
providing a roaming sensor system according to claim 1 ;
while the vehicle travels along the roadway, collecting geoposition data and acoustic data from the acoustic waves generated from the excitation of the tires by the roadway;
generating roadway surface and subsurface condition data from the collected acoustic data; and
correlating the geoposition data with the roadway surface and subsurface condition data to produce a map of the roadway surface and subsurface conditions.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the vehicle travels at an ordinary driving speed for the roadway while geoposition and acoustic data are collected.

27. The method of claim 25 , wherein the system comprises a data transfer subsystem and the geoposition data, the acoustic data, and the roadway surface and subsurface condition data in at least one of raw and processed form are transmitted by the data transfer subsystem to the computer at a location remote from the vehicle.

28. The method of claim 27 , wherein the data are transmitted wirelessly.

29. The method of claim 27 , wherein the data are transmitted by cable.

30. The method of claim 27 , wherein the data are transmitted on a storage medium.

31. The method of claim 25 , wherein the system comprises a main controller that collects the roadway surface and subsurface condition data and then transmits the processed data to the computer at a location remote from the vehicle.

32. The method of claim 31 , wherein the main controller processes the data prior to transmitting the data to the computer at a remote location.

33. The method of claim 25 , wherein the roadway surface and subsurface condition data are obtained by at least two sensor systems selected from the group consisting of TEAS, GPR, SLMR, and an optical sensor system.

34. The method of claim 33 , wherein the roadway surface and subsurface condition data are obtained by the TEAS, a GPR, an

Assignees

• Birken Ralf
• Wang ming-liang
• Rappaport Carey M
• Wadia-Fascetti Sara
• Mcdaniel J Gregory
• Univ Northeastern

Inventors

• Birken Ralf
• Wang ming-liang
• Rappaport Carey M
• Wadia-Fascetti Sara
• Mcdaniel J Gregory

Classifications

• G01S13/89

  for mapping or imaging · CPC title

• G01S13/885 Primary

  for ground probing (prospecting or detecting using electromagnetic waves G01V3/12) · CPC title

• G01S13/00

  Systems using the reflection or reradiation of radio waves, e.g. radar systems; Analogous systems using reflection or reradiation of waves whose nature or wavelength is irrelevant or unspecified · CPC title

• G01V3/12

  operating with electromagnetic waves {(operating with millimetre waves G01V8/005)} · CPC title

• G01B11/2513 Primary

  with several lines being projected in more than one direction, e.g. grids, patterns · CPC title