SBIR-STTR Award

The advent of available high speed image processing techniques ,,,,,will provide tremendous data processing benefits over current hand techniques in pavement management. The long and costly frame-by-frame analysis using photographic techniques or the visual observation of existing road pavement surfaces can be reduced to a highly organized data base for effective and much needea cost effective pavement management systems. Pavement conditions can be easily monitored thereby providing an accurate technique for performance and cost predictions, budget requirements to maintain the roadway system, and the establishment of maintenance priorities. The research objectives addressed herein are to investigate the feasibility of using a slit sensor for observing pavement surfaces, determination of processor algorithms for the detection of pavement distress, determination of scoring procedures best suited to video imaging and determination of the pertinent data logging requirements. Successful research in these areas will result in the continued development of an acceptable pavement management system.The potential commercial application as described by the awardee: This research is directed at improving both the quality and quantity of pavement management system information presently being used by highway maintenance organizations. AMI Consultants is a consulting firm specializing in materials instrumentation.

A severe problem for the nation's highway pavement is the determination of the condition of the pavement and the question of the degree of deterioration. Pavement managers are faced with the decision of when to repair or replace the pavement. Current methods of determining the degree of deterioration of the pavement are based on visual data which is slow and expensive to acquire. This project will design and fabricate a prototype video imaging system which consists of a moving vehicle with a suitable imaging instrument to record the condition of the pavement. The interpretation of the images will be established and a scoring system developed which will be used by highway agencies to assist them in their management of pavements.