{"234821":{"#nid":"234821","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Road warriors: GT researchers redefine infrastructure maintenance","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETransportation officials and researchers from several states gathered at Georgia Tech on Aug. 29 to review the results of the RS-GAMS2 Project, a 2-year, $1.9 million research enterprise that promises to revolutionize the way our nation\u2019s roads are inventoried, managed, and maintained.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETo the delight of its principal investigator, CEE\u2019s\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ce.gatech.edu\/people\/faculty\/1001\/overview\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDr. James Tsai\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E, this research will also change the way civil engineers do their work.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cFifty years ago, civil engineers built roads and were done, really. But now the challenge is different. We must maintain those roads in a cost-effective, sustainable way, while not interrupting the flow of traffic,\u201d said Tsai, who partnered with Georgia Tech colleagues\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/faculty-staff\/fac_profiles\/bio.php?id=116\u0022\u003EDr. Tony Yezz\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu\/faculty-staff\/fac_profiles\/bio.php?id=116\u0022\u003Ei\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;(ECE) and\u003Cstrong\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.coa.gatech.edu\/people\/zhaohua-wang-phd\u0022\u003EDr. Zhaohua Wang\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.coa.gatech.edu\/people\/zhaohua-wang-phd\u0022\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/a\u003E(CoA) on this project.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe RS-GAMS allows us to easily look at our roads and decide when, where, and what maintenance and rehabilitation methods should be used. It will give us the greatest return on our investment.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Remote Sensing and GIS-enabled Asset Management System (RS-GAMS) coordinates emerging technologies into a seamless process that more accurately and more cheaply assesses pavement, bridge, and roadway assets. The system employs light detection and ranging (LiDAR), 3D lasers, imaging, inertia detection, and GPS\/GIS technologies to collect and analyze data on everything from missing road signs to cracked pavement. It also uses multi-sensor data fusion, image\/signal processing, and artificial intelligence algorithms to deliver a complete picture of roadway conditions to maintenance and planning officials.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ESponsored by grants from the U.S. and Georgia Departments of Transportation, Tsai\u2019s multi-disciplinary research team has been developing the system for the past two years, using 18,000 miles of Georgia roadways as their laboratory.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe August release of their findings couldn\u2019t have come at a better time, according to\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EJ. B. Butch Wlaschin\u003C\/strong\u003E, the director of the Office of Asset Management for the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA new federal law is requiring the states to have comprehensive, data-driven asset management plans in place to show that their pavement and bridges are in a state of good repair. But there are no protocols, no standards, no methodologies for assessing the condition of our roadways from state to state,\u201d says Wlaschin.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cEvery state does it differently, and they all have problems gathering the information they need.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe RS-GAMS addresses that shortfall significantly by creating a comprehensive assessment system whose data standards can be used by other states.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThey\u2019ve developed technologies that will be cost-effective for measuring the problems before they get\u0026nbsp;out of hand,\u201d said Florida Department of Transportation official\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EBouzid Choubane,\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;who attended the project\u2019s release. \u201cIn Florida, we are excited about using its crack detection abilities.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe RS-GAMS relies heavily on LiDAR, a remote sensing technology that uses lasers to measure and record the distance between objects. An analysis of the data returned from the LiDAR produces a 3-D model that can pinpoint much of what is lost by video or visual observation alone. Installed in a camera-equipped van, this technology can record and collect data while engineers are driving at highway speeds.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThat means what used to take me weeks or months to collect on foot can now be picked up in a 10-minute drive,\u201d said Wlaschin.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cAnd there are going to be some things we can pick up with this system that we couldn\u2019t touch before because the traffic was too heavy. For instance, how are you going to assess the condition of I-75\/85? Divert the traffic onto Peachtree Street for a couple of days and wish them good luck?\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of those hidden road maladies that RS-GAMS can pick up is cracked pavement.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe laser can effectively pick up the tiniest cracks in the pavement \u2013 something that might cost thousands to resolve by sealing it now, but tens of thousands to fix when water enters gets in and deteriorates the base,\u201d said Tsai. \u201cIf we want to economically maintain our infrastructure, this is the sort of pro-active maintenance we have to do.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIntelligent signal\/image processing and artificial intelligence algorithms are built into the system to process the sensor-derived data and intelligently monitor roadway condition changes. A face recognition algorithm, applied to the video footage, allows engineers to identify the location and condition of various assets, like signs and road markings. By simultaneously collecting visual, LiDAR, and GPS-generated data, the RS-GAMS can give highway engineers a spatially searchable database of assets and problems.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThis replaces a clunky, labor-intensive system that placed transportation engineers on busy roadways to inventory and assess asset conditions.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOne of the project\u2019s most enthusiastic supporters is\u0026nbsp;\u003Cstrong\u003EMike Moravec\u003C\/strong\u003E, a senior highway engineer working on the Obama Administration\u2019s \u201cEvery Day Counts\u201d \u2013 a federal initiative that seeks to expedite the deployment of new highway safety projects and technologies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe 3D sensing vehicle and related software that this research has further developed and worked with can collect information about the geometry of the road surface and combine that with inputs on predicted speeds and friction levels to tell us where potential high-crash hot spots are,\u201d he said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThat\u2019s the sort of pro-active planning that \u0027Every Day Counts\u0027 is designed to promote. It means we can identify accident-prone roadways before we have crashes, and we can implement a preventative fix before there\u2019s a crash.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMoravec and other transportation officials agree that the next step is to identify universal standards and applications for that data so that it can be used in every\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThere are lots of different vendors out there who are willing to do some pieces of this, but they have proprietary systems that make it difficult to share data,\u201d Tsai said.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to pioneering the use of 3D line-laser-imaging to create crack detection algorithms, Tsai\u0027s team has developed a protocol for reviewing sensor-based pavement surface data.\u0026nbsp; The latter development makes the RS-GAMS a strong candidate for setting national and international standards.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe\u2019ve been able to do some good work on crack detection, but it\u2019s the whole system that is valuable. Because we worked with USDOT and GDOT on this, we think we may have a system and a standard that everyone can use.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETsai predicts that the collection of 2D and 3D sensor-based pavement data will eventually advance data collection, data processing, and applications worldwide. Closer to home, his efforts have been praised by Dr. Gary May, dean of the College of Engineering.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I am pleased to see this sort of innovation coming from an interdisciplinary research team,\u201d said May, who was on hand for the August 29 release. \u201cDr. Tsai and his colleagues have demonstrated again the importance of collaboration \u2013 one of the strengths that makes Georgia Tech a premiere institution.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMoving forward, Tsai will advocate for the RS-GAMS by working with the advisory committee that guided his initial research. Comprised of transportation officials and engineers from Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Kansas, and Washington, DC., that group is enthusiastic about bringing the GS-GAMS to all roadways.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThis could become a tool that every state could use,\u201d said Wlaschin.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/ce.gatech.edu\/node\/6221\u0022\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThis story first appeared on the School of Civil and Evironmental Engineering\u0027s website.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ETsai and others in Civil Engineering are changing the way civil engineers do their work.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Tsai and others in Civil Engineering are changing the way civil engineers do their work."}],"uid":"27469","created_gmt":"2013-09-05 17:01:59","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:14:49","author":"Kristen Bailey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2013-09-09T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2013-09-09T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"235251":{"id":"235251","type":"image","title":"Tsai checking cracks in pavement","body":null,"created":"1449243641","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:40:41","changed":"1475894908","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:28","alt":"Tsai checking cracks in pavement","file":{"fid":"197656","name":"tsai-checking-cracks2.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tsai-checking-cracks2_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tsai-checking-cracks2_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":75750,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tsai-checking-cracks2_0.jpg?itok=81I9EL3v"}},"235191":{"id":"235191","type":"image","title":"James Tsai","body":null,"created":"1449243641","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:40:41","changed":"1475894908","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:28","alt":"James Tsai","file":{"fid":"197651","name":"jt.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/jt_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/jt_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":59368,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/jt_0.jpg?itok=Rx3hzj15"}},"235201":{"id":"235201","type":"image","title":"J.B. 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Butch Wlaschin","file":{"fid":"197652","name":"bw.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bw_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bw_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":52477,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bw_0.jpg?itok=3fyPzxqf"}},"235211":{"id":"235211","type":"image","title":"Bouzid Choubane","body":null,"created":"1449243641","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:40:41","changed":"1475894908","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:28","alt":"Bouzid Choubane","file":{"fid":"197653","name":"bc.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bc_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/bc_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":40030,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/bc_0.jpg?itok=DOHAy5g8"}},"235221":{"id":"235221","type":"image","title":"Mike Moravec","body":null,"created":"1449243641","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:40:41","changed":"1475894908","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:28","alt":"Mike Moravec","file":{"fid":"197654","name":"mm.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mm_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/mm_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":48680,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/mm_0.jpg?itok=os4sLOYu"}},"235231":{"id":"235231","type":"image","title":"James Tsai with his research group and the Transportation Advisory Committee","body":null,"created":"1449243641","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 15:40:41","changed":"1475894908","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:48:28","alt":"James Tsai with his research group and the Transportation Advisory Committee","file":{"fid":"197655","name":"tsai-research-group-tac.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tsai-research-group-tac_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tsai-research-group-tac_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":240842,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tsai-research-group-tac_0.jpg?itok=CwKpwZ_2"}}},"media_ids":["235251","235191","235201","235211","235221","235231"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/ce.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Civil and Environmental Engineering"}],"groups":[{"id":"1316","name":"Green Buzz"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"1897","name":"Civil Engineering"},{"id":"479","name":"Green Buzz"},{"id":"168","name":"Transportation"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71911","name":"Earth and Environment"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:kathleen.moore@ce.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EKathleen Moore\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003ECivil Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}