2018 Technical Program

INSPIRE University Transportation Center2018 Annual Meeting | August 14-15, 201

2020 Technical Program

INSPIRE University Transportation Center 2020 Annual MeetingAugust 3-4, 202

Utilizing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for the Estimation of Beam Corrosion of Steel Bridge Girders

The transportation infrastructure in the United States is a complex system that is vital to the everyday operations of the country. Bridges are a significant asset of this network, with many of them approaching the end of their service life. Corrosion is a common cause of deterioration which ultimately results to structural deficiency for the aging bridges. The deterioration rate is a multi-aspect factor that makes bridge inspections crucial. However, the current bridge inspections are very costly and potentially unsafe for the involved personnel. To lower costs and increase safety, many state DOT’s and universities have decided to perform research on Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or drones. This thesis explores the implementation of drone technology in bridge inspections and investigates their limits for corrosion detection and estimation. The first part of this thesis summarizes the responses obtained from a questionnaire sent to the personnel from the Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT). The second and third parts of this thesis summarizes how states have utilized UAVs for bridge inspections, including the selected drones and the attached equipment. The last part presents technologies that can be used to detect and measure corrosion, and how they can be used in conjunction with drones to quantify section loss of steel beams

Vehicle to Vehicle (V2V) Communication for Collision Avoidance for Multi-Copters Flying in UTM -TCL4

NASAs UAS Traffic management (UTM) research initiative is aimed at identifying requirements for safe autonomous operations of UAS operating in dense urban environments. For complete autonomous operations vehicle to vehicle (V2V) communications has been identified as an essential tool. In this paper we simulate a complete urban operations in an high fidelity simulation environment. We design a V2V communication protocol and all the vehicles participating communicate over this system. We show how V2V communication can be used for finding feasible, collision-free paths for multi agent systems. Different collision avoidance schemes are explored and an end to end simulation study shows the use of V2V communication for UTM TCL4 deployment

Autonomous Systems, Robotics, and Computing Systems Capability Roadmap: NRC Dialogue

Contents include the following: Introduction. Process, Mission Drivers, Deliverables, and Interfaces. Autonomy. Crew-Centered and Remote Operations. Integrated Systems Health Management. Autonomous Vehicle Control. Autonomous Process Control. Robotics. Robotics for Solar System Exploration. Robotics for Lunar and Planetary Habitation. Robotics for In-Space Operations. Computing Systems. Conclusion

Feasibility Study to Determine the Economic and Operational Benefits of Utilizing Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs)

This project explored the feasibility of using Unmanned Aerial Systems (UASs) in Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) operations. The research team conducted 24 interviews with personnel in four GDOT divisions. Interviews focused on (1) the basic goals of the operators in each division, (2) their major decisions for accomplishing those goals, and (3) the information requirements for each decision. Following an interview validation process, a set of UASs design characteristics that fulfill user requirements of each previously identified division was developed. A “House of Quality” viewgraph was chosen to capture the relationships between GDOT tasks and potential UAS aiding those operations. As a result, five reference systems are proposed. The UAS was broken into three components: vehicle, control station, and system. This study introduces a variety of UAS applications in traffic management, transportation and construction disciplines related to DOTs, such as the ability to get real time, digital photographs/videos of traffic scenes, providing a "bird’s eye view" that was previously only available with the assistance of a manned aircraft, integrating aerial data into GDOT drawing software programs, and dealing with restricted or complicated access issues when terrain, area, or the investigated object make it difficult for GDOT personnel to conduct a task. The results of this study could lead to further research on design, development, and field-testing of UAVs for applications identified as beneficial to the Department.Georgia Department of Transportatio

Indirect structural health monitoring (iSHM) of transport infrastructure in the digital age

Workshop reportCopyright © Joint Research Centre (European Commission). The existing European motorway infrastructure network is prone to ageing and subject to natural events (e.g. climate change) and hazards (e.g. earthquakes), necessitating immediate actions for its maintenance and safety. Within this context, the structural health monitoring (SHM) framework allows a quantitative assessment of the structural integrity, serviceability and performance, facilitating better-informed decisions for the management of the existing infrastructure. The European Commission Joint Research Centre (JRC) established the exploratory research project MITICA (Monitoring Transport Infrastructures with Connected and Automated vehicles) to investigate the opportunity to use novel methods for infrastructure motoring, aiming at the efficient maintenance of the European aging road infrastructure. This report summarizes the discussion and the outcomes of a workshop held at the JRC in Ispra (Italy) on June 6-7 2022, as part of the MITICA project. Considering the EU priority “A Europe fit for the digital age”, the workshop was dedicated to SHM and its application to civil infrastructure, focusing on innovative indirect structural health monitoring (iSHM) approaches that rely on the vehicle-bridge interaction and the deployment of sensor-equipped vehicles for the monitoring of the existing bridge infrastructure. The report aims to become a reference document in the area of iSHM using passing vehicles, for both scholars and policy makers