COMPUTER-BASED PAVEMENT DISTRESS IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM

PAVEMENT DISTRESS DATA ARE UTILIZED DURING PAVEMENT EVALUATION, DESIGN, REHABILITATION, MAINTENANCE, MANAGEMENT, AND RESEARCH. CURRENTLY, THE MANUAL SURVEY METHOD, UTILIZING PAPER AND PENCIL, IS USED EXTENSIVELY IN COLLECTING THE DISTRESS DATA, BUT THIS PROCESS IS SLOW, TEDIOUS, EXPENSIVE, AND PRONE TO HUMAN ERROR. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS RESEARCH IS TO DEVELOP A COMPUTERIZED PAVEMENT DISTRESS DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM THAT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE FASTER, MORE RELIABLE, MORE COST-EFFECTIVE, AND EASIER TO USE THAN EXISTING METHODS. THE SYSTEM WILL CONSIST OF A "NOTEPAD" COMPUTER WITH PEN-CAPABILITIES AND SOFTWARE TO ALLOW DISTRESS MAPPING, ON-SITE DATA ENTRY, ON-SITE VALIDATION OF THE COLLECTED DATA, AND AUTOMATIC DATA UPLOADING. IT WILL BE COMPATIBLE WITH THE AUTOMATED AND MANUAL METHODS USED IN THE LTPP PROGRAM. THIS SYSTEM WILL FACILITATE MANUAL DISTRESS DATA COLLECTION AND ELIMINATE SOME OF THE SOURCES OF ERRORS THAT ARE INHERENT IN THE CURRENT DATA COLLECTION METHODS. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE PHASE I RESEARCH IS PROOF OF CONCEPT OF THE PROPOSED SYSTEM. THIS WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED BY DEVELOPING AND TESTING A PROTOTYPE SYSTEM THAT CONTAINS THE ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF THE FULLY DEVELOPED SYSTEM. COMPREHENSIVE TESTING OF THE PROTOTYPE SYSTEM UNDER FIELD CONDITIONS IS PLANNED.