Texas A&M researchers have harnessed the power of satellites and Earth Observation to constantly monitor and repair damaged infrastructure.
As infrastructure ages, it becomes more susceptible to damage, which can cause safety and mobility concerns for drivers and pedestrians, and economic woes for taxpayers.
The new study shows that high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data can detect damaged infrastructure early, helping to prevent further issues.
Satellites can identify damage in record times
The new method uses Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) remote sensing systems.
SAR remote sensing technology has been used to study geomorphological changes and sudden movements like earthquakes and landslides.
Dr Anand Puppala, Professor in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at Texas A&M, said: “When there is damage due to a natural disaster, authorities use the satellite systems to determine what caused it.
“Recently, we started utilising this method to look at transportation infrastructure, including highway embankments, roads, and even airport runways.”
In this case, SAR allows researchers to inspect and characterise pavements, retaining walls, and embankments from space and can help determine if there are flaws that should be further inspected for repair.
“If a given area would typically take five days to complete, we could actually look at the data and make the same determinations in only two days with satellites,” explained Puppala.
Reducing the costs of repairing damaged infrastructure
In addition to saving agencies time on repairs and preventative measures, using satellites to monitor damaged infrastructure and pavement conditions has the potential to reduce costs associated with managing roadway infrastructure assets.
“We’re building this up to use as a source of data for geotechnical asset management and looking at how to integrate this remote sensing data into geotechnical asset management,” said Amit Gajurel, another researcher who worked on the study.
“We can use SAR data for managing the geotechnical assets. This could be a great method for organisations that are looking for a cost-effective way to manage these assets.”