Using Emerging Technologies to Capture, Process, and Optimize Asset Inventory and Condition Data

Agencies are becoming more reliant on asset inventory and condition data to create a virtual digital twin to the real-world assets that exist and change over time. Changes can result from crashes, natural events, maintenance, or construction activities. These changes need to be reflected in the digital twin as close to real time as possible to maintain the usefulness and validity of the virtual twin. Emerging and current technologies hold the promise of transforming asset data collection for transportation asset management such as the use of drones for inspections, LiDAR field data collection, and continuous monitoring of real-time sensor data. While the technology has been transforming, Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21) and the Fixing America's Surface Transportation Act (Fast Act) jump started many agencies’ efforts to attain an inventory of infrastructure assets and transportation data. At the same time, the accessibility and affordability to collect high volumes of asset inventory data—such as LiDAR point cloud data—present a challenge to agencies seeking to visualize and manage such large amounts of data and integrate the many layers for each transportation asset management plan. Now that the need for such data is federally recognized, further research is needed to understand what the latest technologies for asset management can offer an agency as well as how frequently that information needs to be captured and optimized. State and local transportation agencies are rapidly adopting asset management practices to optimize infrastructure conditions for the resources available and to meet federal transportation asset management planning reporting requirements. There is a profound need to invest in technology and systems to understand the fully inventoried condition of various transportation assets and to model the outcomes of various investment strategies. The purpose of this research is to examine emerging and established technologies used to capture and update changes to assets in the field and the necessary steps to ensure that these changes are processed and integrated into the authoritative systems as close to real time as possible. This examination will help determine the utility of the data, and how to collect, manage, and apply it more effectively.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=5547
• Supplemental Notes:
  • Contract to a Performing Organization has not yet been awarded.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Proposed
• Funding: $500000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 23-41

• Sponsor Organizations:

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  Federal Highway Administration

  Office of Infrastructure
  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Project Managers:

  Nasri, Arefeh

• Start Date: 20231107
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Asset management; Data collection; Information processing; Technological innovations
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01898363
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 23-41
• Files: TRB, RIP
• Created Date: Nov 7 2023 12:11PM