Explore and Develop a Unified Drone Management System for CDOT

Over the past decade, the use of drones in transportation has experienced significant growth. These advanced systems have revolutionized transportation by providing a multitude of benefits, such as enhanced accuracy and speed of data collection, as well as access to challenging and hazardous locations. Recognizing their transformative impact, drones have been listed as a Federal Highway Administration's (FHWA’s) Every-Day-Counts Innovation (EDC), demonstrating their profound influence on the transportation industry. Compared to traditional approaches like surveys or manual inspections, drones offer several key advantages. Firstly, they contribute to improved safety by reducing the need for personnel to physically access high-risk locations during inspections and maintenance activities. Secondly, drones enable accelerated construction processes through faster data collection and real-time monitoring, resulting in more efficient project execution. Lastly, drones facilitate expanded asset management by providing comprehensive and up-to-date information on infrastructure conditions. A recent FHWA survey revealed that 45 Department of Transportation (DOT) agencies are already leveraging drone technologies, incorporating features like high-definition cameras, Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensors, Millimeter-wave (mmWave) sensors and other advanced sensors. These systems are applied in various critical applications, including construction inspection, bridge inspection, aerial surveillance, accident scene reconstruction, and traffic incident management. Furthermore, 22 DOTs are actively exploring potential drone applications, indicating a growing interest in identifying cost-saving opportunities and optimizing transportation operations. For Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT), numerous opportunities exist to harness the potential of drones in various aspects of its operations. Opportunities are evident for CDOT to incorporate drones into environmental assessments, wildlife protection, infrastructure health monitoring, interchange/corridor observation, road inspections, bridge inspections, asset cataloging, and accident reconstruction, and cut and fill estimates, to name a few. Incorporating drones into CDOT's practices holds the potential to drive efficiencies, promote safety, and optimize infrastructure management. While CDOT currently benefits from drones in the context of several applications (including performing surveys, environment and water monitoring, and rock fall mitigation), the full potential of drones is yet to be materialized. Toward realizing the full potential of drones at CDOT, two major shortcomings to be addressed are as follows. First, there is a large number of drone technologies in the market and it is not clear which technology (or set of technologies) best serve the specific set of drone applications identified for deployment at CDOT. This is particularly important because the CDOT drone fleet must be capable of serving all of the identified applications, whereas the required capabilities for the drones technology (such as range of flight, sensing capabilities, etc.) vary significantly across applications. Second, a unified platform is required to (1) inventory the CDOT drone fleet, (2) manage the ongoing drones projects that may use the CDOT drones fleet simultaneously in various applications, and most importantly (3) store, manage and analyze the data collected in various drones projects at CDOT.

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $100000
• Sponsor Organizations:

  Colorado Department of Transportation

  Applied Research and Innovation Branch
  Denver, CO  United States  80204
• Managing Organizations:

  Colorado Department of Transportation

  Applied Research and Innovation Branch
  Denver, CO  United States  80204
• Project Managers:

  Tran, Thien

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Colorado, Denver

  Denver, CO  United States 
• Start Date: 20240826
• Expected Completion Date: 0
• Actual Completion Date: 0

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Data management; Drones; Implementation; Technology assessment
• Identifier Terms: Colorado Department of Transportation
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Planning and Forecasting; Transportation (General); Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01930284
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Colorado Department of Transportation
• Files: RIP, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Sep 16 2024 8:52AM