Monitoring of Transportation System Assets using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Satellite Data

Condition data of transportation assets is of prime importance for effective allocation and utilization of resources for operating, maintaining, and upgrading ageing assets throughout its lifecycle. The federal regulations, as a part of Transportation Asset Management (TAM) plan, mandates state DOT's to annually and/or biennially inspect certain assets – bridges and pavement, and encourages inspection of other assets – walls, slopes, embankments, and subgrades within the pavement Right-of-Way (ROW). Dearth of inventory data, condition data, and performance measures of various assets within the pavement's ROW has limited the scope of current TAM applications. The main intent of this research project is to evaluate the possibility of use of orbital Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite data for condition assessment and performance monitoring of transportation assets. If successful, SAR data can be used to effortlessly extend the current TAM scope as well as increase the monitoring frequency of assets as needed (additional surveys can be done during inclement weathers, natural disasters, and other hazard events). The proposed research will conduct comprehensive literature review on SAR, SAR's application in transportation infrastructure monitoring and asset management, and identify potential relationships between condition metrics and SAR data. Assessing the condition of ageing of transportation assets in the south-central states by using cutting-edge technologies like SAR satellite data can provide condition data of the assets – and this will lead to proactive maintenance measures thereby prolonging the service life. The finding of this research will help in understanding the role of the state-of-art orbital synthetic aperture radar remote sensing platforms in accessing the performance of pavements and adjacent highway infrastructure. In addition, it will help to understand and evaluate the extent, quality, reliability, and limitation of SAR satellite data in monitoring transportation assets. The research will lead to a report documenting a brief review of state of practice in TAM plans as well as use of SAR data for monitoring the condition of transportation system assets.