Roadway and pavement infrastructure data collection company ARRB Group, Inc. has added an intelligent Pavement Assessment Vehicle (iPAVe) to its U.S. data collection fleet, offering technological enhancements for better quality and range.
The iPAVe is a system based in a tractor-trailer, which uses cameras, sensors, lasers, and 3D scanners to collect comprehensive roadway condition data such as surface defects, structural capacity, and right of way information. Federal and State Departments of Transportation have been the primary clients since the original vehicle’s rollout in 2016. According to ARRB, the vehicles have cut collection costs by more than 50 percent and reduced the time required by more than 90 percent.
“ARRB’s iPAVe platform is the most technologically advanced continuous data collection tool in the world for the transportation infrastructure maintenance and management community,” Nathan Kebede, COO of ARRB, said. “It has dramatically improved both the quantity and quality of data available for comprehensive condition assessment and maintenance of roads and highways. The introduction of the newest-generation iPAVe will build on our expertise and enable us to provide enhanced data to DOTs that are increasingly relying on it for decision making.”
The new iPAVE, which should be operational in January 2021, includes a host of new technological enhancements, including updated software and hardware to more than double the data points and the quality of the data therein. The vehicles can now test even airport surfaces. With 25 percent more Doppler lasers, they can collect data at higher frequencies, for sharper resolutions — something shared by their new cameras, which collect right of way information more quickly and efficiently.