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INESC TEC develops solution to manage road networks

INESC TEC develops solution to manage road networks

INESC TEC has recently started working on project SARA – System to Manage Assets in Road Networks, a joint research initiative that benefits from the expertise of two INESC TEC Units – the Information and Computer Graphics Systems Unit (USIG) and the Telecommunications and Multimedia Unit (UTM). The aim is to create an innovative solution to efficiently manage road network assets.

Project SARA will provide a system to represent, register and update assets in a spatiotemporal context. With this system, it will be possible to integrate and develop decision-support tools and methodologies, thus contributing to a significant evolution of current activities in this area.

The main objective is to provide the necessary instruments to road network managers that will help them implement the most suitable conservation strategies according to the available economic resources and predefined quality standards. All this is based on the knowledge of the evolution of the network’s elements throughout time.

As part of the project, UTM will be creating computational vision algorithms to detect and classify road networks and pavement pathologies based on the semiautomatic recognition of images. Additionally, the Unit will develop graphic tools for result visualisation and to correct these elements and pathologies.

USIG, on the other hand, will be responsible for spatiotemporal modelling and for developing tools to edit instances in geographical entities (assets) and the occurrence of pathologies. The Unit will also implement decision-support modules to help create intervention scenarios and to help define conservation strategies and policies for the road networks.

With a duration of two years, the SARA has recently applied to NSRF funding through company MonteAdriano – Engenharia e Construção, S.A, a group in the construction sector which participates in businesses related to road concession and parking lots.

Coordinated by José Correia, the INESC TEC team includes a set of researchers from USIG and UTM – Ricardo Henriques, Alexandre Carvalho, Lucian Ciobanu, Pedro Carvalho and Jaime Cardoso – and will soon be reinforced by four grant holders.

Photo credits: Artscan