Project Summary

The problem we are trying to investigate is the synergistic application of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) with active acoustic sensing (AAS) and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) for the underside inspection of bridge decks. The problem is important because that employing such UAV-AAS-SAR system can i) reduce inspection cost by more than 50%, ii) improve inspectors’ safety, and iii) mitigate traffic interference with little or no traffic control measures needed. Consequently, substantial increases in productivity can be expected with the advances in hardware and software for UAVs and sensors. We propose to 1) develop an acoustic sensor capable of actively interrogating concrete delimination of bridge decks from underneath, 2) develop a compact radar sensor capable of remotely scanning concrete surface for delamination detection, 3) develop a UAV platform capable of housing the acoustic and the radar sensors for bridge inspection, 4) develop image processing and interpretation algorithms for condition assessment, and 5) work with partners in the ridge inspection industry to guide design decisions to produce a practical and useful system.