Monitoring Transportation Assets using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Satellite (1)

Abstract:

Condition data on transportation infrastructures such as pavements, highway embankments, and earth retaining systems, is of significant interest to asset owners and stakeholders. The use of orbital Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), a remote sensing technique, to assess the condition and performance of such assets has attracted interest from transportation agencies over the last decade due to its ability to proactively monitor assets on large spatial area at a competitive cost and can be rapidly mobilized before/after extreme events. This study evaluates the potential of high-resolution X-band orbital SAR data for monitoring the condition of pavement surfaces. The results show that the problematic areas and its severity can be delineated and quantified, respectively, based on the normalized radar cross-section (γ0 ) of the pavement surface. Thus, the information from the analysis can be used by local, state, or federal agencies as an important input for transportation asset management.