Automation and Computational Intelligence for Road Maintenance and Management

2The Structure and Framework of Automation and Key Performance Indices (KPIs)

2.1 Introduction

Regular inspection and maintenance are of particular importance for the proper functioning of important civil infrastructures, such as bridges, pavements, tunnels, railways, and underground structures, and is basically the first and foremost step in planning. Because of the high cost and length of traditional inspection methods, civil infrastructure is not inspected frequently. As such, information about these structures is not up‐to‐date and usually interferes with proper and integrated management. Also, due to the need for the presence of on‐site experts and safety considerations, most traditional and conventional inspection methods require on‐site inspection equipment and tools that can disrupt the performance of the desired infrastructure. As an additional risk, inspectors are usually placed in complex and insecure work environments, while accurate and consistent data are challenging to be obtained considering the difficulty of the work. The advent of new imaging technologies, such as drones, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), micro‐ligaments, 3D laser imaging technologies, sensitive cameras, etc., have led to a change in the field of automated infrastructure inspection. In this chapter, the structure and architecture of automated infrastructure inspection equipment are first examined, then a set of final criteria expected from advanced upgrades is presented. Finally, some emerging ...