A GPR ARRAY SYSTEM FOR TRAFFIC EMBEDDED MONITORING OF BRIDGES AND ROADWAYS

The Versatile Onboard Traffic Embedded Roaming Sensors (VOTERS) project provides a framework to shift from periodical localized inspections to continuous network-wide health monitoring of roadways and bridge decks using Vehicles Of Opportunity (VOO). VOOs (e.g. commercial fleet vehicles) navigate through daily traffic going about their normal business and provide a low-cost data collection platform for repeatedly scanning roads and bridges in a geographic area of interest (i.e. a metropolitan area). A VOTERS concept compatible Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) array is one of the key subsurface sensing technologies under development with the requirements of being low-cost, small, and fast enough to collect data at meaningful spatial sampling intervals while driving at regular traffic speeds.