The construction of roads does not depend more on the accumulated experience of the workers, be the workers on production of materials, on operations of machinery, be it the surveyors, almost of all those who are involved in a complete process of construction of a road.
New technologies with human machine interfaces (HMI), ultrasonic sensors, infrared sensors, satellite technology, artificial intelligence and telemetry are helping a lot in road works. In the past the operators guided the steps of the machines, “Today, the machines guide the steps of the operators”.
The futuristic and spooky portraits of Artificial Intelligence (AI) that dominate movies and books and influence the collective imagination do not go beyond mere fiction. But, in the real world, AI is changing our daily lives, and overwhelmingly, through ways that improve human health, safety and productivity. Contrary to what we see in the cinema, there are no armies of robots with superhuman capabilities in the closest horizon, despite being many critics who faced a myriad of problems and threats led by this unprecedented evolution. And, despite the fact that the potential for an abusive use of AI technologies must be recognized, addressed and debated, along with numerous emerging ethical issues, their greatest potential lies, among a set of diverse fields, in making the driving of vehicles are safer, help children and adults to learn, to improve – and to extend – the quality of life of humans. Actually, the use of AI beneficial applications in schools, in our homes, in hospitals and in construction, is added at an accelerated pace: the large universities devote more and more time and resources to their study and technology and research companies , they are allocating resources and giant investments in their exploitation.
Between great hopes, fears and challenges or threats, the impact that AI will have in different areas of our existence is not science fiction. For good and for evil, but believing that it will be more for good, the rapid march of Artificial Intelligence has no return. The AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) have already arrived and are here to stay. Also, the Building Information Modeling (BIM), deals with how to use digital technology in the design, construction and management of assets for life. In this way, this model presents an organized and classified information on the cartography, the linear information for the tracing of roads and railways, the bridges, the structures and walls, the tunnels, the environment, the treatments of the land and the planning of work, as well as other services affected by water, electricity and gas. In addition, this organized system allows a more uniform, coherent, versatile and more comprehensible information.
In the life cycle of a road infrastructure, it is necessary to highlight a series of stages beginning with the initial phase, which is also the shortest. Then follows the decision-making phase and work in the different disciplines. Likewise, all deliveries must be perfectly defined and the rules of implementation, well established. In all these stages it is necessary to have a database, feed it and adjust it, so that it is used by all the protagonists involved in the life cycle of the work. It is a project that becomes construction and ends in operation and maintenance. Then, we must also consider the uses of the BIM methodology in the different phases. In construction, we can talk about the use of the model, for a better-defined project, a reduction in costs due to better planning and the consistency of the model, the traceability of changes and the improvement of communication. The operation and maintenance phase stand out for the unification of the information and access to the real data of the state of each infrastructure project and its elements. In addition to the traceability in the decisions and the evolution of the state of the infrastructure, as well as the improvement in management.
As a response or recommendation of existing technology in the market, to solve the problems referred to in the introduction, let’s talk about solutions for the monitoring and control of the temperature of the asphalt mass, the monitoring and control of thickness and leveling of the asphalt binder and of the monitoring and control of the compaction index of the asphalt layer in the different types of roller compactors. With the solutions detailed below, the prevention and improvement of the efficiency of the two most important factors in the life of a road are made, which are the segregation “figure 1” and the International Index of Roughness (IRI) “figure 2 and 3 “
The fundamental capacity of the solution is given by three functions: the highly accurate data recording with a cloud solution, its connection with open interfaces for the current asphalt and process logistics systems and a scalable reporting system in detail. With the automatic measurement of the temperature displayed in a human machine interface (HMI), self-explanatory temperature profiles show new possibilities for optimization and the best thing is that it does not involve extra work for the team in charge of the extended works. In addition to the exhaustive display and documentation of temperature measurements, the definitive advance is the fact that the system allows interconnection with the finisher, which is the “cornerstone” for the work of the future.
