Road Doctor™ PRO
Road Doctor™ PRO is a complete software package designed for traffic infrastructure investigations. It contains effective tools for the user to do interpretation and analysis of data from different measurement devices and other available information. The user can also do rehabilitation design and dimension the structures.
The software includes special tools for handling ground penetrating radar (GPR) data. All stages of GPR data handling, from processing and interpretation to analysis and visualization, are possible. The software can also export results to a wide variety of numerical formats for use in CAD or GIS programs.
The Road Doctor™ PRO interface is project based: the user links all gathered information to one project. Data can be attached to the software and displayed in an integrated manner where various types of datasets are synchronized with each other. Data handling and presenting capabilities are vast and versatile.
Click here to view larger image
In the upper left side of the figure is a digital video and the lower left side contains a map. Included on the right side, starting from the top is GPR data with interpretations, where 1,0 GHz (0-10ns) data is in the same view with the 400 MHz (10-30ns) data. Interpretation lines depict the thickness of asphalt, base course and total structure. Below the GPR data is pavement distress inventory, including inventory of longitudinal cracking, alligator cracking, edge deformation and stripping in classes from 0 to 3 (0 = good condition...3 = bad condition). The third dataset from the top on the right side is modulus values of the different layers calculated from falling weight deflectometer (FWD) results using the Elmod link in the software. On the bottom right side increase in rutting values from 2003 to 2007 is shown with a color scale.
The following data can be linked to a Road Doctor™ PRO project:
- ground penetrating radar (e.g. GSSI, 3d-Radar, IDS, MALÅ, Sensors & Software, Utsi)
- reference data (e.g. sample cores)
- road surface data: rutting, roughness (IRI), cross slope, pavement distress inventory
- falling weight deflectometer (Dynatest, KUAB, Carl Bro)
- digital video, photos, and maps
- databases, tables, MS Excel, MySQL, dBase, Oracle, MS Access, Paradox
Ground Penetrating Radar Data Handling
The software includes pre-processing operations for both air- and ground-coupled ground penetrating radar data. Pre-processing operations common to both data types are cutting, joining, reversing, normalization of horizontal scale and channel splitting. In addition, pre-processing operations for air-coupled data include background removal and surface elevation correction.
Road Doctor™ PRO also enables on-screen data processing without pre-processing the files. This makes data handling faster and saves disk space. Possible operations are for example: background removal, DC-level correction, signal gain, horizontal and vertical filtering, Kirchoff migration, Hilbert transform, correlation filters and arithmetic operations.
The software includes effective tools for large ground penetrating radar data files as well. Interpretations are most reliable in an integrated view, linked together with reference data, video, map and other possible information. Interpretation tools include manual and automatic interface tracking, selection of the interpretation color and line type (according to the certainty of the interpretation) and the addition of labels to the profile. Interpretations can be printed using pre-defined or user defined formats.
Hot Mix Asphalt (HMA) compaction can be determined from the air-coupled data with Road Doctor™ PRO software. This method is based on the relationship between the continuous dielectric values from the pavement data and the air void content of the pavement. The measurements are calibrated using the air void content of core samples taken from the road.
Structure Analysis
The software analysis tools have been specially designed to serve the condition analysis and rehabilitation design of roads and streets. Examples of analysis tools are pavement distress inventory based on the video from the site, distress index calculation from measurement data and bearing capacity calculation from FWD data and GPR interpreted layer thicknesses. Condition classification sections for repair planning can also be calculated using various weighted analyze factors chosen by the interpreter.
Rehabilitation Planning
The software enables rehabilitation planning and dimensioning for existing roads by using Odemark´s method. Layer modulus values needed in dimensioning are calculated with the help of Dynatest Elmod® link or with a 2-3 layer Forward Calculation (from FWD data) built in the software. Tools in the software make it possible to estimate the required amount of material and the preliminary cost. The software can also be utilized by monitoring various work stages and checking quality control of a finished project with the help of GPS positioning built into the software.
External Map and Printing
All data in the software can be exported with coordinate and/or position information. The possible output formats are suitable for use in other software such as CAD programs, ArcGIS, MapInfo, etc. The software itself also has an effective tool for making maps of interest directly from various types of open datasets. Still images can be created from large files such as video and GPR data to save disk space. These still images and all other linked data can be viewed by the client with the free Road Doctor™ Viewer software. Views can be created and saved ready for the client to open, saving time and allowing the most relevant information and results of the project to be immediately focused on.
