On-line Process Management of Pavement Laying Using Wireless Communication Technologies

The research goal has been synchronizing the process of asphalt production, asphalt transportation and pavement laying by connecting different machines together using wireless technologies. Sensors and GPS positioning units were installed to the machines for measuring process variables (e.g. mass temperature) and detecting events (e.g. loading, unloading). The first prototype system (autumn 2007) was based on embedded wireless measurement and data collection modules. A more recent system uses a vehicle PC and a separate embedded system module with sensor interfaces and a short-range radio transmitter. Vehicles communicate with the database through a GPRS link and use a short-range radio as an RFID for authentication and a direct communication channel with the other vehicles. GPS position information is used for context recognition together with the short-range radio and sensor information. Process information is continuously stored to a database, to be used for quality control and process optimization.