Preliminary Study of Radio Frequency Identification on Underground Manhole's Surveys

Abstract

To provide certain level of serviceability, road authorities need to perform appropriate and timely maintenance and rehabilitation (M&R) activities. Manholes on roads are the most persecution for the evenness of pavements. Lowering manholes into road structures is a good approach to keep the serviceability of pavement. However, a vast expanse of road systems greatly increases the complexity of manhole identifications. Therefore, an emerging method to find the manholes beneath pavements is needed. In this study, radio frequency identification (RFID) technology was used to identify manholes. RFID tags stuck on the metal were buried in asphalt concrete at different depths and then were identified from laboratory experiments. On the other hand, location-based service (LBS) has been applied to mobile devices with mobile positioning functions to provide users with location-specific services for several years. Augmented reality (AR) can support users in manipulating virtual objects in real environments. In this study, a mobile manholes monitoring system (MMS) and a web-based MMS based on LBS and AR were developed. The RFID adhered to covers of manholes beneath pavements can be easily monitored by the mobile MMS. The location and information of neighboring manholes will be transmitted from the web-based MMS and be shown on the mobile MMS based on the AR technology. By using RFID and AR technologies, the time and costs of manhole identifications can be significantly decreased and then pavement maintenance activities also can be timely processed.