Collaborative operation and real-time control of roller fleet for asphalt pavement compaction

Abstract

Compaction is one of the most critical processes in the asphalt pavement construction. Collaborative control of multiple rollers in the construction site to enable each roller to compact the right position at the right time with the right compaction parameters to ensure compaction quality is an unaddressed challenge. There are three technical barriers, i.e. how to collect and communicate compaction data of each roller, how to aggregate the collected data to determine compaction parameters, and how to control the roller fleet based on the real-time compaction parameters. To address the technical barriers, a cyber-physical system is designed and implemented. A framework is proposed for multi-roller compaction monitoring, which consists of five modules, i.e. data acquisition module, data transmission module, remote servers, in-situ control module, and monitoring terminal. Algorithms are created to calculate compaction parameters in the scenario of multi-machine operations. A managerial mechanism involving cyber space, human intervention, and compaction machines is set up to achieve collaborative compaction control. Field experiments were conducted to validate the efficacy of the system, of which the results suggest the proposed system can effectively control the compaction process. With inappropriate compaction effort being identified, tracked, and rectified in real time, the compaction quality is ensured. The development of the cyber-physical system paves the way for deploying multiple automatic rollers in the construction site for collaborative and adaptive compaction.