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Title:

Quantitative Assessment of Snow Plow Sensor Failure Impacts on Winter Maintenance Operations

Accession Number:

01592022

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

Implementing global positioning systems/automatic vehicle location (GPS/AVL) systems and combining other remote sensing data such as weather and traffic data allows transportation agencies to better monitor equipment and materials as well as to develop performance measures to track the benefits of winter maintenance operations. However, these sensors are placed in a harsh environment, where they are exposed to cold temperatures, moisture, and corrosive materials. As a result, sensors placed on trucks may fail or require recalibration to regain the ability to record accurate data. Typically, mechanics focus on major mechanical issues such as engine and transmission maintenance and repair while ignoring issues with sensors. However, a paradigm shift may be necessary as vehicle sensors become more prevalent and agencies begin to rely more heavily on sensor data when making winter maintenance decisions. Winter maintenance data collected in the field were utilized to analyze sensors instrumented on snow plow trucks deployed by the Ohio Department of Transportation. It was found that the location and speed sensors rarely failed, while the bed scale weight sensors did not report data 32% of the time they were operational. The bed scale sensors were evaluated for accuracy and reported weight values within 2.2% of the ground truth weight values when calibrated and within 8.4% of the ground truth weight values when not calibrated. The cost difference between trucks with calibrated sensors and those having sensors that are not calibrated ranges from $150 to $270 per truck, depending on the number of snowfall events during a winter season.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHD65 Standing Committee on Winter Maintenance.

Monograph Accession #:

01584066

Report/Paper Numbers:

16-1916

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Holik, William A
Schneider IV, William H
Miller, Christopher M

Pagination:

20p

Publication Date:

2016

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2016-1-10 to 2016-1-14
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; Maps; Photos; References; Tables

Geographic Terms:

Ohio

Subject Areas:

Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Vehicles and Equipment; I62: Winter Maintenance

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2016 Paper #16-1916

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Jan 12 2016 4:50PM