ESR 12: SUstainable ROad Management through Low cost techniques!

Hi Guys, It’s been a very long time since my last post as I’ve been busy trying to work out the kinks of the project, carrying out surveys and analysis and trying to figure out where next to take my research. I have been involved in several research papers and as a result, my time has been spent at the pc doing analysis and writing papers to disseminate the results. So now I want to give a quick update on the project, my plans, and some activities I have been a part of as part of the SMARTI ETN network! First up! - After publishing my first paper, ‘Image-based 3D reconstruction using traditional and UAV datasets for analysis of road pavement distress’ (available online at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2018.10.010 ), the next step in the process was trying to establish the accuracy of the methods using mobile devices and then to figure out anomalies within the models that can be used for recognition and analysis.  To this point, I have been able to carry out analysis and surveys

Hi Guys, It’s been a while since my last post but I wanted to give an update on the project and some training and dissemination activities I have been a part of here in Palermo.  First up! - My first paper from the project was accepted and published in Automation in Construction! Its title is ‘Image-based 3D reconstruction using traditional and UAV datasets for analysis of road pavement distress’ and it is available online for free at https://t.co/dp188dA9iP until December 7! It is a pretty good feeling to receive that acceptance email from the journal and then an even greater feeling seeing your name as an author on something you've worked hard on.  😊😊😊 The paper is based on work carried out with my professors, Prof. Laura Inzerillo and Prof. Gaetano Di Mino. The particulars of the paper involve carrying out a pavement distress survey on a distressed pavement within the University of Palermo and it aims at validating the use of innovative and low-cost Structure-

Hi Guys, After a short holiday, I’m back in Palermo for a busy semester of work! For my first post after summer I wanted to share my experiences from the CIPA Photogrammetry Summer School in the beautiful city of Zadar, Croatia . I was lucky enough to be a part of the school as my supervisors advised me to go as the school would be featuring the very same base techniques I will be using for my project. Whilst the summer school was focused on cultural heritage, the techniques, software and hardware I was exposed to, are the same as I will use for the pavement distresses. This is important as understanding those are key to being able to transpose them to my project to make it a success. Ok, enough pretense! Let's get to what the summer school was about! As I said, it was on Photogrammetry but What exactly is this photogrammetry concept I keep mentioning to you?   To put it simply, it's about taking measurements from images. In our world today we take images all the tim

Hi Guys, It’s been a while since my last post but I just wanted to give you a quick update on a great networking and training event I got to be a part of. As part of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie family I was given the opportunity to enter a contest to win a spot in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Satellite event on Communication skills in Toulouse, France . I was happy to submit my entry and lucky enough I won one of the 30 spots up for grabs! The idea behind this event was helping us to tell our stories. This is just one of the great opportunities as part of this amazing network. The Event was held in the beautiful city of Toulouse over a weekend in June. I arrived on Friday just as France was winning their quarter-final match and was charging on their way to the championship. Being in the city when the game was on was quite an experience as you could feel the support for the team and excitement knowing their team was one step closer to the top. After

Hi Guys,  Thanks for the feedback on the first post! Now that you know a little bit about me and how I got here let's talk about the project! As I mentioned before, the name of the project is Su stainable Ro ad Ma nagement through Low Cost techniques   but to make it easier we just call it SuRoMa ! The first word in that sentence is Sustainable and this really is key. It's a word that is used a lot in today's world but what exactly is it? Simply put, it is about doing things that will not only work now but that will continue to do so in the future without damaging our resources for the future.  However as with most things in life, we need money to achieve goals and this is the same for road authorities worldwide. Road agencies usually have limited budgets and are faced with difficult decisions on how to manage the roads to produce efficient and useful networks. It can be irritating being a driver or pedestrian using a road full of cracks and potholes and we ten

Hi and Welcome! I’m Ronald , a Civil Engineer  all the way from Guyana!  For those asking where  or what  is Guyana – well it’s a small country in the north of South America and surprisingly the only one in South America that speaks English.  It is also considered a part of the Caribbean and we have a rich and diverse history and culture. The population is under 800,000 but the country is  fairly big  in terms of  land area   being about 1.6  times the area of England! .  We have some stunning views and sites . You can take just  a quick minute  and check it out in this short video – I promise it'll be worth it!   After the video you can contact me about where to  stay  on your holiday to Guyana :D B UT  I’m talking to you today from Palermo, Italy which is  thousands of  miles from  Guyana  and it’s a lot more if you consider difference s  in culture and traditions.    How did I get here and what I’m doing? Good  questions..   To answer them lets g