Network Survey Vehicle:
The National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has announced that it will deploy Network Survey Vehicles (NSVs) in 23 states.
- Network Survey Vehicle is a specialized infrastructure management tool comprising vehicles equipped with advanced sensors and data acquisition systems.
- These vehicles systematically collect data on road inventory and condition of National Highways.
- It is usually a specialised van or SUV equipped with multiple sensors and instruments.
- It consists of Laser, Global Positioning System (GPS), Video image processing tools, High-resolution cameras, Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), and DMI (Distance Measuring Indicator).
- The survey will capture 13 types of defects, including crack measurement, ravelling, patch area, potholes, edge break, roughness, rutting, lane marking, etc.
- It will also cover details like carriageway type, road type, pavement and shoulder width, topography, median details, right of way, utilities, land use, etc.
- The data will be collected for all projects involving 2/4/6 and 8 lanes with NSV before the start of work and thereafter at regular intervals of six months.
- Data collected through NSV survey will be uploaded on NHAI’s ‘AI’ based portal Data Lake, where it will be analysed to transform data into knowledge and subsequent actionable insights.
- The collected data is useful to make decisions for pavement maintenance, asset management, and infrastructure planning.
- It will contribute to enhancing safety and efficiency of the National Highway Network across the country.
