How the iPAVE can be used for airports as well as roads

Finding solutions to challenges across all areas of transport is what ARRB does.

ARRB has been working with Airport Consultancy Group (ACG) on a runway surveying project at Essendon Fields Airport in Melbourne.

When the airport needed a condition inspection survey done on one of its airport runways, our team came up with a clever idea.

What if we could cut down the airport’s downtime and runway closure time by using ARRB’s Intelligent Pavement Assessment Vehicle (iPAVE) to conduct the survey on both runways and a taxiway?

So the iPAVE, which usually travels around our roads and highways measuring and monitoring the road network at traffic speed, was cleared for take-off to do a health check on both runways and a taxiway at Essendon Fields.

Outcomes included a comparison between the traditional airport inspection method (conducted manually) and the iPAVE inspection method as well as a detailed objective assessment of the airside pavements into small sections for classification of pavement distresses and maintenance planning by ARRB and ACG.

The entirety of both runways and the taxiway pavements were able to be inspected by the iPAVE in under two shifts, which is suited to the tight operating conditions of airports.

As the National Transport Research Organisation, ARRB is not just about roads. ARRB is about innovative, value-for-money transport solutions that can help solve challenges across roads, rail, ports and airports. Find out more about how ARRB can help you here.  

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