Patent ID: 8681036

Claim:
A system for inspecting roads comprising: a road assessment pod capable of being coupled to a vehicle, the road assessment pod including: a collection of antennas for emitting ground-penetrating radar and receiving return signals as the vehicle travels down a road; a damage assessment component that analyzes the return signals to detect occurrences of damage and that determines the type of each occurrence of damage; and a transmission component that, for each occurrence of damage, transmits occurrence information that includes location and type of the occurrences; and a road assessment server including: a component that receives the occurrence information transmitted by the road assessment pod; a correspondence component that identifies correspondences between newly detected occurrences and previously detected occurrences; a component that, when no correspondence is identified between a newly detected occurrence and any previously detected occurrence, indicates that the newly detected occurrence represents damage not previously detected; and a component that, when a correspondence is identified between a newly detected occurrence and a previously detected occurrence, updates information for that previously detected occurrence based on that newly detected occurrence.