Roadside Safety Hardware Identification Methods

Report to Congress

Submitted by the
U.S. Department of Transportation
Federal Highway Administration
Office of Safety

Table of Contents

• LIST OF FIGURES
• LIST OF TABLES
• LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
• EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
• CHAPTER 1. BACKGROUND
  • Roadside Safety Hardware
  • Potential Opportunities
  • Gaps in Current Practices
  • How This Report Is Organized
• CHAPTER 2. SAFETY HARDWARE ID PRACTICES
  • Roadway Safety Asset Tracking
  • Identification Methods Using Tag Identifiers
  • Chapter Summary
• CHAPTER 3. ID METHODS USING TAG IDENTIFIERS
  • Barcode and Serial Number Tags
  • Radio Frequency Identification Tags
  • Chapter Summary
• CHAPTER 4. SELECTION OF ID METHODS
  • Identification of Roadside Hardware Installations
  • Placement and Physical Vandalism
  • Durability under Roadside Conditions
  • Information Security
  • Crash Event Durability
  • Connections to Existing Data Systems
  • Chapter Summary
• CHAPTER 5. EVALUATION OF ID METHODS
  • Evaluation Approach
  • Evaluation Results
  • Chapter Summary
• CHAPTER 6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
• REFERENCES
• APPENDIX A. STANDARDS FOR RFID TAGS
• APPENDIX B. COST MATRIX OF RFID TAGS

List of Figures

• Figure 1. Photo. Example of longitudinal barrier.
• Figure 2. Photo. Example of a barrier terminal.
• Figure 3. Photo. Example of a crash cushion.
• Figure 4. Photo. Example of breakaway hardware.
• Figure 5. Image. Combination barcode and serial number tag.
• Figure 6. Image. 2D data matrix barcode.
• Figure 7. Photo. Barcode scanner.
• Figure 8. Image. Basic RFID tag.
• Figure 9. Photo. Handheld RFID reader.

List of Tables

• Table 1. RFID tag costs per unit.
• Table 2. Evaluation of ID methods for all performance areas.

List of Abbreviations

• 1D One-dimensional
• 2D Two-dimensional
• AASHTO American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials
• EPC Electronic Product Code
• FAST Act Fixing America’s Surface Transportation Act
• FHWA Federal Highway Administration
• GDOT Georgia Department of Transportation
• GPS Global Positioning System
• GRail Idaho Guardrail Management System
• HF High Frequency
• ID Identification
• ISO International Organization for Standardization
• ISPE In-Service Performance Evaluation
• LF Low Frequency
• LIDaR Laser Imaging Detection and Ranging
• MIMS Materials Information Management System
• RFID Radio Frequency Identification
• UHF Ultra-High Frequency
• UV Ultraviolet