Paver-mounted thermal profiling scanning (PMTPS) is one facet of intelligent construction. Most readers of AsphaltPro Magazine are familiar with intelligent compaction, wherein data about the mat assists the roller operator in achieving optimum density.
In PMTPS, a thermal “camera” is affixed to the back of the paver for the purpose of assisting the paving crew in monitoring, and thus lessening the chances for, temperature segregation in the mat. The researchers at Transtec Group Inc., Austin, Texas, shared at their intelligentconstruction.com site:

“Normally, every 50-meter section of full-width temperature profiles is analyzed to determine the levels of temperature segregation. Example methods are the US AASHTO PP80 standard…and an improved Thermal Segregation Index (TSI) method developed by the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT) and The Transtec Group’s Veta team.”

Asphalt workers are in high demand, wages are rising and there’s significant competition, especially for journeymen workers. With these challenges also comes opportunity. Generation Z represents a big opportunity for the construction and asphalt industries, as they are the newest generation in the workforce and vary greatly from what the asphalt business has been used to. 

The story of asphalt begins thousands of years before the founding of the United States. Asphalt occurs naturally in both asphalt lakes and in rock asphalt (a mixture of sand, limestone and asphalt).