Rao Research and Consulting LLC works in the improvement of highway transportation infrastructure. The company's founder brings over 18 years of experience in research, and technology transfer covering the broad areas of materials, pavement analysis and design, bridges, performance prediction, quality assurance (QA), nondestructive testing, and value engineering. The company's research products range from research reports on advanced topics, guidebooks, best practice documents, design manuals, how to guides, instructor-led and web-based training courses, and software tools. The topic areas the firm addresses are: Highway material characterization, Quality assurance procedures, Pavement analysis and design including AASHTO Ware Pavement ME design and local calibration of distress models for agency implementation, Pavement management systems, Statistical modeling for performance prediction, Evaluation of test procedures and technologies, Materials, testing, and construction standards and specification development, Forensic analyses, Transportation data fusion and data analytics, Economic analysis and life cycle cost modeling, Value engineering. The company has also developed DART, a sensor technology incorporated into a portable device for real-time testing of asphalt binder consistency and uniformity during production, modification, and plant mixing processes.
