Final Report for US DOT DTPH56-06-BAA-0002

2009PDFTech ReportUS DOT DTPH56-06-BAA-0002Remote sensingUnpaved roadsProgramming manualsCondition surveysCost effectivenessDigital camerasField testsSurface course (Pavements)Research HubHighwaysPavementsProperties of Road SurfacesSouth DakotaUnited StatesSouth Dakota State University. Geographic Information Science Center of ExcellenceZhang, ChunsunSouth Dakota State University. Geographic Information Science Center of ExcellenceUnited States. Dept. of TransportationUS Transportation CollectionThis project investigates remote sensing technology for monitoring condition of unpaved roads. The unpaved roads are usually low-volume roads serving remote areas and agricultural business and linking agricultural communities to nearby towns and markets. Although more than half of all US roads are unpaved, assessment of unpaved road condition has been rarely addressed in transportation research. Current approach for unpaved road condition data collection is time consuming and labor extensive. The construction and maintenance of unpaved roads is generally performed by local townships and county governments. Due to limited funding, local officials typically rely on visual inspection, intuition and occasional spot measurements in their assessments. Thus, these unpaved roads are usually inadequately inspected and assessed. Yet the importance of timely identification and rectification of road deformation cannot be overstated. The primary thrust of this project is to develop an efficient and cost-effective system and methods for the collection of unpaved road condition data in support of the road management needs of transportation agencies and local government. We explore the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) as a road data collection platform, and develop efficient methods and systems to process UAV images and identify and quantify unpaved road surface condition parameters. The UAV-based remote sensing system consists of a low cost model helicopter equipped with a GPS/IMU and a digital camera. An autonomous flight control system is employed to control the flight mission of the helicopter with a ground control system. We have developed a set of image processing algorithms for camera calibration, sensor orientation, digital 3D road surface model and orthoimage generation, and measurement for road surface distress. The developed system has been tested over a number of rural roads with various surface conditions