Development of a validation technique for road surface profile applicable to point cloud data

In recent years,various information and communication technology(ICT)devices measuring three-dimensional(3D)point cloud data have been developed and widely used for the application of pavement surface investigation.However,ICT devices have generally been developed not only for measuring road surface profiles but for various geo-reference point clouds.In this background,the validation of surface profiles acquired with ICT devices fulfils an important role in proving the reliability of measurement result composed by point clouds.This study proposes a wavelet transform agreement(WTA)which involves a normalization factor of profile amplitude for further improvement in the wavelet-based coherence technique.The WTA analysis allows evaluating similarity/dissimilarity of two profiles considering both the location and wavelength simultaneously.For this purpose,a terrestrial laser scanner(TLS),a mobile mapping system(MMS),and an unmanned aerial vehicle(UAV)are employed to prove the advantage of WTA in practical applications.As a result,the advantages of WTA analysis are clearly recognized in the optimization for the measurement interval of TLS,the multi-line measurement of MMS for ride quality improvement of a pavement,and the efficient operation of UAV in terms of the flight altitude.This paper also shows the identification of aging development for surface roughness over time in terms of locations and wavelengths.These findings help not only to guarantee the accuracy of profile measurements but to realize the sophisticated way of using 3D point clouds acquired with ICT devices.The outcomes of this study contribute to the increase of productivity for pavement works with improving the quality of surface profile measurement.

Measuring and evaluating of road roughness conditions with a compact road profiler and ArcGIS

With a wide range of requirements throughout the world, high-quality road management is subject to increasing demand from a perspective of customer-oriented levels of service. In recent years, road administrators are requested to create a visual map of a road network to monitor conditions. To fulfill these requirements, this study conducted as follows. Firstly, this paper introduces a new compact road profiler to collect the profile data at ease. Using the international roughness index （IRI） to assess public roads in local cities of Japan＇s Hokkaido prefecture, this study also provides real-time monitoring of pavement roughness conditions. Moreover, this study deals with an effective method for visualizing collected IRI data as an attribute in a geographic information system （GIS） and the database of Japan digital road map （DRM）. Secondly, the authors present the measurement results of IRI at two different cities during different seasons by using GIS to compare the road conditions. According to the results clarified on different statistical characteristics of road profiles, this study recommends that it is necessary to establish pavement management system （PMS） in consideration of road class, network of local city, and evaluation and management of road conditions in winter quantitatively. Finally, the authors measure and evaluate ride quality by assessing differences between the inner wheel path （IWP） and outer wheel path （OWP） of the vehicle into account, using the previously mentioned profilers and the driving simulator, which is called KITDS. Results show that information from both wheel paths contributes to improve current monitoring process regarding pavement surface, and expects to construct a high level of PMS for road administration in the future.