Use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) and Photogrammetry to Obtain the International Roughness Index (IRI) on Roads

Abstract

Road inspection and maintenance require a large amount of data collection, where the main limiting factor is the time required to cover long stretches of road, having a negative impact on the optimization of the work. This article aims to identify modern tools for road maintenance and analysis. To carry out the research, recent methodologies are used to guide the work in different stages to adequately justify the processes involved. Using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), cameras, and GPS, three-dimensional virtual models are reconstructed, which are useful for extracting the necessary information since they allow for accurate replication of the captured. In this way, it is possible to obtain longitudinal profiles associated with the road, and with it, the international roughness index (IRI) is calculated, which gives results within 0.1 (m/km) of the certified official results, which shows its potential use and development.

Keywords

• road engineering
• unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)
• photogrammetry
• longitudinal profile
• international roughness index
• IRI