Road measurement system using a mobile cart with a laser scanner

Abstract

A movable three-dimensional shape measurement system of a road surface has been developed. The measurement is conducted by moving the measurement cart along the path. The measurement system is composed of a 2D laser scanner, localization camera, omnidirectional camera, acceleration sensor and a computer. The laser scanner measures the cross-sectional shape of the road at a rate of 40 Hz. The direction of the localization camera view is downward to observe the texture of the road surface. The relative movement of the measurement cart on the road is detected by analyzing the optical flow of texture movements of the road. The localization camera is set as the laser scanning line is included in the view of the camera. The distance between the camera and the ground is considered on determination of the movement of the cart. Cross-sectional shapes of the road are arranged on considering the movement of the cart and the three-dimensional road shape is reconstructed on the computer. The color information recorded by the omnidirectional camera are allocated to the three-dimensional shape data, and the three-dimensional road is digitally visualized in color on the computer. The reconstructed road data can be used for repair and design of a road. The experimental results show the feasibility of our system.

Keywords

• three dimensional
• measurement
• laser scanner
• image processing
• visualization
• camera