Feasibility of Mobile Laser Scanning towards Operational Accurate Road Rut Depth Measurements

Area of Science:

• Geomatics Engineering
• Transportation Infrastructure Monitoring
• Geospatial Data Acquisition

Background:

• Road rutting is a critical pavement distress affecting road safety and maintenance.
• Existing methods for rut depth measurement can be labor-intensive and time-consuming.
• Mobile Laser Scanning (MLS) offers a potential for efficient and comprehensive road surface data collection.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the applicability of the Roamer-R4DW mobile laser scanning (MLS) system for accurate road rut depth measurement.
• To develop and validate an automated algorithm for calculating rut depths using MLS data.
• To assess the precision of MLS-derived rut depths compared to terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) reference data.

Main Methods:

• Utilized the Roamer-R4DW MLS system, comprising dual laser scanners and a GNSS-IMU positioning unit.
• Developed a fully automatic algorithm for calculating and analyzing road rut depths.
• Verified the algorithm's performance using 64 reference pavement plots (1.0 m × 3.5 m) with TLS data.

Main Results:

• Terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) data confirmed as an adequate reference for MLS rutting studies.
• The MLS-derived rut depths exhibited a random error of 1.4 mm, demonstrating adequate precision for operational measurements.
• The collected data encompasses areas beyond the pavement, enabling diverse road environment applications.

Conclusions:

• The Roamer-R4DW MLS system is a viable tool for precise and efficient road rut depth measurement.
• The developed automated algorithm provides reliable rut depth analysis.
• MLS data holds significant potential for high-definition mapping, autonomous navigation, and comprehensive digitalization of street environments.