United States Department of Transportation
i
Characterization of unpaved road condition through the use of remote sensing project - phase II, deliverable 8-D: final report.
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2016-03-07
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[PDF-4.35 MB]
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Abstract:Building on the success of developing a UAV based unpaved road assessment system in Phase I, the project team was awarded a Phase II project by the USDOT to focus on outreach and implementation. The project team added Valerie Lefler of Integrated Global Dimensions (IGD) who is an outreach specialist, and Woolpert Inc. which is an architecture, engineering, and geospatial services firm to assist in the second phase. As part of the new focus on outreach and implementation, the original Phase I name for the system, URCAS (Unpaved Roads Condition Assessment System), was changed to AURA (Aerial Unpaved Road Assessment) after input from the project’s Technical Advisory Committee (TAC).
The first objective of the project team was to review and update the requirements, sensors and platforms. Since it had been over three years between defining these parameters and the start of Phase II, the project team needed to re-evaluate the AURA system as technology is quickly advancing. Through a brief investigation, the results were published through Deliverable 5-B: “Review and Update on the AURA [URCAS] Requirements, Sensors, and Platforms”. The project team found that the Bergen Hexacopter and Nikon D800 components selected in Phase I were still the preferred components for the AURA system due to their flexibility, low cost, and high resolution.
The use of fixed-wing UAVs as an alternative to using multi-rotor systems was also investigated. Fixed-wing UAV data was provided by Jarlath O'Neil-Dunne of the University of Vermont. All imagery was collected using a Sensefly eBee which carries a point and shoot camera. The imagery and was processed through commercial Structure from Motion (SfM) software and compared to previous results obtained from the Bergen Hexacopter carrying a Nikon D800. Figure 1-1 shows and example comparison of the hillshades of the 3D models generated at the same scale.
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