The goal of this project was to conduct a data-driven evaluation of currently available automated or semiautomated indoor salt stockpile measuring systems in order to improve agencies’ day-to-day management of their salt stockpile inventories. Based on the types of automated and semi-automated indoor stockpile measuring systems available, project need, and vendor willingness to participate in the project, the following systems and state sites were selected for the project: Stockpile Reports photogrammetry system at two sites in Texas and one site in Washington state, Carlson FiX1 lidar system at a site in Delaware, and Skydio drone analyzed by DroneDeploy software at the same site in Delaware. Comparable measurements were taken at these sites using Total Station optical surveying, FARO 3-D scanner surveying, and tape-and-wheel measurements and compared in controlled tests. Both the Stockpile Reports and Carlson FiX1 equipment appeared to work as presented by vendors and regularly produced stable and precise measurements with little or no effort required of state DOT staff after the equipment was set up. The Skydio equipment worked well but is not close to being an automated or semi-automated solution at this time.
Traditionally, salt stockpiles are measured and monitored using manual tools like wheeled tape measures or labor-intensive technologies like handheld ...
Infrastructure monitoring often requires interaction between the data collector and the traffic which leads to traffic delays as well as exposing the ...
Transportation agencies in northern environments spend a considerable amount of their budget on salt for winter operations. For example, in the state ...
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