GTRI Researchers Develop LED-Based Pavement Crack Detection System

Sealing cracks in roadways ensures a road’s structural integrity and extends the time between major repaving projects, but conventional manual crack sealing operations expose workers to dangerous traffic and cover a limited amount of roadway each day.

To address these challenges, the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) developed a prototype automated pavement crack detection and sealing system with funding from the Georgia Department of Transportation. In road tests, the system was able to detect cracks smaller than one-eighth-inch wide and efficiently fill cracks from a vehicle moving at a speed of three miles per hour.

(LEDs) of two different colors
The prototype system, which was mounted on a trailer, consists of a stereo camera, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) of two different colors, and an assembly to provide a continuous supply of sealant to longitudinal and transverse sealant distribution systems. The operation required only one worker to drive the vehicle pulling the trailer.

As the system traveled along a road lane, the LEDs illuminated the road in two directions — parallel and perpendicular to the road — and the stereo camera took two pictures of the road simultaneously, which were analyzed using thresholding and filtering algorithms. Within 100 milliseconds of taking the images, the computer onboard the trailer generated a “crack map” specifying the location and shape of any cracks shown in the images.

Source: 
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Writer: Abby Robinson

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Source Link: http://gtresearchnews.gatech.edu/pavement-crack-sealing/