Identification of rut and pothole by using multirotor unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)

Road development is very important in many countries. Many technologies have been used in road maintenance. The unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) promises a rapid and cost saving technology and is widely used in the mapping industry. The aim of this study is to assess rut and pothole on road surface by using UAV. The methodology consists of four phases, namely site reconnaissance and planning, data acquisition, data processing and result and data analysis. Data acquisition is based on difference altitudes to determine the effect of resolution in rut and pothole extraction. In this study, the data processing is by using a photogrammetric software which is based on structure from motion. The accuracy assessment in this study is based on actual and measured data comparison, which only concentrates on rut and pothole samples. It was found that low altitude gives a better result as compared to high altitude. In conclusion, this study demonstrated the capability of multirotor UAV image for rut and pothole extraction. This system provides a detailed and accurate measurement of road rut and pothole, and thus improves the efficiency of road condition monitoring. (C) 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.