Surface Evaluation of Rigid Pavements on Roads using Orthoimages Obtained through an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Abstract

This research explores an alternative method of surface evaluation of road pavement, which consists of automating the collection, processing, and analysis of the state of the pavement using an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). The objective of this research is to evaluate the surface condition of the rigid pavement of a section of intramountainous road, using orthoimages obtained by UAV and the methodology of the pavement condition index. This is a nonexperimental quantitative and cross-research design. Hence, the precision obtained with the adjustment of the UAV images from the processing phase is accurate to the established tolerances for this type of work. They are below 0.03 meters, the committed error between the measure from the field, and the one from orthophoto is below the RMSE, and the adjustment made with the algorithm SfM. Thus, the measured distances and the condition of the pavement are reliable. It is concluded that the use of the UAV technique is adequate to detect and measure deterioration on the road surface and to obtain detailed and precise information on its condition.