Texture measurement system "surface drone"
Evaluation of road surface quality during construction and operation phases

During the construction of a road surface many factors can affect its final quality: the mixture of the material, machinery parameters, environmental conditions and the base layer properties. In modern road construction, the construction quality has to be assessed during the layering process in order to optimize the construction process. Most existing measuring methods are either single point measurements, very expensive or difficult to integrate into the construction process.

Many years of practical experience in the acoustical evaluation of road surfaces enabled us to build our measuring system surface drone. It provides all relevant data about the macro- and megatexture of road surfaces. That way, various layer properties can be monitored simultaneously:

  • The macrotexture, which is crucial for noise reduction, grip and rolling resistance;
  • The megatexture, which is an indicator for unevenness as well as longitudinal and transverse inclination of the road.

Characteristics

surface drone is a portable, light weighted and self-propelled measuring system, that collects road surface texture data in real-time even for long measurement sections. Surface drone allows accompanying measurements for quality control during the installation process of pavements as well as the monitoring of existing layers. The measurement system is easy to operate by one person. Thanks to an internal power supply the system is ready for use at any time.

Standard uses of the surface drone:

  • Determination of the macro- and megatexture immediately after construction
  • Immediate determination of the slope to ensure road quality
  • Determination of the texture variations of pavements during operation (Mean Profile Depth (MPD) according to ISO 13473-1, shape factor (g) and texture wavelength analysis according to ISO/TS 13473-4, estimated texture depth (ETD))

Advantages

  • Measurement data display in real-time via LCD display
  • Intuitive operation via remote control
  • Portable and light weighted
  • Quick and agile
  • Versatile

Technical Specifications

  • Macrotexture: vertical resolution: 2 µm
  • Horizontal resolution: 0,1 mm
  • Unevenness and slope inclination: <0,05 ° in the travel and transverse directions
  • Measuring speed: 2 km/h (walking speed)
  • Dimensions: 280 mm x 270 mm x 170 mm (LxWxH)
  • Weight: 4 kg

Additional pages