Abstract
The author proposes a new approach for bridge crack detection by a 360° camera on top of a drone. Traditionally, bridge inspection is performed manually and although the use of drones has been implemented before, researchers used standard high definition cameras underneath the drone. To make the approach comparable to the conventional approach, two bridges were selected in Germany and inspected for cracks and defects by applying both methods. The author follows an engineering design process and after developing a prototype of the drone with a 360° camera above the body of the drone, the system is built, tested, and the bridges are inspected. First, the critical parts of the bridges are inspected with an off-the-shelf drone with a high definition camera underneath the drone. The results provide a benchmark for comparison. Next, the new approach to bridge inspection by using a 360° camera on top of the drone is tested. The images of the critical parts of the bridge that were taken with the 360° camera on top of the drone are analyzed and compared to the images of the conventional approach with the camera underneath the drone. The results show that a 360° camera can be used for crack and defect detection with similar results to a standard high definition camera. Furthermore, the 360° camera is more suitable for inspecting corners or the ceiling of, e.g., an arch bridge.
Highlights
According to Gkoumas et al [1], there are more than 1234 km of road bridges with a length of over 100 m in Europe
To build a prototype of a drone that is equipped with a 360◦ camera, an engineering design
360◦ camera images ofthe different on top of vehiclecracks
Summary
According to Gkoumas et al [1], there are more than 1234 km of road bridges with a length of over 100 m in Europe. The US Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports 614,386 bridges in the US at the end of 2016 [2]. There is a large number of bridges in use today. Bridges build an integral part of the road infrastructure worldwide and are seen as the most vulnerable element of the road network [3]. Most bridges in Western Europe were built in the aftermath of World War II during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, with a peak in construction activity during the 1970s (for a discussion see [4,5]). Many bridges are 40 to 50 years old
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