MaNIAC-UAV - a methodology for automatic pavement defects detection using images obtained by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

Abstract

Intelligent Transportation Systems - ITS is a set of integrated technologies (Remote Sensing, Image Processing, Communications Systems and others) that aim to offer services and advanced traffic management for the several transportation modes (road, air and rail). Collect data on the characteristics and conditions of the road surface and keep them update is an important and difficult task that needs to be currently managed in order to reduce accidents and vehicle maintenance costs. Nowadays several roads and highways are paved, but usually there is insufficient updated data about current condition and status. There are different types of pavement defects on the roads and to keep them in good condition they should be constantly monitored and maintained according to pavement management strategy. This paper presents a methodology to obtain, automatically, information about the conditions of the highway asphalt pavement. Data collection was done through remote sensing using an UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) and the image processing and pattern recognition techniques through Geographic Information System.