MOBILE POTHOLE DETECTION SYSTEM AND METHOD

• US 20140355839A1
• Filed: 06/03/2013
• Published: 12/04/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Booz-Allen Hamilton
• Original Assignee: BOOZ Allen & Hamilton Incorporated (BOOZ Allen Hamilton Holding Corporation)
• Inventors: BRIDGERS, James, Chiang, Tony
• Granted Patent: US 9,365,217 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 382/108
• CPC Class Codes: B60W 40/06 Road conditions
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/00 Investigating or analysing materials by the use of optical means, i.e. using sub-millimetre waves, infrared, visible or ultraviolet light G01N3/00 - G01N19/00 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2223/614 road surface
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20064 Wavelet transform [DWT]
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30132 Masonry; Concrete
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30184 Infrastructure
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30256 Lane; Road marking
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0004 Industrial image inspection

Abstract

An exemplary apparatus and associated method are disclosed for analyzing surface degradation. The apparatus can include a sensor configured to acquire images of a surface; and a processing device configured to correlate the acquired images to a geo-coordinate, to extract at least one property of a surface abnormality identified in at least one of the acquired images, and to generate trend data based on changes over time in the at least one property of the surface abnormality identified in the images, which are correlated to a common geo-coordinate.

Claims

1. A system for analyzing a surface subject to degradation, comprising:

a sensor configured to acquire at least one image of a surface;

a first processing device configured to associate a time stamp and geo-coordinate data with each acquired image to identify when a surface abnormality is present in the at least one acquired image, and to select at least one of the acquired images which shows the surface abnormality; and

a second processing device configured to extract at least one property of the surface abnormality identified in the at least one selected image, to store data representing the extracted property in a database, and to generate trend data of the surface by analyzing surface degradation over time based on the at least one property extracted from plural images correlated to a common geo-coordinate.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the sensor comprises:

at least one of a camera or accelerometer.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein a resolution of the camera is selected as a function of a processing speed of the processor.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first processing device includes:

a GPS module configured to tag each acquired image with the time stamp and geo-coordinate data; and

a processor configured to extract at least one feature from the acquired images, determine whether the extracted features identify an abnormality in the surface, and select at least one of the acquired images based on the determination; and

a communication interface configured to transfer selected images to the second processing device.

5. The system of claim 4, wherein the communication interface comprise:

at least one of a network card and a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the second processing device is configured to extract features from the acquired images using a wavelet transform.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the second processing device is configured to identify the surface abnormality based on the extracted features.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the second processing device is configured to determine dimensions of the surface abnormality.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the second processing device comprises:

a communication interface and is configured to receive image data from an image capturing device via the communication interface.

10. The system of claim 6, wherein the second processing device is configured to correlate at least two of the acquired images to the common geo-coordinate.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the second processing device is configured to extract the at least one property of the surface abnormality from the acquired images of the common geo-coordinate using a wavelet transform.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the second processing device is configured to identify the surface abnormality at the common geo-coordinate based on the at least one extracted property.

13. The system of claim 11, wherein the second processing device is configured to generate trend data of the surface abnormality at the common geo-coordinate based on the at least one extracted property.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the second processing device is configured to generate trend data of the surface abnormality at the common geo-coordinate based on the at least one extracted property and existing surface condition.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the surface condition includes at least one of static and dynamic properties.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the second processing device is configured to determine at least one of an optimal material and an optimal technique for use in repairing the surface abnormality from the trend data.

17. The system of claim 4, wherein at least the GPS module, the processor, and the network interface are mounted in a housing.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the housing is configured to be mounted on a vehicle.

19. An apparatus for analyzing surface degradation, comprising:

a sensor configured to acquire images of a surface; and

a processing device configured to correlate the acquired images to a geo-coordinate, to extract at least one property of a surface abnormality identified in at least one of the acquired images, and to generate trend data based on changes over time in the at least one property of the surface abnormality identified in the images, which are correlated to a common geo-coordinate.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, comprising:

a GPS module configured to tag each acquired image with a time stamp and geo-coordinate data; and

a storage device configured to store the extracted data and the trend data.

21. The apparatus of claim 20, comprising:

a network card configured to transfer at least one of the extracted data and the trend data to an external device.

22. A method of identifying surface degradation, comprising:

acquiring images of a surface from a sensor;

associating the acquired images with geo-coordinate data;

processing the acquired images to identify an abnormality in the surface and extract at least one property of the surface abnormality; and

generating trend data on a selected abnormality by analyzing changes over time in the at least one property extracted from images correlated to a common geo-coordinate.

23. The method of claim 22, comprising:

associating a time stamp with each image.

24. The method of claim 22, comprising:

formatting the selected images for transmission over a wireless network.

25. The method of claim 24, comprising:

acquiring the image data from a sensor.

26. The method of claim 22, comprising:

generating trend data of the surface abnormality at the common geo-coordinate based on the at least one extracted property and existing surface condition.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the surface condition includes at least one of a static and a dynamic property.

28. The method of claim 27, comprising:

determining at least one of an optimal material and an optimal technique for use in repairing the surface abnormality from the trend data.

29. The method of claim 22, comprising:

determining at least one of an optimal material and an optimal technique for use in repairing the surface abnormality from the trend data.

30. A non-transitory computer readable medium having programming code recorded thereon such that when placed in communicable contact with a processor, the processor executes a method of measuring surface degradation which method comprises:

acquiring at least one image of a surface;

associating the at least one acquired image with geo-coordinate data;

processing the at least one acquired image to identify an abnormality in the surface and to extract at least one property of the surface abnormality identified in the at least one acquired image; and

generating trend data on the surface abnormality by analyzing surface degradation over time based on the at least one property extracted from plural images correlated to a common geo-coordinate.