Method and apparatus for measuring road surface conditions
First Claim
1. A method of measuring conditions of a road surface comprising:
- transmitting an optical signal from a fiber optic transmitter inside a sensor head through a medium outside the fiber optic transmitter adjacent the road surface, said sensor head being aligned substantially flush with the road surface;
receiving reflection and back scatter of the optical signal moving from a surface of and through the medium spaced apart from the road surface through the medium by a plurality of fiber optic receivers inside said sensor head; and
calculating at least one of weather and driving conditions prevailing on the road surface from the reflected and back scatter optical signal received from said plurality of fiber optic receivers.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for measuring road surface conditions. In the method of measuring road surface conditions, the conditions prevailing on the surface of a road are measured by a sensor head mounted in the pavement of the road with the top surface of the sensor head aligned substantially flush with the pavement of the road. According to the invention, an optical signal is impinged from below the road to the top surface of the road, the reflection/backscatter of the optical signal is measured inside the pavement layer of the road, and weather/driving conditions prevailing on the road top surface are determined from the reflected and backscattered signal values.
97 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A method of measuring conditions of a road surface comprising:
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transmitting an optical signal from a fiber optic transmitter inside a sensor head through a medium outside the fiber optic transmitter adjacent the road surface, said sensor head being aligned substantially flush with the road surface; receiving reflection and back scatter of the optical signal moving from a surface of and through the medium spaced apart from the road surface through the medium by a plurality of fiber optic receivers inside said sensor head; and calculating at least one of weather and driving conditions prevailing on the road surface from the reflected and back scatter optical signal received from said plurality of fiber optic receivers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. An apparatus for measuring the conditions of a road surface, said apparatus comprising:
a sensor head mounted in pavement material beneath the road surface with a surface of the sensor head aligned substantially flush with the road surface, said sensor head includes at least one fiber-optic transmitter emitting an optical signal from below the road surface and through a medium adjacent to the road surface, the medium including a surface spaced apart from the road surface, said sensor head further includes at least two fiber-optic receivers receiving the optical signal reflected or back scattered from the surface of the medium spaced apart from the road surface. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
Specification