Remote Sensing with Mobile LiDAR and Imaging Sensors for Railroad Bridge Inspections

TRB's Rail Safety Innovations Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Safety Project 26: Remote Sensing with Mobile LiDAR and Imaging Sensors for Railroad Bridge Inspections describes results from a research effort to investigate the applicability of two remote sensing approaches–one based on Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and the other one on imaging sensors—to help detect concrete cracks and displacement of bridge components. The report explores the development and evaluation of prototype image processing algorithms for concrete crack detection and classification, three-dimensional (3D) models from LiDAR data to identify signs of bridge component displacements, and effects to the image processing algorithms and 3D models with data collected using an unmanned aerial system (UAS).