Automatic Crack Detection in Built Infrastructure Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles

This paper addresses the problem of crack detection which is essential for health monitoring of built infrastructure. Our approach includes two stages, data collection using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and crack detection using histogram analysis. For the data collection, a 3D model of the structure is first created by using laser scanners. Based on the model, geometric properties are extracted to generate way points necessary for navigating the UAV to take images of the structure. Then, our next step is to stick together those obtained images from the overlapped field of view. The resulting image is then clustered by histogram analysis and peak detection. Potential cracks are finally identified by using locally adaptive thresholds. The whole process is automatically carried out so that the inspection time is significantly improved while safety hazards can be minimised. A prototypical system has been developed for evaluation and experimental results are included.Comment: In proceeding of The 34th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC), pp. 823-829, Taipei, Taiwan, 201

Automatic Detection of Road Cracks using EfficientNet with Residual U-Net-based Segmentation and YOLOv5-based Detection

The main factor affecting road performance is pavement damage. One of the difficulties in maintaining roads is pavement cracking. Credible and reliable inspection of heritage structural health relies heavily on crack detection on road surfaces. To achieve intelligent operation and maintenance, intelligent crack detection is essential to traffic safety. The detection of road pavement cracks using computer vision has gained popularity in recent years. Recent technological breakthroughs in general deep learning algorithms have resulted in improved results in the discipline of crack detection. In this paper, two techniques for object identification and segmentation are proposed. The EfficientNet with residual U-Net technique is suggested for segmentation, while the YOLO v5 algorithm is offered for crack detection. To correctly separate the pavement cracks, a crack segmentation network is used. Road crack identification and segmentation accuracy were enhanced by optimising the model's hyperparameters and increasing the feature extraction structure. The suggested algorithm's performance is compared to state-of-the-art algorithms. The suggested work achieves 99.35% accuracy

An Exploration of Recent Intelligent Image Analysis Techniques for Visual Pavement Surface Condition Assessment.

Road pavement condition assessment is essential for maintenance, asset management, and budgeting for pavement infrastructure. Countries allocate a substantial annual budget to maintain and improve local, regional, and national highways. Pavement condition is assessed by measuring several pavement characteristics such as roughness, surface skid resistance, pavement strength, deflection, and visual surface distresses. Visual inspection identifies and quantifies surface distresses, and the condition is assessed using standard rating scales. This paper critically analyzes the research trends in the academic literature, professional practices and current commercial solutions for surface condition ratings by civil authorities. We observe that various surface condition rating systems exist, and each uses its own defined subset of pavement characteristics to evaluate pavement conditions. It is noted that automated visual sensing systems using intelligent algorithms can help reduce the cost and time required for assessing the condition of pavement infrastructure, especially for local and regional road networks. However, environmental factors, pavement types, and image collection devices are significant in this domain and lead to challenging variations. Commercial solutions for automatic pavement assessment with certain limitations exist. The topic is also a focus of academic research. More recently, academic research has pivoted toward deep learning, given that image data is now available in some form. However, research to automate pavement distress assessment often focuses on the regional pavement condition assessment standard that a country or state follows. We observe that the criteria a region adopts to make the evaluation depends on factors such as pavement construction type, type of road network in the area, flow and traffic, environmental conditions, and region\u27s economic situation. We summarized a list of publicly available datasets for distress detection and pavement condition assessment. We listed approaches focusing on crack segmentation and methods concentrating on distress detection and identification using object detection and classification. We segregated the recent academic literature in terms of the camera\u27s view and the dataset used, the year and country in which the work was published, the F1 score, and the architecture type. It is observed that the literature tends to focus more on distress identification ( presence/absence detection) but less on distress quantification, which is essential for developing approaches for automated pavement rating

A deep learning approach to crack detection on road surfaces

Currently, modern achievements in the field of deep learning are increasingly being applied in practice. One of the practical uses of deep learning is to detect cracks on the surface of the roadway. The destruction of the roadway is the result of various factors: for example, the use of low-quality material, non-compliance with the standards of laying asphalt, external physical impact, etc. Detection of these damages in automatic mode with high speed and accuracy is an important and complex task. An effective solution to this problem can reduce the time of services that carry out the detection of damage and also increase the safety of road users. The main challenge for automatically detecting such damage, in most cases, is the complex structure of the roadway. To accurately detect this damage, we use U-Net. After that we improve the binary map with localized cracks from the U-Net neural network, using the morphological filtering. This solution allows localizing cracks with higher accuracy in comparison with traditional methods crack detection, as well as modern methods of deep learning. All experiments were performed using the publicly available CRACK500 dataset with examples of cracks and their binary maps

Automatic Classification and Quantification of Basic Distresses on Urban Flexible Pavement through Convolutional Neural Networks

[EN] Pavement condition assessment is a critical step in road pavement management. In contrast to the automatic and objective methods used for rural roads, the most commonly used method in urban areas is the development of visual surveys usually filled out by technicians that leads to a subjective pavement assessment. While most previous studies on automatic identification of distresses focused on crack detection, this research aims not only to cover the identification and classification of multiple urban flexible pavement distresses (longitudinal and transverse cracking, alligator cracking, raveling, potholes, and patching), but also to quantify them through the application of Convolutional Neural Networks. Additionally, this study also proposes a methodology for an automatic pavement assessment considering the different stages developed in this research. This methodology allows for a more efficient and reliable pavement assessment, minimizing the cost and time required by the current visual surveys.The study presented in this paper is part of the research project titled SIMEPU Sistema Integral de Mantenimiento Eficiente de Pavimentos Urbanos, funded by the Spanish Ministries of Science and Innovation and Universities, as well as the European Regional Development Fund under Grant No. RTC-2017-6148-7. The authors also acknowledge the support of partner companies Pavasal Empresa Constructora, S.A. and CPS Infraestructuras, Movilidad y Medio Ambiente, S.L. and the Valencia City Council.Llopis-Castelló, D.; Paredes Palacios, R.; Parreño-Lara, M.; García-Segura, T.; Pellicer, E. (2021). Automatic Classification and Quantification of Basic Distresses on Urban Flexible Pavement through Convolutional Neural Networks. Journal of Transportation Engineering, Part B: Pavements. 147(4):1-8. https://doi.org/10.1061/JPEODX.000032118147