Research on measurement methods and measurement errors by SLAM type measurement unit in bridge maintenance

Abstract

Currently, bridges across Japan are seriously aging, and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) is promoting continuous and efficient maintenance of bridges. Therefore, it is expected that hand-held LiDAR and Web camera equipped with SLAM technology will be utilized to generate point cloud data. Therefore, the authors developed a prototype SLAM-type measurement unit equipped with a simple LiDAR and a web camera, and verified whether it can be used for maintenance management. As a result, it was found that the obtained point cloud data contains noise including errors, and it is difficult to accurately determine the dimensions of bridge sections. Therefore, this study investigates the factors that cause errors during measurement by the measuring unit and generation of point cloud data, and summarizes the requirements for a method suitable for bridge maintenance and management.