By Chris Sasser
Texas A&M Transportation Institute
TTI Associate Research
Scientist Surya Congress follows the drone down the runway during testing at McGregor Executive Airport.
Pavement is the most valuable commodity at an airport. Simply put, without a good landing surface, airplanes cannot safely operate, and that may result in decreased airport traffic.
TxDOT’s Aviation Division (AVN) places a high priority on keeping a database of airport pavement conditions. Under an interagency contract through the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI), airport pavements are inspected every few years and assigned a condition rating that assists planners in programming capital improvement grants.
Recently, researchers at TTI tested an alternate way of assessing pavement conditions at McGregor Executive Airport using a drone and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) equipment.
“Accurate, timely assessments of airfield pavements are of utmost importance to our system airports,” said AVN Director of Planning Jim Halley. “Typically, we have TTI come out and do visual inspections of the pavements, and they do an excellent job. I asked them to test the feasibility of using alternate assessment methods so that we may gather additional data.”
TTI Associate Research Scientist Surya Congress coordinated the drone testing at the airport with TTI pavement specialist Clayton Treybig, who was conducting a visual assessment. The drone hovered 50 feet above the pavement and Congress followed it down the runway conducting several passes. The team also inspected the taxiways and airfield aprons.
Using LIDAR, TTI research staff gathered extensive geometric data on the airport’s pavements, including cross slopes, super elevations, front slope steepness and drainage areas. The technology can also determine the depth of a roadside ditch and its offset related to the nearby pavement structure. All data can be collected at highway speeds. The technology is a single boom-mounted laser device mounted 10 feet in the air. It also uses GPS and an inertial measurement unit plus a video camera.
“Certainly, more is better in terms of gathering information about pavement condition,” noted TTI Senior Research Scientist Jeff Borowiec. “The next steps are to determine the feasibility of using these alternate technologies for widespread use, or in specific cases where a visual inspection may need further analysis.”
“I appreciated everyone who came out to McGregor to conduct and observe the testing,” said AVN Division Director Dan Harmon. “We got more out of it than planned and the analysis and follow up discussion will open up even more possibilities.”