POST PROCESSING TECHNIQUES TO CORRECT INERTIAL ERRORS IN HIGH FIDELITY TERRAIN TOPOLOGY MEASUREMENTS

摘要

New issues have surfaced with the emergence of 3D terrain profilers for simulation use and the recent interest by the FHWA to establish reference profiling devices. Massive file sizes can be difficult to manage and, more importantly, data inaccuracies arise from small inertial errors. These faults are most apparent when combining multiple runs of data in the post-processing phase. Techniques for eliminating these inconsistencies vary based on the type of terrain being measured. This work develops two techniques for correcting these inconsistencies. For smooth terrain surface simulations such as racetracks or highways, data can be down sampled through a spatial averaging method to fill gaps and smooth the artificial bumps created by inertial errors. Using spatial averaging on more eventful terrain, however, may attenuate actual features that would excite vibration in a vehicle. In this case, lane overlap can be used to adjust the vertical heights of adjacent lanes. This work develops two post processing techniques to remove small data inconsistencies in 3D terrain data.