Topcon Positioning Group has announced the SmoothRide system, a “vehicle-mounted resurfacing solution for paving and milling projects.” The system combines a number of Topcon technologies “to deliver the smoothest surface possible, while efficiently managing the quantity of material for each project.”
The first step is using the RD-M1 vehicle-mounted LiDAR scanner, which faces downward to collect data on road condition. The scanner includes an integrated GNSS receiver and IMU, which add to the accuracy of the data that you can capture while traveling at normal highway speeds.
Topcon promises that the RD-M1 scanner will collect miles of road in a short period of time without requiring you to close lanes or perform re-work. As a result, it reduces the overall cost of gathering surface data, ensures the safety of field workers, and helps to “dramatically improve speed and accuracy throughout your bidding process.”
Murray Lodge, senior vice president and general manager of the Construction Business Unit said in a prepared statement, “In most situations, it’s inconvenient or impossible to shut down a road and map its surface using traditional survey methods. We’ve developed a way to scan roads at highway speeds with no need for lane closures, crash trucks, escorts or any other typical road survey collection obstacles. With the new RD-M1 scanning unit, the system maps the existing surface elevations — with many more points captured versus what can be expected with traditional tools — providing more accurate data needed to confidently estimate materials, as well as form the basis of the final design surface.”
After gathering the road information, users bring the data into the solution’s software, MAGNET Office Site with Resurfacing, which creates a high-res model of the mat required for resurfacing the road.
In turn, that information is sent to a paving or milling machine, which lays the mat, matching the thickness to the road.
