A large-scaled research project titled "Intelligent Excavating System (IES)" sponsored by Korean government has launched in 2006. An issue of real-time 3D terrain modeling has become a crucial point for successful implementation of IES due to many application limitations of state-of-the-art techniques developed in various high-technology fields. Many feasible technologies such as laser scanning, structured lighting and so on were widely reviewed by professionals and researchers for one year. Various efforts such as literature reviews, interviews, and indoor experiments make us select a structural light technique and stereo vision technique as appropriate techniques for accomplishment of real-time 3D terrain modeling. It, however, revealed that off-the-shelf products of structural light and stereo-vision technique had many technical problems which should be resolved for practical applications in IES. This study introduces diverse methods modifying off-the-shelf package of the structural light method, one of feasible techniques and eventually allowing this technique to be successfully utilized for achieving fundamental research goals. This study also presents many efforts to resolve practical difficulties of this technique considering basic characteristics of excavating operations and particular environment of construction sites. Findings showed in this study would be beneficial for other researchers to conduct new researches for application of vision techniques to construction fields by provision of detail issues about practical application and diverse practical methods as solutions overcoming these issues.
This research was supported by a grant from the research titled "Development of Intelligent Excavating System", a part of Construction Technology Innovation Program (CSTI) by Ministry of Land Transport and Maritime Affairs of Korean Government.