Roadway lighting is an integral element of a highway system. Luminaires on roadways provide viewing conditions for drivers and pedestrians during nighttime in order to improve safety. It is time-consuming and labor-intensive to manually measure roadway illuminance at predetermined spots with a handheld illuminance meter. To improve the efficiency of illuminance measurement, a remote-control electrical cart and a drone were utilized to carry an illuminance meter for the measurements. The measurements were performed on the marked grid points along the pavement. To measure the illuminance manually, one person measures illuminance at each grid point with the handheld meter and another person records the illuminance value. To measure the illuminance with the remote-control cart, the illuminance meter is attached to the cart and it measures illuminance values continuously as the cart moves along the grid lines. With the drone, the meter records the illuminance continuously as the drone carries the meter and flies along the grid line. Because the drone can fly at different heights, the measurements can be done at different altitudes. The illuminance measurements using the cart and the drone are described in detail and compared with manual measurements in this paper. It is shown through this study that automated measurements can greatly improve the efficiency of roadway illuminance data measurements.
This work was supported in part by the Joint Transportation Research Program administered by the Indiana Department of Transportation and Purdue University. The authors would like to express their gratitude for Mr. Yi Li's assistance in data collection.