Terrestrial Scanning / Architecture, Infrastructure & Construction

Richard Ladstädter, Stephan Schraml, Nikolaus Studnicka: Multi-Sensor Visibility Study based on a Hot Smoke Experiment in a Tunnel 06.03.2024

Emergency situations in tunnels require rescue teams supported by unmanned ground vehicels (UGV) to operate also in smoked tunnel areas. Such UGVs are equipped with various sensors (e.g. cameras, LiDAR or RADAR) to be able to navigate and quickly provide a common operational picture. Within the research project ROBO-MOLE experiments have been performed at the Zentrum am Berg at the Styrian Erzberg to directly compare the visibility range of RGB and thermal camera, LiDAR and RADAR in a hot smoke scenario.

The experiment shows that the rapidly rising smoke drastically reduces the visibility range of the RGB camera (VIVOTEK IB9381-HT V-Series) and of the RIEGL VZ-400i Terrestrial Laser Scanner within minutes or even seconds compared to the RADAR (INRAS RadarLog5) and the Thermal Camera (Optris PI 640i3). However, the results indicate that all sensors show individual strengths in practical use. The RIEGL VZ-400i Terrestrial Laser Scanner in particular shows its advantage in its multi-target capability as multiple echoes can be received per transmitted laser pulse.

The full article is published on the MILAK platform, and can be found here.