Adaptation of Drone Measurement Techniques to Roundabouts and Innovative Intersections
ABSTRACT: With the advancement in drone data collection and computer-vision techniques, both inexpensive high-resolution video drones and commercial services that offer automatic drone video analysis have become accessible to most transportation agencies. Despite the great potential of using drone video data for the collection of traffic operational and safety related parameters, the absence of user-friendly tools, standard procedures, and training materials remain important barriers to the implementation among state DOTs and other transportation agencies. Therefore, this project sought to accelerate knowledge transfer by producing documentation of drone data collection and analysis methods adopted in previous research studies in the form of standard operating procedures and a series of training resources, supplemented by additional drone video data collected from various types of innovative intersections. In addition, a regional data needs survey was conducted among selected state DOTs to understand their most desired data products, and a real-world case study of truck turning template analysis was carried out to demonstrate one non-traditional drone application.