Current accelerometer-established inertial profiling reference (AEIPR) methods are reviewed, and their computation methods are evaluated. Four AEIPR were reviewed and computer-simulated to test profile computation. These methods are installed in the K J Law Profilometer, the Swedish Road and Traffic Research Institute's (VTI) Laser Road Surface Tester, the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute/FHWA Road Profiling (PRORUT) system, and the Pennsylvania Transportation Institute profiling vehicle. The South Dakota system was not included when this work started, but it uses a computationmethod similar to the VTI and PRORUT methods. Seven tests were developed to examine the profiling methods from many angles: amplitude errors, wavelength response, phase shift, transient response, roughness errors, profile reproduction, and computational time
Abstract