Reflectivity Measurement System Development and Calibration

Abstract

Accurate assessment of road luminance provided by overhead streetlights helps to optimize the visibility of objects on the road and therefore promotes driver safety, while minimizing energy consumption. To calculate road luminance, the road surface reflectivity has to be known. Odyssey Energy Limited has developed a prototype system that has the potential to determine the road reflectivity properties at high speed.

In this thesis, an investigation into the prototype system has been conducted and further enhancement and redesign has been done. A portable on-site road surface reflectivity measurement system that complies with the Commission Internationale de I' Eclairage (CIE) standard was developed. The road test of this new system has been carried out on a series of Hamilton city roads. It proved that the new system is capable of measuring the road surface reflectivity and classifying the road into its appropriate R class according to the CIE standards specified in street lighting design criteria. Later the OEL prototype system was calibrated against the new system to find out the correlation between the two systems.