Road Surface Crack Detection using a Light Field Camera

During traditional road surveys, inspectors capture images of pavement surface using cameras that produce 2D images, which can then be automatically processed to get a road surface condition assessment. This paper proposes a novel crack detection system that uses a light field imaging sensor, notably the Lytro Illum camera, instead of a conventional 2D camera, to capture road surface light field images. Light field images capture the light rays originating from different directions, thus providing a richer representation of the observed scene. The proposed system explores the disparity information, which can be computed from the light field, to obtain information about cracks observable in the pavement images. A simple processing system is considered, to show the potential use of this type of sensors for crack detection. Encouraging experimental crack detection results are presented based on a set of road pavement light field images captured over different pavement surface textures. A performance comparison with a state-of-the-art 2D image crack detection system is included, confirming the potential of using this type of sensors.