Reflective Measurement Systems has launched the RetroTek-D, a full-lane width RL assessment vehicle-mounted retroreflectometer that can operate day or night.
It is also certified to EN1436, ASTM E 1710 industry standards, says the company.
Conforming to 30m geometry, as a front-mounted mobile road marking retroreflectometer, the RetroTek-D uses machine vision and LED projector technology combined with GPS tracking reporting software.
The independent certification to EN1436, ASTM E1710 confirmed the accuracy of the measurement of the coefficient of retroreflected luminance (RL) of road markings at traffic speed irrespective of lighting conditions day or night, said Joe Turley, chief executive of Reflective Measurement Systems.
“The industry now has a system that can accurately survey the retroreflectivity of road lines to the left and right of the survey vehicle [such as…] directional arrows, symbols and warnings on the road surface and also the absence and presence of reflective pavement markers,” said Turley.
The system also records the day contrast ratio. The QuickView-Pro Reporting software system can record the road asset, geographically tag its location and provide video evidence of the condition at the same viewpoint of the readings, at 30-m geometry.
The RetroTek-D measurements were very closely aligned to a handheld retroreflectometer, with a mean absolute deviation of just 2.2% between both sets of measurements and no comparative values greater than +/- 7.5% as required by BASt – German Federal Highway Research Institute. Samples were measured in different ambient brightness and at different locations.
When averaged over all samples, both the RetroTek-D & Delta LTL-XL hand-held retroreflectometer measuring systems provide nearly identical measured values. This indicates a very good conformity, as described in a report by Hans-Hubert Meseberg, vice-chairman of the German association StrAus-Zert, a government-approved evaluator of equipment for use on German roads.
Meseberg included in the certification that the performance of the RetroTek-D was not affected by the different vehicle velocity at which the measurements were taken or by the differences in lighting conditions ranging from very bright sunlight, twilight to darkness.
The RetroTek-D Mobile Pavement Retroreflectometer is “deemed well suitable for dynamic measurement of the coefficient of retroreflected luminance RL of road markings according to … European Standard EN1436 and ASTM E 1710 and delivers the same results as a portable hand-held reflectometer [while being] independent of measuring speed [and] the kind or form of the road marking”.
The days of closing roads for surveys or inefficiently surveying single lines with multiple journeys to survey a single carriageway are over, said Turley. “The potential savings on operator hours and fuel consumption is enormous, which is also good news for the environment.”
For further information, visit www.reflective-systems.com
