Global 3D Modeling and its Evaluation for Large-Scale Highway Tunnel using Laser Range Sensor

Precise and accurate 3D model of a road structure is basic information that can be utilized for various purposes, such as safety measures, driving simulation, and reference data for autonomous driving. Generally, the 3D model of a tunnel has been constructed using gyro sensor, however, error accumulation becomes a considerable problem in the case of long tunnels. We tried a method to obtain the most optimal structure of a tunnel by geometric processing: (1) Acquire a set of partial structures by static scanning, and align them by 3D matching using edge feature (2) Fix the absolute position of the data at both ends of the tunnel by GPS and align the rest data again. We modeled the Kanaya Tunnel in Shin-Tomei Expressway, whose length is 4.6 km by this method. The error in lateral direction was up to 0.1% relative to the tunnel length.