Development of a Road/Terrain Characterization Rating Totol

The U.S. Anny currently uses the root mean square of elevation and power spectral density to characterize road/terrain (off-road) roughness for durability. This paper describes research aimed toward improving these metrics. One method currently under consideration involves running a relatively simple, yet vehicle class specific, model over a given terrain and using predicted vehicle response(s) to classify or characterize the terrain. A precedent for this concept is the International Roughness Index or IRI, used in the highway industry to rate road roughness. This paper will provide a summary of the research done to date on this problem.