Optical Measurement of Penetration Resistance, and Automatic Determination of Rating Cone Index

The Department of Defense currently administers 25 million acres of land. To expedite and reliably estimate mission impacts on this huge territory, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is soliciting an innovative portable device for estimating site conditions in terms of Erosion Potential/Training Capacity/Trafficability (EPTCT). All current methods are based on manual collection of cone penetrometer data, which is neither automatic nor rapid and does not provide integrated terrain trafficability data. To eliminate this obstacle, Physical Optics Corporation (POC) has developed a novel device for Optical Measurement Of soil Penetration Resistance (OMOPR) for automatic determination of rating cone index in off-road soil. In Phase I POC has developed and demonstrated a prototype OMOPR mounted on a wheeled platform. The prototype was tested under field conditions at three sites with different types of soil. Testing was supported by cone index measurements with a cone penetrometer, and demonstrated significant correlation between optical and conventional measurements in bare soils. In Phase II POC will extend OMOPR functionality by measuring additional parameters such as soil roughness and vegetation density and stress. The Phase II prototype will be optimized for mounting on off-road vehicles, and will be tested on designated military ranges. The success of this project will ensure its fast deployment in U.S. Army training areas under the ITAM program.