IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 65, NO.
3, MARCH 2016 583
Automatic Crack Detection and Measurement
Based on Image Analysis
Romulo Gonçalves Lins and Sidney N. Givigi, Senior Member, IEEE
Abstract— Crack detection and measurement in civil structures
has been a constant field of research. Conventionally, a technician
is responsible to detect and measure cracks in the field. In this
paper, a system based on machine vision concepts has been
developed with the goal to automate the crack measurement
process. Using this method with only a single camera installed in a
truck or even in a robot, a sequence of images is processed and the
crack dimensions are estimated. The experimental results validate
the application of the proposed method for real structures.
Index Terms— Automation, image analysis, machine vision,
maintenance, particle filter, structural engineering.
I. I NTRODUCTION
C RACK detection and measurement is an essential task to
assess civil structures. Civil infrastructure systems rep-
resent a significant fraction of global assets, and due to many
factors, cracks will appear in the surface of these structures.
These cracks not only affect the visual appearance of the
structures but also lead to steel corrosion, which accelerates
concrete aging affecting the normal use of these structures
and leading to underuse of the infrastructure and a shorter life
span. Besides this, many structures have collapsed abruptly
due to these effects, for example, the Minneapolis (USA)
bridge collapse in 2007, the Tuo River bridge collapse in
Sichuan province (China) in 2007, and the Pan River bridge
collapse in China in 2013. These accidents have highlighted
the tragical results of structural failures and the importance of
periodical structural maintenance.
In order to prevent disasters, the structures can be repaired
using the technique of concrete structure reinforcement.
Basically, this method consists in recognizing defects in the
structure and reinforcing it using materials such as carbon
fiber or epoxy [1]. Out of the many methods developed to
detect and measure cracks, three techniques have emerged in
the literature: human inspection, in which an operator inspects
the structure and measures an identified crack using tradi-
tional measurement systems; microscopic inspection of cracks
using special tools; and machine vision inspection, in which
cracks are identified and measured automatically by image
analysis [2]. The first two methods are performed manually
Manuscript received June 1, 2015; revised October 29, 2015; accepted
October 31, 2015. Date of publication January 8, 2016; date of current version
February 5, 2016. The Associate Editor coordinating the review process was
Dr. Amitava Chatterjee.
The authors are with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engi-
neering, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, ON K7K 7B4, Canada
(e-mail: romulo.lins@rmc.ca; sidney.givigi@rmc.ca).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available
online at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIM.2015.2509278
0018-9197 © 2016 Canadian Crown Copyright
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on May 04,2023 at 11:26:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
and, in addition, sometimes need special equipment to improve
the accuracy of the measurement, which may be time consum-
ing and strenuous, consequently lowering their accuracy. Due
to these facts, their automated use is not technically viable.
In this paper, the goal is to create a method able to detect and
measure cracks using only images acquired by a camera. The
proposed approach combines techniques of statistical filtering
(particle filters) to recognize cracks automatically in images
and techniques of machine vision to measure the crack width
and length.
The main contribution and novelty of the proposed approach
lies in the use of only a single camera to identify and
measure cracks online and in real time. Moreover, the use
of a particle filter for the identification of the crack introduces
an improvement over previous methods. For the experiments
described in this paper, a computer with Reduced instruction
set computing technology was used. However, implementation
in a digital signal processor (DSP) or a field-programmable
gate array (FPGA) is possible with many advantages over a
software program operating on a conventional computer. For
instance, the robustness, time of processing, and reliability
may be considerably improved [3].
In order to test the proposed methodology in this paper,
several experiments were conducted in a controlled environ-
ment and their results were compared with other methods.
In addition, experiments with real structures were conducted
to validate the method.
This paper begins by describing the related works in
Section II. Section III discusses the proposed architecture,
the problem formulation, and the proposed algorithms. The
experimental results and analysis are provided in Section IV.
Finally, Section V presents the conclusion.
II. R ELATED W ORK
In the past few years, many techniques to detect and mea-
sure cracks automatically have been studied. These techniques
are used to assess and monitor cracks in order to provide
safety for the users as well as to reduce the cost of main-
tenance. Among these proposed techniques, approaches based
on image analysis, neural networks, and pattern recognition
have emerged as the most efficient ones.
For example, local binary pattern, a technique based on the
gray-scale and rotation invariant operator from images has
been used for crack detection. This method is widely used
for texture classification [4]. Another similar method is based
on classifying local neighbors into smooth and rough areas
of an image. Then the areas with coarse texture are further
 584 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 65, NO. 3, MARCH 2016
explored. Moreover, artificial neural networks and wavelet
transformation for pavement distress image compression noise
reduction [5] can be used when coupled with the same
technique.
A study called bidirectional empirical mode decomposi-
tion (BEMD) has been conducted for crack edge detection.
Different techniques for edge detection such as Canny filter
and Sobel methods have been compared in the BEMD study.
The final conclusion is that different edge detection techniques
are more efficient for different types of surfaces. For instance,
it was reported that the Canny filter is more efficient to detect
cracks on asphaltic concrete, while Sobel methods works better
for Portland cement concrete [6].
Studies have been conducted using multifrequency [7],
wherein a fractional differentiation is used for high, medium,
and low frequencies. Then, a wavelet transform is used for
noise reduction and a difference histogram method is applied
to detect cracks on pavement. Finally, from the histogram, the
image can be segmented and the crack is recognized [8].
Pattern recognition is another approach used to detect and
to classify cracks. To handle the high amount of input data, an
image database was split into subsets. The system was then
trained by human experts who manually selected the crack
regions for training. Three parametric and three nonparametric
supervised classification strategies were introduced to detect
the cracks. The cracks were then classified as longitudinal,
transversal, and mixed by exploring the 2-D feature space [9].
III. P ROBLEM F ORMULATION
In Section III-A, an explanation about the proposed archi-
tecture is provided. Section III-B discusses the crack detection
algorithm based on particle filter. Finally, Section III-C intro-
duces the crack measurement algorithm to estimate width and
length of a crack using only a single image.
A. Architecture of the Proposed System
The use of cameras as the main sensor has several advan-
tages over traditional techniques [10]. However, a correct setup
of the components that make up the system is important to
ensure the accuracy of measurements in the field.
Fig. 1 shows the block diagram of the crack measurement
system proposed. The system is composed of an IP camera
to acquire images from the environment, a processing device
to process the crack detection and the crack measurement
algorithms, a screen to show the results in real time, a remote
station to receive data from the processing device through
a communication channel, and a database used to create a
measurement history. Although the database appears as part of
the architecture, it will not be used for comparison purposes
as our focus is on the instrumentation and measurement. The
database is used to keep the history of the state of the cracks
for maintenance purposes.
B. Crack Detection Algorithm
The particle filter proposed to recognize cracks is based on
a color model context. Color models describe different aspects
of an image. Two models have emerged in the literature:
red, green, and blue (RGB) and hue–saturation–value (HSV).
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on May 04,2023 at 11:26:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
1) RGB is a colorspace originated from cathode ray tube
display application, when it was convenient to describe
color as a combination of three colored rays (RGB). It is
one of the most widely used colorspaces for processing
and storing of digital images [11].
2) HSV colorspace was introduced when there was a need
for the user to specify color properties numerically.
It describes color with intuitive values, based on the
artist’s idea of tint, saturation, and tone. Hue defines
the dominant color (such as red, green, purple, and
yellow) of an area, saturation measures its colorfulness
in proportion to its brightness, and the value is related
to the color luminance [12].
A digital image is represented by a matrix of n rows and m
columns, where the number of columns represents the image
width and the number of rows represents the image height.
Moreover, each element (Px y ) = [R, G, B]T of the matrix is
the color intensity of the pixel at column x and row y of the
image.
The color distribution is discretized into m b. In the pro-
posed approach, the histogram is calculated in RGB standard
space using (8 × 8 × 8) b to represent the color spectrum, and
mathematically, the color histogram is represented by
⎡ ⎤
R
h(rgb) = C ⎣G ⎦ (1)
B
that assigns the color at location (Px y ) corresponding to a
matrix element (pixel).
Color feature extraction is the technique to search for a
specified color composition in an image in comparison with
a standard query color. Color feature extraction is based
on the observation of how often a color is used to encode
functionality: grass is green, sky is blue, and so on [13].
Mapping the colors in an image L into a discrete color space
containing a color h(rgb), each matrix element histogram
h(Px y ) can be compared with the standard histogram h(rgb)
by Euclidean distance. Mathematically, this comparison is
Di = h(rgb) − h(Px y ) (2)
where nm is the matrix element position in an image L.
After obtaining the distances of each matrix element (Px y ),
weights are assigned to each particle using Gaussian
distribution
 
1 Di2
Wi = √ exp − 2 (3)
2πσ 2σ
where σ is the variance for the random distribution. In our
case, it represents the color spread around a crack and it ranges
from [−2, 2].
Particle filtering was originally developed to track objects
in clutter. The state of a tracked object is described by the
vector X t , while the vector Z t denotes all the observations
{z 1 , . . . , z t } up to time t [14]. Particle filters are often used
when the posterior density p(X t |Z t ) and the observation
density p(zt |X t ) are non-Gaussian.
The key idea of particle filtering is to approximate
the probability distribution by a weighted sample set
 LINS AND GIVIGI: AUTOMATIC CRACK DETECTION AND MEASUREMENT BASED ON IMAGE ANALYSIS
Fig. 1. Block diagram of the crack measurement system proposed.
Algorithm 1 Crack Detection Algorithm
Input: Images from cameras
Output: Cracks recognized on screen ⎡ ⎤
R
1: Target color identification using the h(rgb) = C ⎣G ⎦
B
2: Initialize the particle filter with N = 4000
3: Input the color model and measurement
4: Re-sample the weight π (n) of each particle according a
likelihood model
5: Position estimation of the target color multiplying the

N
particle’s position with their respective weight E = Wi x i
i=1
6: Show the particles detected on a computer screen
7: Record the pixel location to apply them into Crack
Measurement Algorithm
S = {(s(n) , π (n) )|n = 1. . .N}, where N is the number of
particles used. Each sample s represents one hypothetical
state of the object, with a corresponding discrete sampling
probability π and n = 1, . . . , N, where
N
π (n) = 1.
n=1
The evolution of the sample set is described by propagating
each sample according to a system model. Each element of the
set is then weighted in terms of observations and N samples
are drawn with replacement, by choosing a particular sample
(n)
probability π (n) = p(zt |X t = st ). The mean state of an
object is estimated at each time step as
N
E[S] = π (n) s (n) .
n=1
Algorithm 1 shows the sequence needed to implement
the crack detection algorithm. The number of particles used
is 4000. This number was chosen as a tradeoff between quality
and processing speed. In our experiments, 4000 is adequate to
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on May 04,2023 at 11:26:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
585
TABLE I
C RACK C LASSIFICATION IN A CCORDANCE
W ITH I TS G EOMETRICAL F ORM
map all the cracks. However, if larger cracks are expected, the
designer could increase this number.
C. Crack Measurement Algorithm
The proposed method to estimate the width and length
of a crack from digital images uses the pixel resolution
multiplied by the number of pixels detected by the crack
detection algorithm. However, the geometric form of a crack
has determinant influence under the proposed technique.
Usually, cracks can be classified in accordance with their
geometrical form as vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or com-
plex [15]. As shown in Table I, the incidence of complex
geometry refers to only 6% of all cases [15]. Therefore, we
propose an algorithm to find the normal direction of the cracks.
The proposed approach excludes the complex cracks geometry
(4) due to its relative rarity. However, with our proposed method,
we can measure 94% of all cases.
The crack detected by Algorithm 1 is used in Algorithm 2
for the measurement of its width and length. At this point, it
is important to note that the angle can be calculated using a
straight line created using two points of a crack and applying
trigonometric concepts to work out its angle.
From data inputted by the crack detection algorithm,
Algorithm 2 classifies and estimates the width and length of
cracks. From the classification (complex, diagonal, vertical,
(5) or horizontal), if a crack is classified as complex, the algo-
rithm outputs a message (Unable to measure the geometry).
If the crack is classified as vertical or horizontal, the width
and the length can be estimated using the number of pixels of
the section multiplied by camera pixel resolution [16] and the
algorithm outputs the final results.
 586 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 65, NO. 3, MARCH 2016

Algorithm 2 Crack Measurement Algorithm

Input: Data from Crack Detection Algorithm in pixels
Output: Estimation the width and length of a crack (mm)
Input pixels position from crack detection algorithm
if the crack is recognized as complex then
Display the message (“Unable to measure the geometry”)
and close the application Fig. 3. Pixel map of a crack (a), the detection of the pixels of the crack by
Algorithm 1, and largest line in the curve that goes through p(x0 , y0 ).
else if the crack is classified as diagonal then
Determine the normal direction of crack in the curve
Estimate the width and length and show them on the screen
else
Display a message for the user (“the crack is classified as
vertical or horizontal”)
Estimate the width and length and show them on the screen
and close the application
end if

Fig. 4. Line l and its slope from least-square fitting.

Fig. 5. Sub-block T  resultant of the pixel rotation.

Fig. 2. Diagonal cracks with low cross section variation (a) and with high
cross section variation (b).
However, to estimate the width of a diagonal crack, as
shown in Fig. 2(a), or of a diagonal crack with a curve, as
shown in Fig. 2(b), we propose a technique that determines
the normal direction of cracks in the curves. Usually, the
curves are made up of some adjacent target pixels and they
can be described mathematically through the methods of
differentiation and difference [17]. In this paper, we determine
the normal direction of cracks by the coordinates of their cross
section in pixels with the least-squares method.
We start by establishing an arbitrary point p(x 0 , y0 ) in the
crack curve. We then find the tangent to the curve at the
selected point p and calculate its slope. From the slope, we
calculate the angle θ normal to the curve.
In order to calculate the slope, we zoom in the image around
the point p(x 0 , y0 ) including all the pixels that were detected
in Algorithm 1 [Fig. 3(b)]. Let us now define a block that
includes the neighborhood of p(x 0 , y0 ). This neighborhood is
centered in p(x 0 , y0 ) with a size M × M and we call it T . The
dimension M is chosen based on the largest square at which
vertices and p(x 0 , y0 ) are placed on the curve [Fig. 3(c)]. Then
taking out the pixels sub-block T and recording all coordinates
of the crack pixels (establishing the top left corner of T as the
origin (0, 0), and the down direction as the x-axis and the
left direction as the y-axis), we end up with a set of points
S P = {(x i , yi ) ∈ c}, where c is the set of points that are
part of the crack. In the last step, by linear fitting of these
points with a least-squares algorithm (Fig. 4), we obtain a
line l; y = ax + b that contains the point p(x 0 , y0 ). Therefore,
now we have the slope of the curve.
For example, in the sub-block T of Fig. 3(c), we find M = 9
and |S P | = 25. All points are plotted in Fig. 4 and the
line l is
y = 1.1481x − 0.0815. (6)
Now, to estimate the crack width, we must apply a rotation
in the sub-block T in order to linearize the curve. Assuming
that point p(x 0 , y0 ) is the center of rotation, we find the angle
normal to the curve at point p as θ = tan−1 (−1/a), where
a is the slope of the line l : y = ax + b.
With p(x 0 , y0 ) as the point of rotation, (X, Y ) ∈ T  is the
rotation of sub-block (x, y) ∈ T by θ , that is
X = (x − x 0 ) cos θ + (y − y0 ) sin θ + x 0
Y = −(x − x 0 ) sin θ + (y − y0 ) cos θ + y0 .
As result of each pixel rotation, we can plot a sub-block T 
as shown in Fig. 5 and using the proposed approach to rotate
a pixel sub-block, we can calculate the width of every cross
section on the picture and adopt its average wcrack as the width
in pixels

pcs
wcrack = (7)
n
where pcs is the number of pixels in each cross section
and n is the number of cross sections.

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on May 04,2023 at 11:26:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 LINS AND GIVIGI: AUTOMATIC CRACK DETECTION AND MEASUREMENT BASED ON IMAGE ANALYSIS 587

Fig. 6. Experimental setup to test the proposed methodology.

This procedure is repeated for several points in the curve in Fig. 7. Specimen model designed with its respective dimensions in
order to assess the average width of the crack. Alternatively, millimeters.
one could save the width of predetermined areas of crack
(borders, midsection, etc.) for future assessment.

IV. E XPERIMENTS
This section describes the experiment to assess the feasibil-
ity of the proposed methodology. In Section IV-A, an expla-
nation about the experimental setup is provided. Section IV-C
discusses the application of the proposed methodology.
Section IV-D shows the practical results obtained. Finally,
Section IV-E brings a discussion about the final results.

A. Experimental Setup Fig. 8. Sample of image used for camera calibration.

The experimental setup is composed of a Clearpath Husky
robot with an IP camera mounted on it. The robot is used to
ease the acquisition of images required by Algorithms 1 and 2. this paper, the only needed parameter is the pixel resolution
In addition, an experimental bridge was built in order to of the camera, which is Pr = 0.3776. However, note that
support the specimen. As shown in Fig. 6, while the robot this value is used without any loss of generality and if a new
maneuvers around the environment, images are acquired and camera was to be used, a new calibration procedure must be
processed at the same time with the objective of detecting and performed.
measuring the cracks located on the specimen. The specimens
are manufactured using 3-D printing technology to ensure B. Experimental Environment
accuracy of its dimension. Fig. 7 shows a specimen model
Apart from the experiments with fabricated structures, as
with its respective dimensions to be manufactured.
shown in Fig. 6, experiments with real structures were also
We notice that the experimental setup was created in order to
performed. The experiments for the fabricated specimens
compare a real and accurate specimen with the results provided
were indoors and controlled. As such, light was constant
by the proposed methodology. However, in Section IV-C
(fluorescent bulbs) and no direct sunlight exposure was
to assess the technical feasibility of the method, we have
allowed. This follows similar experiments in [19]. These
processed images from real concrete structures to complement
experiments were included in the study in order to provide
the final results.
a baseline for comparison, as we could manipulate the type
In order to measure the crack width and length, it is
and dimensions of cracks.
necessary to know the camera pixel resolution, and a procedure
The experiments with real structures were not controlled and
of calibration camera is necessary for its estimation. A camera
light was allowed to vary (natural light). These experiments
calibration routine for MATLAB is a convenient tool and was
were included in order to validate our approach in inspection
used for this task. This toolbox allows calibration of cameras
environments that could be used in actual applications.
and estimation of the intrinsic (Focal Length) parameter using
only a chessboard target [18]. From a sequence of images of
the chessboard in different positions, the toolbox returns the C. Application of the Crack Detection Algorithm
estimated parameter. Fig. 8 shows the toolbox processing of The experiment follows the methodology proposed
images used for calibration. in Algorithm 1. Three trial runs with different materials were
The routine outputs many parameters, such as the intrinsic performed, two of them in a controlled environment using
matrix of calibration, lens distortion, and others. However, for two different specimens and one more using real concrete

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on May 04,2023 at 11:26:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 588 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 65, NO. 3, MARCH 2016
Fig. 9. Cracks recognized in a controlled environment.
Fig. 10. Cracks recognized in a real structure.
structure of buildings in our campus. Then all data was
processed in order to detect cracks using only images.
Inputting a sequence of images Ste , where e is the trial
number and t is time, each sample is processed and the crack
detection algorithm returns a figure showing (in red) a crack
recognized. Fig. 9 shows crack detection in the controlled
environment, whereas Fig. 10 shows crack detection of a real
structure.
Besides the figure containing the identified crack (similar
to Fig. 9 and Fig. 10), the algorithm returns the position
(in pixels) of each particle of the detected crack. For cracks
classified as vertical, the width and the length can be estimated
in pixels as
w p = x 2 − x 1 and l p = y2 − y1
where w p is the width in pixels, l p is the length in pixels,
and the coordinates x 1 , x 2 , y1 , and y2 are returned by the
algorithm. Fig. 9 shows a vertical crack detected and its points
extracted by the crack detection algorithm. In the case of
a crack classified as horizontal, we must invert the x- and
y-axis in order to standardize the width and length for the
measurement to take place. Finally, when a diagonal or a curve
crack is detected, the algorithm outputs wcrack as proposed in
Section III-C. A summary of the width and length of each
detected crack is shown in Table II.
The crack detection algorithm then inputs this data
(in pixels) into the crack measurement algorithm allowing it
to estimate the physical dimensions of the detected cracks.
For real structure cracks, the width and length are an aver-
age due to their geometrical form. Note that using the
proposed measurement, one could estimate the cracks’ area
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on May 04,2023 at 11:26:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
TABLE II
C RACK D IMENSION U SING THE C RACK
D ETECTION A LGORITHM ( IN P IXELS )
if necessary. For the case Specimen 2 [crack cross section
variation (CCSV)], there were three measurements in the curve
due to its CCSV.
D. Application of the Crack Measurement Algorithm
To estimate the crack dimensions, the data from crack
detection algorithm is inputted into the crack measurement
algorithm. Using the width and length in pixels as shown in
Table II and the pixel resolution estimated by the procedure
of calibration discussed in Section IV-A, the algorithm is able
to process all data and outputs the crack measurement.
In order to verify the accuracy of the proposed methodology,
the cracks have been measured using a digital vernier caliper
with an uncertainty of ±0.01 mm. From the dimensions
measured by the instrument, the error between the real dimen-
sions of the cracks and the results of the crack measurement
algorithm can be calculated. For the length, the error is
calculated as
lvpm − lcm
Le = ∗ 100 (8)
lcm
where L e is the length error, lvpm is the length value measured
by proposed methodology, and lcm is the true value of length
crack measured by the vernier caliper.
Likewise, the width error is calculated as
wvpm − wcm
We = ∗ 100 (9)
wcm
where We is the width error, wvpm is the width value measured
by proposed methodology, and wcm is the true value of width
crack measured by the vernier caliper.
The results for all cracks are summarized in Table III.
Table III includes the error calculated as introduced
in (8) and (9). The next section discusses these results and
compares them with the literature.
E. Analysis of the Results
As shown in Section IV-C, the crack detection algorithm
developed in this paper is able to recognize cracks in different
 LINS AND GIVIGI: AUTOMATIC CRACK DETECTION AND MEASUREMENT BASED ON IMAGE ANALYSIS 589

TABLE III
C RACK D IMENSION P ROCESSED U SING THE C RACK M EASUREMENT A LGORITHM

materials such as concrete, plastic, and others. Using the TABLE IV

RGB color model combined with a particle filter, it was
possible to analyze an image and search for cracks with great
accuracy. In terms of computational performance, along the
several trials accomplished, each image was processed on
average in approximately 6 s.
Section IV-D presents the results of the crack measurement
algorithm. From the geometry classification, the algorithm
is able to output the dimensions of a crack using only the
pixels positions and camera resolution (Table III). The results
demonstrate that the method can measure real cracks with
an uncertainty type A of ±5.48% of the measured value
according to the guide to the expression of uncertainty in mea-
surement [20]. This uncertainty is caused by several different
sources such as illumination of environment, inaccuracies in
the camera calibration, and others. In addition, the camera
resolution has affected directly the accuracy, and therefore,
in order to improve the results, a high-resolution camera could
be used. Finally, in terms of computational performance, from
the cracks detected by the crack detection algorithm, each
image was processed on average in approximately 2 s.
Another important feature to be highlighted is the technique
to estimate the crack width in a curve. Although the technique
cannot be used to estimate the width of the crack in its total
extension, the results show that it can be used to estimate the
width of a section in small areas of the curve, simplifying
the processing, while still resulting in good accuracy, even to
measure a variable crack cross section.
To check the applicability of the proposed methodology,
our method is compared with other vision methods. As shown
in Table III, the average error of the proposed methodology
was estimated at 8.59% for the length and 7.51% for the width.
In comparison with other methods in the literature, the pro-
posed methodology proved more accurate than the vision
system developed in [21], where the average error has been
estimated at 13.9% as well as in [22], where the average error
has been estimated at 15%.
Other important features about the comparison are shown
in Table IV that list the camera resolution (in megapixels)
E XPERIMENTAL F EATURES
used in the experiments, the environment navigated when
the experiments have been conducted, and the average error
range (%) for each methodology. Even though the resolution
of the camera used in the proposed methodology is much
lower, the results obtained are better than the ones reported
in [21] and [22].
In terms of computation, we were not able to find any esti-
mation of computational resources in the literature. Therefore,
we could not establish any comparison. However, in compar-
ison with manual techniques used nowadays, our proposed
method is faster and more efficient as it takes only on average
6 s to detect and measure cracks.
V. C ONCLUSION
This paper presented a new methodology to detect and
measure cracks using only a single camera. The proposed
methodology allows for automatic crack measurement in civil
structures.
According to the methodology, a sequence of images is
processed by the crack detection algorithm in order to detect
the cracks. The algorithm receives images as inputs and
outputs a new image with red particles along the detected
crack. The pixel positions of the particles are stored in a vector
that is passed along to the crack measurement algorithm. With
these pixel positions, the algorithm estimates the number of
pixels in a cross section and outputs the crack dimension.
The statistical analysis demonstrates that the error is small
on average permitting the accurate measurement. Furthermore,
compared with other methods in the literature, the methodol-
ogy presented in this paper fares very well.

Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on May 04,2023 at 11:26:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
 590 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 65, NO. 3, MARCH 2016
A few enhancements can be proposed to improve the
measurement accuracy. First, a camera with higher resolution
can be used in order to improve the accuracy. In order to assess
the resolution influence in the final result, a comparison of one
of our specimens was performed. Using a 12 Mpixel resolution
camera, the same crack (specimen 1), detected with a width
of 3 pixels using the IP camera mounted on the robot, was
detected with 16 pixels using a high-resolution camera. This
is translated into an improvement of accuracy (the error was
reduced from 8.12% to 5.27%) and the uncertainty is reduced
to ±1.97%. However, in order to have fair comparisons with
the literature, our images were collected with normal low-
resolution cameras that are usually mounted on robots. Second,
the crack detection algorithm can be optimized in order to
minimize processing time. Therefore, the algorithms can be
ported to a dedicated DSP or an FPGA chip in order to be
used in the field.
R EFERENCES
[1] J. Sim, C. Park, and D. Y. Moon, “Characteristics of basalt fiber as a
strengthening material for concrete structures,” Compos. B, Eng., vol. 36,
nos. 6–7, pp. 504–512, 2005.
[2] M. L. Wang, J. P. Lynch, and H. Sohn, Eds., Sensor Technologies for
Civil Infrastructures: Sensing Hardware and Data Collection Methods
for Performance Assessment, vol. 1. New York, NY, USA: Elsevier,
2014.
[3] S. Jin et al., “FPGA design and implementation of a real-time stereo
vision system,” IEEE Trans. Circuits Syst. Video Technol., vol. 20, no. 1,
pp. 15–26, Jan. 2010.
[4] Y. Hu and C.-X. Zhao, “A local binary pattern based methods for
pavement crack detection,” J. Pattern Recognit. Res., vol. 5, no. 1,
pp. 140–147, 2010.
[5] P. Subirats, J. Dumoulin, V. Legeay, and D. Barba, “Automation of pave-
ment surface crack detection using the continuous wavelet transform,”
in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. Image Process., Oct. 2006, pp. 3037–3040.
[6] A. Ayenu-Prah and N. Attoh-Okine, “Evaluating pavement cracks with
bidimensional empirical mode decomposition,” EURASIP J. Adv. Signal
Process., vol. 2008, no. 1, p. 861701, 2008.
[7] A. Bernieri, G. Betta, L. Ferrigno, and M. Laracca, “Crack depth
estimation by using a multi-frequency ECT method,” IEEE Trans.
Instrum. Meas., vol. 62, no. 3, pp. 544–552, Mar. 2013.
[8] R. Gutkin, C. J. Green, S. Vangrattanachai, S. T. Pinho, P. Robinson, and
P. T. Curtis, “On acoustic emission for failure investigation in CFRP:
Pattern recognition and peak frequency analyses,” Mech. Syst. Signal
Process., vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 1393–1407, 2011.
[9] H. Oliveira and P. L. Correia, Supervised Crack Detection and Classifi-
cation in Images of Road Pavement Flexible Surfaces. Rijeka, Croatia:
InTech, 2009.
[10] S. Vidas, R. Lakemond, S. Denman, C. Fookes, S. Sridharan, and
T. Wark, “A mask-based approach for the geometric calibration of
thermal-infrared cameras,” IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., vol. 61, no. 6,
pp. 1625–1635, Jun. 2012.
[11] X. Qu, S.-C. Wong, and C. K. Tse, “Temperature measurement technique
for stabilizing the light output of RGB LED lamps,” IEEE Trans.
Instrum. Meas., vol. 59, no. 3, pp. 661–670, Mar. 2010.
Authorized licensed use limited to: INDIAN INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY KHARAGPUR. Downloaded on May 04,2023 at 11:26:56 UTC from IEEE Xplore. Restrictions apply.
[12] C.-C. Lai and Y.-C. Chen, “A user-oriented image retrieval system based
on interactive genetic algorithm,” IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., vol. 60,
no. 10, pp. 3318–3325, Oct. 2011.
[13] W.-T. Chen, W.-C. Liu, and M.-S. Chen, “Adaptive color feature extrac-
tion based on image color distributions,” IEEE Trans. Image Process.,
vol. 19, no. 8, pp. 2005–2016, Aug. 2010.
[14] G. G. Rigatos, “Particle filtering for state estimation in nonlinear
industrial systems,” IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas., vol. 58, no. 11,
pp. 3885–3900, Nov. 2009.
[15] S.-N. Yu, J.-H. Jang, and C.-S. Han, “Auto inspection system using
a mobile robot for detecting concrete cracks in a tunnel,” Autom.
Construction, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 255–261, 2007.
[16] T. Edeler, K. Ohliger, S. Hussmann, and A. Mertins, “Super-resolution
model for a compressed-sensing measurement setup,” IEEE Trans.
Instrum. Meas., vol. 61, no. 5, pp. 1140–1148, May 2012.
[17] J. Mukhopadhyay, P. Bhowmick, P. P. Das, S. Chattopadhyay, and
B. N. Chatterji, Digital Geometry in Image Processing. Boca Raton,
FL, USA: CRC Press, 2013.
[18] R. G. Lins, S. N. Givigi, and P. R. G. Kurka, “Vision-based measurement
for localization of objects in 3-D for robotic applications,” IEEE Trans.
Instrum. Meas., vol. 84, no. 11, pp. 2950–2958, Nov. 2015.
[19] S. Foix, G. Alenyà, and C. Torras, “Lock-in time-of-flight (ToF)
cameras: A survey,” IEEE Sensors J., vol. 11, no. 9, pp. 1917–1926,
Sep. 2011.
[20] Joint Committee for Guides in Metrology, “JCGM 100:2008, evalua-
tion of measurement data—Guide to the expression of uncertainty in
measurement, (GUM 1995 with minor corrections),” 2008.
[21] K. Khalili and M. Vahidnia, “Improving the accuracy of crack
length measurement using machine vision,” Procedia Technol., vol. 19,
pp. 48–55, Oct. 2015.
[22] W. Zhang, Z. Zhang, D. Qi, and Y. Liu, “Automatic crack detection and
classification method for subway tunnel safety monitoring,” Sensors,
vol. 14, no. 10, pp. 19307–19328, 2014.
Romulo Gonçalves Lins received the Ph.D. degree
in mechanical engineering from the State University
of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
He joined the Department of Electrical and
Computer Engineering, Royal Military College of
Canada, Kingston, ON, Canada, in 2014, as a
Post-Doctoral Fellow. His current research interests
include signal and image processing, instrumenta-
tion, and robotics.
Sidney N. Givigi (SM’14) received the Ph.D. degree
in electrical and computer engineering from Carleton
University, Ottawa, ON, Canada.
He is currently an Associate Professor with the
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineer-
ing, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston,
ON, Canada. His current research interests include
autonomous systems and robotics.