Pavement surface characterisation for smart and efficient road lighting

Short Name: SURFACE, Project Number: 16NRM02
Image of stop-motion streams of light from vehicle headlights at night
City traffic at night

Better tools to calculate light reflection will create safer roads


Road lighting must provide sufficient light for road safety. International CEN and CIE standards require light levels to be calculated using reference tables of geometrical values of road surface reflection. These tables are based on 40 year old measurements, which do not cover all road geometries defined in current iterations of these standards, nor recent advances in pavements and road lighting.

 

This project will provide standards organisations with updated measurements and guidance to solve these deficiencies. It will identify new geometries for measuring light reflectance on roads, develop guidelines for evaluating road conditions such as ageing and wetness, and establish traceable measured data from current road materials needed to update reference tables.

It will also produce guidelines and reference materials for calibrating portable commercial devices for on-site luminance measurements. New reliable data will be included in updated road lighting standards.

These outputs will allow lighting designers to improve performance, cut energy consumption, and create safer night-time driving.

 

Project website
Other Participants
Centre d'études et d'expertise sur les risques, l'environnement, la mobilité et l'aménagement (France)
Optis (France)
Zehntner GmbH, Testing Instruments (Switzerland)