ROLE OF GEO-PARAMETERS & GEO-INFORMATICS IN OFF-ROAD TRAFFICABILITY EVALUATION

Abstract

The off road trafficability movement, the strength and deformation of soil can provide the necessary traction for its movement. All over the world, numbers of researchers have worked on the empirical modeling of soil parameters for trafficability evaluation. Another main area was mapping with the help of GIS software by assigning the weight factor. There are some important geo-parameters like slope, obstacle, vegetation, roughness and moisture, which play the major role in trafficability determination Terrain plays a vital role in any military operation; however, terrain trafficability assessment is the key requirement for planning any military operation in advance. In this study, terrain conditions for off-road trafficability assessment, an integrated approach used because it is affected by large number of parameters. While evaluating terrain mobility, its topography along with land use/land cover is important factors. This was performed by evaluating the relative direct and in-direct parameters from satellite data and terrain ancillary information. Hence the main objective of this study was to assess the potential of all the factors in providing relevant assisting information for vehicle mobility. To assess the relative importance of factors requires the domain expertise and field experience. After converting the qualitative assessment in to quantitative terms will pave the way for automation of trafficability. The research is divided into four parts: (1) development of mapping techniques to assess the relative importance of geo-parameters; (2) development of empirical relation based on terrain similarity for assessing the soil variability; (3) development of rule based approach and assessing the trafficability for tracked and wheeled vehicle separately; (4) vehicle specific trafficability mapping.