AASHTO MP 48-23 PDF

The macrotexture of a pavement surface influences the friction between the tire and the road, noise at the tire-pavement interface, rolling resistance of vehicles, and tire wear. The objective of this specification is to define the required attributes of equipment that can measure pavement macrotexture at highway speeds. This system may be added to a host vehicle as a single function device or as a component of a multifunctional system that collects data relating to a variety of other properties including ride quality and cracking. The equipment may be used to collect network level data or project level data. The equipment shall be supplied with software that can compute macrotexture indices, particularly the mean profile depth (MPD), from the measured data.

It is not the intent of this specification to relieve the supplier from the responsibility to provide an appropriate product for the intended function, nor is it intended to specify all the design details. The objective is to provide a sufficiently detailed specification in order to define the function of the equipment clearly. It is intended to have enough detail that the data collected from different equipment in each class of equipment (i.e., single-spot lasers, line lasers, and 3D equipment) will be identical.