Patent ID: 7044680

Claim:
A method for measuring a surface elevation profile of a paved surface, after a paving machine has passed completely over the paved surface, using a measuring device comprising a plurality of non-contact, wave reflecting sensors, said sensors being arranged one in front of the other in a direction of travel a known distance apart, and a slope sensor for measuring an angle of a line connecting said non-contact sensors with respect to a datum, the method comprising: (a) placing a first one of said plurality of non-contact, wave reflecting sensors in front of a second one of said plurality of non-contact, wave reflecting sensors a known distance apart in a direction of travel and above the paved surface over which the paving machine has completely passed over; (b) using said first and second sensors of said plurality of non-contact wave reflecting sensors to sense a distance between each of said first and second non-contact sensors and measured locations on the paved surface; (c) using the slope sensor to measure the angle of the line connecting said first and second non-contact sensors with respect to the datum; (d) using the known distances between the first and second non-contact sensors in the direction of travel and the angle measured by the slope sensor to calculate a relative elevation between the measured locations of the paved surface; and (e) determining a need to further modify the paved surface elevation profile based on a plurality of the calculated relative elevation data points.