Proposal for a Low-Cost Monitoring System to Assess the Pavement Deterioration in Urban Roads

Effective scheduling of pavement monitoring and maintenance activities plays a pivotal role in ensuring safety comfort for road users. The Pavement Management System (PMS) is traditional tool to assist the manager decision-making process on which priority carry out. However, urban networks implementation PMS can be complicated due many functional operational problems. This paper presents prototype low-cost inertial sensor-based system conditions networks. Starting by measurements vertical accelerations collected vehicle riding rough pavement, frequency-weighted acceleration a_wz was calculated according ISO 2631 standard. parameter adopted as Key Performance Indicator (KPI) relating roughness human whole-body vibration (WBV) exposure user. Some field tests were carried out identifying roads an Italian city with different levels deterioration. Measurements evaluate deterioration performed using visual inspections proposed sensor embedded test (run at speeds) order identify relationship between these indices terms performance classes.