An Application Study on Road Surface Monitoring Using DTW Based Image Processing and Ultrasonic Sensors

Abstract

Road surface monitoring is an essential problem in providing smooth road infrastructure to commuters. This paper proposed an efficient road surface monitoring using an ultrasonic sensor and image processing technique. A novel cost-effective system, which includes ultrasonic sensors sensing with GPS for the detection of the road surface conditions, was designed and proposed. Dynamic time warping (DTW) technique was incorporated with ultrasonic sensors to improve the classification and accuracy of road surface detecting conditions. A new algorithm, HANUMAN, was proposed for automatic recognition and calculation of pothole and speed bumps. Manual inspection was performed and comparison was undertaken to validate the results. The proposed system showed better efficiency than the previous systems with a 95.50% detection rate for various road surface irregularities. The novel framework will not only identify the road irregularities, but also help in decreasing the number of accidents by alerting drivers.