Real-Time Monitoring of Pavement Conditions Through Smart Technologies

The technological advances in wireless communications and sensing components have fostered the adoption of the Smart Cities concept, allowing to “virtualize” cities by collecting large-scale data to manage available resources in an informed, responsible, and efficient way. This work aims to study a specific problem in the scope of Smart Cities, namely in the area of Smart Transportation, which is the real-time monitoring of pavement conditions based on accelerometers installed in the city’s public transportation network. This monitoring system is intended to estimate the pavement condition accurately, reporting useful data to the responsible entities to support decision-making on pavement restoration needs. A proof-of-concept based on real measurements and simulations is provided attesting the added value of the proposal.