Objectives of the service
Road administrations need the network-wide evaluation of road condition (evenness, cracks, potholes, etc.) to plan maintenance. However, the collection of such data is cumbersome. It requires costly tenders as well as the use of specialized vehicles and specialized, time-consuming. Consequently, only primary network operators conduct state-of-the-art condition monitoring. It is prohibitively expensive for local road administrators. The ASPEN system fills this gap by allowing for pavement condition assessment using smartphones mounted in a vehicle. A single ride over the whole network suffices to generate online maps and profiles showing road roughness. It is also possible to diagnose individual sections to monitor its degradation.
Our new system also enables easy measurements of the pavement parameters on sidewalks and bicycle paths by mounting smartphones on e-scooters or bikes.
Users and their needs
With our new, tailored solution, local road authorities can establish pavement management programs at affordable prices. Besides cost-saving advantage, ASPEN addresses the following needs:
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Collection of objective road condition data for the whole network
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Precise attribution of the data to individual road sections
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Provision of results online using maps, profiles, data tables and video recordings
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Easy collection and updating of data in-house, for instance “by the way” of rides done for other purposes
Objective road condition data enables efficient spending of maintenance funds and hence facilitates the long-term durability of roads. It is of utmost importance since road networks are among the most valuable infrastructure assets the society has, and so, allowing for their premature wear results in huge, unnecessary costs. Apart from that, the ASPEN system provides also direct information about ride comfort.
Additionally, the ASPEN app is capable of video-recording the ride. After anonymization it is presented online in a “street view” mode. The information about every road section and its surrounding is useful for many purposes such as operational planning, evidencing the road furniture or settling claims concerning, e.g., driveways.
Service/ system concept
Driving an uneven road with multiple surface distresses causes vibrations. Smartphones mounted in a vehicle „tremble like an aspen leaf”. The ASPEN app records these vibrations and couples them with satellite navigation. We use mechanical modelling of vehicle suspension and machine learning techniques to evaluate road evenness through the International Roughness Index (IRI). Our approach is documented in a scientific article in IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Magazine available at https://dx.doi.org/10.1109/MITS.2021.3049382 . To boost reliability and accuracy of the system we use up to 5 smartphones as vibration sensors in a single ride of the test vehicle.
A dedicated online system OnKo3 provides the results as interactive maps, dynamic profiles or video frames. All these views are synchronized and can be browsed by clicking or using network localization (road number, section, chainage, etc.).
Space Added Value
Satellite navigation is the primary space asset enabling ASPEN project. The pavement condition measurements must have its spatial localization attributed.
As a supplementary space asset, we benefit from the digital surface models. They convey information on the grade of the road and facilitate the virtual reorientation of the smartphone data.
Current Status
We have conducted several demonstrators for different customer types (road administrations, municipalities, construction company)
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district road authority (in Braniewo), 370 km (2021)
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road diagnostics company Transcomp (reseller) measurements in Zawiercie district, 568 km (2021)
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construction company, construction site in southern Poland, 5 km (2021)
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road diagnostics district road authority in Braniewo, 370 km (2023)
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provincial road authority (Pomeranian voivodeship), 44 km (2023)
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district council (Ursynów, in Warsaw), 180 km (2023)
German municipalities:
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urban road authority (Lübeck), 1157 km (2020)
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district road authority (Groß-Gerau), 152 km (2021)
The two first of these demonstrators were free of charge, while other commercial contracts (selling during the project).
