Roadway Pavement and Drivers’ Ride Quality Assessment Using Smartphone-based Participatory Vibration Sensing

Abstract: The work described herein discusses the case-study implementation of low-cost, vibration-based technologies for the assessment of roadway networks at point and street level, using smartphone sensors and participatory sensing. The utilized technology aims for (1) the provision of a low-cost, yet accurate, alternative to high-priced specialized equipment for assessing roadways, and (2) the continuous sourcing of data by use of participatory sensing. The study utilized two hybrid cars serving as probe-vehicles, about two hours of roadway surveying, and about 600K sensor-collected datapoints. The underlying spatiotemporal data analysis is utilized for the prioritization of O&M actions by municipalities and bus operators.