New methodology for the identification of road surface anomalies

This article show a methodology for the identification of road anomalies through the coupled measurements of vertical acceleration and sound pressure levels. The innovative solution of this methodology lays in the possibility to evaluate road anomalies by using the time derivative of acceleration and sound pressure. Furthermore, this methodology has been developed and validated using a commercially available instrumentation possessed by most drivers, such as, smartphones and tablets. The current smartphone devices, in fact, are equipped with GPS, gyroscope and microphone that allow to simultaneously record data relating to geolocation, acceleration and sound pressure. The widespread distribution of this equipment could allow local administration to acquire a large number of surveys carried out by normal drivers and build a large Data Base on road anomalies representative of a whole network of infrastructures with a very small cost. Finally, the application of the methodology overturns current monitoring policies of road infrastructure that can be carried out only by the management staff by crowdsourcing the DB system with continuous real time updates brought by normal road users.