Road safety: Road degradation survey through images by UAV

Preventive safety analyses can help to indicate the presence of situations on a road track potentially at risk for circulation. The key objective of safety analysis is to provide a greater level of safety for all road users. In this paper the evaluation of the road degradation through image by UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) is presented. A commercial UAV allowing real-time control of a given area and the detection of begging in the flooring required maintenance was used. Particular attention was given to the post-processing procedure of images by experimenting with the use of different ad hoc algorithms that involve the combination of various methodologies. The first tests to provide a continuous monitoring system on the infrastructure were also developed during the acquisition of the images. The proposed system automatically allows to acquire data through a fleet of drones that rise in flight from wireless charging bases, transmitting the acquired data to a cloud platform where they are processed, and finally updating the GIS (Cadastre Roads).