Monitoring the Speed, Configurations, and Weight of Vehicles Using an In-Situ Wireless Sensing Network

The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University is developing an integrated transportation monitoring system that will be capable of monitoring pavement and traffic simultaneously. As part of the system, a backcalculation method, which is presented in this paper, is used to estimate the speed, weight, and configuration of passing vehicles based on the pavement responses collected by in-situ pavement sensors. This method is still in its preliminary stage but could be very helpful in achieving real-time weigh-in-motion and traffic classification once completed in the future. A Gaussian model is used to describe the distribution of the horizontal strain induced by passing vehicles. The parameters of the Gaussian model are correlated with various loading conditions, including the weight and the configuration parameters of the passing vehicles, as proved by finite-element simulation and experimental measurements. The backcalculation process is efficient and valuable, considering the accuracy of the estimation with a low computational cost. The whole method is simple and straightforward and can be conveniently used in real-time monitoring.