1

Ldetect, IOT Based Pothole Detector

2 3
Sumathi Balakrishnan1*, Low Jun Guan , Lee Yun Peng , Tan
4 5
Vern Juin , and Sultan Sagaladinov

1Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia

sumathi.balakrishnan@taylors.edu.my
2School of Computer Science, Taylor’s University, Malaysia
janksonlow@gmail.com

3School of Computer Science, Taylor’s University, Malaysia

yunpeng021802@hotmail.com

4School of Computer Science, Taylor’s University, Malaysia

tanvj@outlook.com

5School of Computer Science, Taylor’s University, Malaysia

S_sagaladinov@mail.ru

Abstract. Potholes are a persistent issue in Malaysia that poses a threat

to the safety and economic well-being of the country. Poor road
construction, heavy traffic, and extreme weather conditions are some of
the contributing factors to the development of these road defects.
Despite the efforts by the government and local authorities to repair
and maintain the roads, potholes remain a significant problem,
especially in rural areas. The high number of road traffic deaths in rural
areas compared to urban areas highlights the urgency of addressing the
pothole problem in Malaysia. In this paper, a pothole detection system
called Ldetect using LiDAR sensor is proposed. This system idea
provides a better solution to addressing the persistent pothole problem
in Malaysia.

Keywords: Internet of things (IOT), pothole detector, LiDAR

sensor, AWS, cloud, GPS

1 Introduction
Potholes are a significant problem in Malaysia that affects both the safety and economic well-
being of the country. These road defects are caused by a combination of factors, including poor road
construction, heavy traffic, and extreme weather conditions [1]. Despite efforts by the government and
local authorities to repair and maintain roads, potholes continue to be a persistent issue in many areas of
the country.

One of the main causes of potholes in Malaysia is the lack of proper maintenance and repair. It is
impossible for contractors or road maintenance teams to keep track of the condition of every road in the
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country, especially in rural areas. If these roads are left neglected, it will develop into a more serious
problem road surface cracking, potholes and so much more. According to [2], in Malaysia, the number of
road traffic deaths in rural areas (66%) is significantly higher compared with that in urban areas (34%).
This data shows that it is necessary to look into solving pothole issues, especially in rural areas, to reduce
the amount of road traffic deaths that happen in rural areas due to potholes. .

2 Existing Literature
The below alternative ideas for pothole detection generally have lower accuracy and more
limitations than the idea of using LiDAR. Additionally, many of these alternatives are more expensive,
more complex, or less flexible than LiDAR, which makes LiDAR the preferred technology for pothole
detection in many cases.
Acoustic sensors
A different strategy is to employ acoustic sensors, which track changes in sound waves as a car
passes over a road surface. In this method, sensors are mounted to the car, and the sound made by the
wheels as they move over the pavement is examined to determine which parts of the road are most likely
to have potholes. This method is simple to use and reasonably inexpensive, although it may be impacted
by tire noise, road noise, and other noise-interfering elements. It can be challenging to discern between
potholes and other kinds of road irregularities, and this method is less accurate than LiDAR. [9]
Vision-based systems
Utilizing vision-based systems, which employ cameras to find potholes, is another possible
strategy. In this method, cameras are mounted on the car, and photos of the surface of the road are
examined to spot locations that are likely to have potholes. This method may be helpful for finding larger
potholes that are clearly apparent in the photos, but it may be impacted by the lighting and other image-
interfering elements. This method also calls for a more complex computer vision system and is typically
less accurate than LiDAR. [10]
Inertial measurement units (IMUs)
Utilizing inertial measurement units (IMUs), which monitor the acceleration and orientation of
the vehicle as it moves over the road surface, is another possible strategy. This method involves mounting
IMUs on the car and analyzing the data to locate regions of the road that are likely to have potholes. This
method is simple to use and reasonably inexpensive, but it can be impacted by things like vehicle
vibrations and other things that can skew the IMU results. Furthermore, this method's accuracy is lower
than LiDAR's, and it might be challenging to tell potholes apart from other kinds of road irregularities.
[11]
Ground-penetrating radar (GPR)
Using ground-penetrating radar (GPR), which creates a map of the subsurface by using radio
waves to enter the ground, is another possible strategy. This method uses GPR to find subsurface
characteristics, including voids or variations in subsurface density, that are suggestive of potholes.
Although this method can be helpful for finding potholes that are not readily apparent on the road surface,
it is typically more expensive and difficult than LiDAR. This method is also less precise than LiDAR and
susceptible to interference from other subsurface features, such as subterranean utilities. [12]
3 Proposed Solution
According to [13], poor-condition roads are the main cause of 94% of accidents on the road.
Therefore, the motivation behind this study is to propose a pothole detector that is able to identify
potholes on roads using IoT sensors to reduce the number of potholes on the road. In addition to that, it
can also be used to detect bad-condition roads, which would eventually develop into road cracks and
potholes if left neglected. This device will only be attached to government vehicles like public buses,
garbage trucks, and taxis instead of private vehicles to avoid invasion of someone’s privacy. If there is any
pothole or bad-condition road detected while the device is running, it will then send the information of the
pothole or bad-condition road, e.g., details (size, diameter, and depth) and geolocation, to the cloud to
store it in the database. The database will be shared with Jabatan Kerja Raya (JKR), the Malaysian Public
Works Department, to enhance the speed and efficiency of road repairs and maintenance.
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With the help of road data gained from hundreds or thousands of vehicles attached with this
device, the roads maintenance teams of JKR will be able to identify and prioritize the roads that are due
for maintenance work. With regular road condition inspections and proper preventative repairs, it is
possible to prevent the roads from developing cracks, potholes, or other defects, making sure that the
roads are always safe to be used by road users [14].

Fig 1. Hardware Of Pothole Detector Device

Fig 1 depicts the proposed hardware for the pothole detector. The proposed hardware for the
pothole detector consists of a LiDAR module, a GPS module, a camera, and a buzzer. All of the hardware
mentioned above is connected to and controlled by a Raspberry Pi microprocessor. The cloud and the web
application are both connected to the Raspberry PI microprocessor. The cloud is informed about the
details and geolocations of potholes and bad-quality roads using the information gathered by the
microprocessor. Information, which it then processes and stores in the database. Additionally, an AVR-
IoT Microchip is utilized for the system's cloud back-end because of its Wi-Fi capabilities, which enable
direct connectivity to Amazon Web Services (AWS), a cloud service.
The principle behind the workings of the proposed pothole detector device is quite simple. First,
a LiDAR module is used to scan the road in front of the vehicles in real-time. LiDAR has a similar
working mechanism to radar, but it emits infrared light pulses instead of radio waves to form a laser and
measures the time it takes for the infrared light pulses to come back after hitting nearby objects. The
LiDAR module then calculates the distance to each surface of the road using the measured time for the
emitted laser pulse to bounce off the road surface and return to the LiDAR sensor. This LiDAR module is
capable of producing 3D models and maps of the road environment in real time with the millions of
precise distance measurement points it captures each second [15]. After having the 3D models and maps
produced by the LiDAR module, the Raspberry Pi microprocessor uses the algorithm for pothole detection
to determine where the pothole or bad-condition road is in relation to the car. If a pothole or bad-condition
road is detected by the algorithm, the buzzer that is built into the pothole detector device will buzz to
inform the driver. Following that, the microprocessor will record the details (size, diameter and depth) and
use a camera module to take pictures of that pothole or bad-condition road. A GPS module will also be
used to retrieve the geolocation of that pothole or bad-condition road. All of these data will then be sent
by the microprocessor to the cloud database to be stored.
The system does have a web application that can be used by local authorities. This is done so that
the government has the necessary information, such as where the potholes and bad condition roads are, by
viewing the report generated by the web application using the data stored in the cloud database and can
repair them in a timely manner. Once the pothole or bad-condition road is repaired, the data can be
updated on the web application and removed from the cloud database.

4 Technologies
Table 1. Technologies Used In Pothole Detector Device
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Technologies and Description

resources

LiDAR Sensor Potholes are typically characterized by a depression or a sunken area in the road surface,
and Lidar can detect these changes in surface elevation by measuring the time it takes for
the laser light to bounce back from the surface. This information can be used to construct
a detailed and accurate representation of the road surface, which can be used to identify
potholes and other anomalies.
LiDAR is also highly accurate, which is important for detecting small potholes that may
be difficult to see with the naked eye. Additionally, LiDAR systems are able to
continuously scan the road surface at high speeds, which allows for large amounts of data
to be collected quickly and efficiently.

GY-NEO6MV2 This is a very low cost GPS module, but it is very powerful. It comes with an antenna for
Flight Control GPS better signal reception. We will use it to detect the pothole location with longitude and
Module latitude.

Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi is a tiny simple cheap computer. The largest size of raspberry pi is about the
Microprocessor size of a deck of cards and the smallest size of raspberry pi is about the size of gum.
Raspberry Pi comes with 3 types of version, Raspberry Pi Zero, Model A series and
Model B series.

5MP Night Vision This camera comes with 5 million pixels a focus ring that can be adjusted according to
Camera the position of objects and two infrared LED modules that allow us to take a clear picture
in a dark environment. In this project, we will use it to take the picture of the pothole.

Buzzer (Passive) It will make a beep sound when we boot the pc. We will use it to make a beep sound
With Jumper when the pothole has been detected.
Housing

AVR-IoT Microchip AVR-IoT Microchip is utilized for the system's cloud back-end because of its Wi-Fi
capabilities, which enable direct connectivity to Amazon Web Services (AWS), a cloud
service.

5 System Architecture
A pothole detection system is an Internet of Things (IoT) application that requires a well-
structured system architecture to ensure efficient operation and accurate detection of potholes. Here's an
overview of the system architecture in the perspective of the different layers:
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Fig 2. Layer Of System Architecture

Application Layer
Pothole detectors will use web applications in order to place information about potholes. This
means that web application can be accessed from any device. The application layer for a pothole detector
device would typically involve the software or user interface that enables users to interact with the device
and access its features and functionalities [16]. This layer contains user interface, Pothole Detection
Algorithm, Data Storage and Management, GPS Integration, Alerting and Reporting. Overall, the
application layer for a pothole detector device plays a critical role in enabling users to effectively utilize the
device and maximize its potential for improving road safety and maintenance.

Network Layer
The Arduino and Raspberry Pi are two IoT gateway possibilities. As can be observed, there are a
number of distinctions between the two, and each has advantages and disadvantages. After some
consideration, it was decided that Raspberry Pi was the better choice because Pothole IoT sensors and
actuators are not relatively light and do require a lot of computational power. A WiFi-enabled Microchip
AVR-IoT board is used to connect the pothole detector to AWS IOT.
Transport Layer
The transport layer is responsible for data transmission and packet delivery between devices and
servers. The transport layer should use a reliable and efficient protocol to ensure packet delivery with
minimal latency [17].
Table 2. Transport Layer Protocol

Zigbee MQTT HTTP LoRaWAN CoAP

Architecture Request / Publish / Subscribe Request / Request / Request /

Response Response Response Response

Data security AES SSL / TLS or SSL / TLS AES Secured Datagram
Encryption Payload Encrytion (HTTPS) Payload TLS

Upper Layer UDP TCP / IP UDP TCP / IP UDP

Protocol
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Message Size 128B 256MB 2-100MB 10 - 1000KB 4-1024B

Data Many-to-one Many-to-many One-to-one One-to-many One-to-one

Distribution

The table above lists some of the alternatives for the transport layer protocol, including Zigbee,
Message Queue Telemetry Transport (MQTT), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP or HTTPS), Long
Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), and Constrained Application Protocol (CoAP).
A WiFi-enabled Microchip AVR-IoT board is used to connect the pothole detector to AWS IOT.
To accomplish this, the AVR-IoT board subscribes to a MQTT broker within AWS IOT using the IOT
protocol MQTT. Data can be swiftly and efficiently transferred from distant sites utilizing the MQTT
protocol [17]. This makes it possible for hardware and the cloud environment to communicate in both
directions. Through this communication, the detector sends the dispensing message and the confirmation
events to the cloud.
Perceptive Layer
The pothole detection system uses a few sensors to satisfy the various functional needs, which
are given below. In addition to functional components, sensors, actuators, and IoT devices are categorised.
The functional needs section from the preceding section describes the functions of various IoT devices.
Sensors:
I. LiDAR Module (LiDAR Sensor)
II. Camera
III. GPS Module
Functional Components:
I. Buzzer
Security Layer
The security layer is in charge of making sure that the data transferred by the system is
confidential, intact, and available. A strong security layer is required for the pothole detection system in
order to guard against unwanted access, data manipulation, and denial-of-service assaults. To ensure the
security of the system, the security layer should comprise secure communication protocols, encryption,
authentication, and access control techniques [18].
Data tampering and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) assaults are a few potential hazards to
be aware of. Concerns about physical security, such as gadget theft, should not be disregarded. Security
features, harms, and solutions are not discussed in this proposal.

6 Experimental Result
Fig 3 shows the circuit set up on the pothole detector device using Tinkercad. As Raspberry Pi and
LiDAR
sensor are not available in Tinkercad, Arduino Uno and an ultrasonic distance sensor will be used to
replace
them for a concept demonstration of how the device works.Once the device has been turned on, the LCD
panel will light up to show if any road issues are detected. The distance between the road issue and the
ultrasonic distance sensor will also be displayed on the LCD panel. When there is a road issue in the
detection range of an ultrasonic distance sensor, the piezo buzzer will start buzzing, and the LCD panel
will
also display “Detected” and the distance between the road issue and the ultrasonic distance sensor. At the
same time, the LED which represent a GPS module will capture the location and send it to the cloud
server.
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Fig 3. Concept of pothole detector using Tinkercad

7 Web Application Prototype

Fig 4. Website prototype

Users will be able to access web application via the web page. The feature on the website
allowed users to be informed of the recent road issues detected by the pothole detector device. The time
and date for each of the road issues detected will also be shown on this web page. Another feature allowed
users to be informed of the recent road issues detected by the pothole detector device, with each of the
road issues being marked on a map. The details for each of the road issues detected, such as the size and
depth of the pothole, the severity, and the road issues detected, whether it is a pothole or poor road
condition, will also be shown. Both of the features are shown in Fig 4.
8 Conclusion
The proposed system of pothole detection uses a lidar sensor fixed onto a vehicle. The input is
processed to alert the driver and the coordinates will be sent to the government to take necessary action.
The system is made to increase the efficiency of repairing potholes and decrease the frequency of accidents
that they cause. Governments can reduce labor costs and time spent on manual road inspections by using
the data to optimize maintenance. The data in the server can be analyzed for predictive maintenance of
roads to prevent new potholes using machine learning models such as random forest, support vector
machine, or ensemble voting, and by considering various factors like the most common types of vehicles on
that road and weather conditions. Pothole severity can also be categorized which will be useful for the
government’s prioritization. Real-time detection also means that drivers can drive without having to look
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out for potholes in poor visibility conditions. However, it is rather wasteful to install lidar sensors only to
detect road damage, so other types of hazards like people, animals, litter, branches, and debris may be
included later.
Lidar sensor together with a detection algorithm must be developed. Firstly, pothole detection will be
the focus. It must be tested multiple times under different environmental conditions and vehicle types. Once
it has been verified that all components work as intended, it should be installed on government vehicles
according to frequency. In the second year, the algorithm can be improved for detection of water filled
potholes and other road damage such as upheavals and ruts. Alternative alerts such as voice including
distance and severity could be installed. There could also be an option in the vehicle to automatically limit
its speed when approaching a pothole. In the third year, the public may sign up to test the system.
Arrangements with manufacturers and technicians would have to be made to ensure compatibility. If the
feedback is positive, general availability may be considered. Furthermore, there is a possibility to
collaborate with navigation software companies to integrate pothole data for additional alerts and route
calculation.
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