Functionalization of roadside sensors for the generation of complex traffic-related load data

Traffic loads are recorded in sub-project B02 for the load model of the digital twin. For this purpose, roadside sensors are fundamentally investigated with regard to the available data quality and functionalized. The focus here is on the development of new evaluation algorithms using suitable polynomial motion models, pattern recognition, and clustering methods. The results are time-continuous, multidimensional functions that describe the position and size of the loads as well as additional characteristics such as the oscillation behavior and are linked to a single vehicle data set.

In the future, the sensitive surface layer developed in A03 will serve as a sensor and generate this data. In order to provide load data in the project's initial phase, a unique Weigh-in-Motion research facility was constructed on the German highway A1/A61 in the vicinity of Erftstadt, in the direction of Cologne/Venlo, in October 2023. The facility uses ten piezoelectric sensors embedded in the road surface to record the static and dynamic wheel loads of passing vehicles in the main lane. The configuration of the sensors with some sensors diagonally installed, allows for the first time the derivation of the trajectory of the wheels at the local level. By recording these trajectories, it is possible to locate the loads on the road surface and thus generate high-precision data on the spatial load distribution. The transfer of this data, which is collected in a limited range, to large sections of the road is carried out with the overall data fusion in B03.