Pavement Monitoring Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles: An Overview

Pavement monitoring involves periodic damage detection and condition assessment of pavements for efficient pavement management. Unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-based pavement monitoring requires multidisciplinary knowledge of pavement distress, drone type, payload, flight parameters, drone deployment, and image processing. Owing to the availability of various UAVs, data sensing devices, operating ecosystems, and post-processing tools, selecting an appropriate combination of these systems is crucial. Therefore, the primary objective of this study is to provide essential knowledge on the prevalent challenges of existing monitoring techniques and discuss the potential advantages of UAVs over conventional pavement monitoring practice. A state-of-the-art review emphasizing UAV technicalities in the context of image-based pavement monitoring is presented. A detailed workflow and checklist for drone deployment is drafted for novice users to ensure safe and high-quality data acquisition. Finally, the present challenges and future scope of UAV-based pavement monitoring is discussed. Overall, this study aims to provide inclusive and comprehensive information on UAV-based pavement monitoring to beginner researchers.