Evaluation of a Bicycle-Mounted Ultrasonic Distance Sensor for Monitoring Obstacles and Holes on Road

Monitoring bad road surface condition, such as break, potholes, obstacles, is helpful to prevent accidents in the case of cycling. In this paper, we consider to use low-cost ultrasonic distance sensor for monitoring road surface condition. We design and implement a monitoring system using an off-the-shelf node with a low-cost ultrasonic distance sensor. In the system, ultrasonic signal is periodically emitted to measure the distance from the system to the road so that the road surface condition can be estimated. To limit the sensing region, the ultrasonic distance sensor is covered by a plastic shield plate. Through experimental evaluations, we show that the monitoring system can detect the 360 cm away obstacle on road in the front area of bicycle. In addition, we show that the system also can detect a hole in the front area of bicycle. Keywords-bicycle; ultrasonic distance sensor; road surface condition monitoring; obstacle; hole; Arduino