Geomatics and Soft Computing Techniques for Road Infrastructure Monitoring

In the context of the monitoring and control of the Italian transport infrastructure heritage, both with regards to existing network and infrastructure works, an experiment has been developed: it combines geomatic and soft computing techniques in order to produce a system which aimed at both solving Early Warning problems and it is able to generate a forecasting system on the infrastructure’s behavior over time, mainly exploiting geomatics parameters. The proposed integrated/early warning predictive system is based on the initial realization and integration of multiple models (geometric/structural) which represents the object of study (infrastructure) and the necessity for training and subsequently in the implementation of a neural network, that requires in input only the data, which can be acquired from the sensors, positioned on the infrastructure to produce different risk levels. Particular attention has been paid to the displacement measurement phase by GPS (Global Position System) signal. The proposed integrated predictive system’s experiment was carried out in the viaduct “Annunziata” in Reggio Calabria (Southern Italy), already used as a case study in the context of other research activities conducted by the Geomatics laboratory of DICEAM (Civil, Energetic, Environmental and Material Engineering Department - University Mediterranea of Reggio Calabria).