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06: SuRoMa goes to South Korea!

Hi guys,
It's been a little while since my last post as I went home for a much needed break for Summer and its been hectic the past few weeks with work and organizing for a few dissemination and training activities which are next on the timeline! I'm actually writing this post from Rome before I present at the International Congress on Transport Infrastructure and Systems in a changing World, TIS Roma 2019, but I will talk about that in my next post!
Before Summer I got the opportunity to go to South Korea for the International Conference on Smart Cities in Seoul. I went with one of my good friends and coworkers Konstantinos, ESR 10(http://smartietn.eu/research/smarti-guidelines/esr10/). We were there to present a joint piece of research where we utilized Life Cycle Assessment techniques, used in his project, to look at the sustainability of implementing the 3D modelling techniques of my project. In our paper we found very good results showing that the techniques not only have a positive impact on the costs but also help to reduce the environmental impacts during maintenance activities on an asphaltic pavement. We had very good reviews from our presentation as well.
Also joining us for the trip were 3 other SMARTIs from our SMARTI ETN network: The guys there were: Phillipe, ESR 11, (http://smartietn.eu/research/smarti-guidelines/esr9/), Giulia, ESR 4 (http://smartietn.eu/research/smarti-prototypes/esr4/) and Domenico, ESR 3, (http://smartietn.eu/research/smarti-prototypes/esr3/). They all had papers at the conference as well and presented their findings through oral presentations and posters. It was great having a small part of our full team there and we tried to make the best of it by attending the conference and also taking the chance to explore the beautiful South Korea! It was such an interesting place loaded with history and culture. Just walking through the streets you could see tons of interesting things. I particularly liked the fact that the country loves cartoon characters and I ended up buying tons of souvenirs that I probably don't need but I regret nothing!
Here are some pictures from the event and Seoul:


On the business side of my project I have managed to construct my first neural network models for detecting pavement distresses on some 2D road imagery. I have been collecting pavement images for the past few months with the help of Gaspare, ESR 6 here in Palermo. Using the images collected on a smartphone I created a small harmonized version of distress categories and used those to annotate the images and feed it to on a Neural network. Initial results have been positive but still there is a lot of work to be done. Using the results and initial models created I prepared a research paper and have submitted to an Engineering Journal so I have my fingers crossed hoping it gets published!
Over the summer I also finished a conference paper for submission to the Eurasphalt & Eurobitume Congress to be held on 12-14 May 2020 in Palacio Municipal de Congresos in Madrid (Spain). The paper is based on work comparing 5 different models of smartphones in replicating pavement distresses using the 3D modelling techniques utilizing 2D images. The work aims to decipher whether the techniques can be applied on a range of different cellphones. This is key because for the use of the techniques to be practicable they have to work on different devices as road users and practitioners will all have different phones during surveys. Results were positive on this matter and my fingers are crossed for this submission as well!
Next up for me and the project, after TIS Roma 2019, will be Researchers Night in Palermo and then the next SMARTI training week in Granada, Spain next week! It will be a busy few weeks but I’m looking forward to seeing the guys from the SMARTI team, exploring some new destinations and ofcourse spreading the word on the project!
Will keep you posted!
RR

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Location: Palermo, Province of Palermo, Italy

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