Assessing Road Pavements Using Satellite Remote Sensing: Towards Developing Network-Level Pavement Monitoring

Performance monitoring of highway infrastructure is vital for the integrity of the transport network and the safety of the users. The satellite remote sensing technology can task itself to further enhance the standards and monitoring capabilities of Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) methods, in terms of allowing full network-level coverage and a regular revisit of the infrastructure. However, applications are still limited and not yet well established in the operative processes implemented by the asset owners. In this study, the Multi-Temporal Synthetic Aperture Radar (MT-InSAR) approach was utilised to assess the condition of a rural motorway primary connection road to Rome, Italy. Medium (Sentinel-1 (C-Band)) to high-resolution (TerraSAR-X (X-Band)) SAR data were used to analyse and evaluate the surface regularity. More specifically, the Persistent Scatterers Interferometry (PSI) approach, following the algorithm proposed by Ferretti et al. [1] through the approach proposed by Hooper et al. [2] was employed. The proposed methodology uses open-source software for all the entire procedure. The displacements detected by the PSI approach were analysed, and their correlation with the pavement condition in particular sections was investigated across the utilised satellite data resolutions. Changes in the pavement surface condition were categorised based on the estimated deformation rate. The proposed approach will give first-hand input towards network-scale road infrastructure monitoring and will pave the way to explore further the capability of Radar Satellites in this area of science.