Deep transfer learning-based vehicle classification by asphalt pavement vibration

Abstract

Deep transfer learning (TL) has great potential for a wide range of applications in civil engineering. This work aims to propose a deep transfer learning-based method for vehicle classification by asphalt pavement vibration. This work first used the pavement vibration IoT monitoring system to collect raw vibration signals and performed the wavelet transform to obtain denoised vibration signals. The vibration signals were then represented in two different ways, including the time-domain graph and the time-frequency graph. Finally, two deep transfer learning-based methods, namely Method Ⅰ (Time-domain & TL) and Method Ⅱ (Time-frequency & TL), were applied for vehicle classification according to the two different representations of vibration signals. The results show that the CNN model had a satisfactory performance in both methods with the accuracy of Method Ⅰ exceeding 0.94 and Method Ⅱ exceeding 0.95. The CNN model in Method Ⅱ performed better in the accuracy metrics with considering label imbalance, but worse in the accuracy metrics without considering label imbalance than that in Method Ⅰ. The differences between these two methods have been investigated and discussed in detail in terms of input types, accuracy metrics, and application prospects. The CNN model with deep transfer learning could be an effective, accurate, and reliable technique for vehicle classification based on asphalt pavement vibration.