Automated Road Data Collection Systems Using UAVs: Comparative Evaluation of Architectures Based on Arduino Portenta H7 and ESP32-CAM
Identifiers
Publication date
Start date of the public exhibition period
End date of the public exhibition period
Advisors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Metrics
Share
Export
Abstract
This article presents the design, implementation, and comparative evaluation of two Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV)-based architectures for automated road data acquisition and processing. The first system uses Arduino Portenta H7 boards to perform real-time inference at the edge, reducing connectivity dependency. The second employs ESP32-CAM modules that transmit raw data for remote server-side processing. We experimentally validated and compared both systems in terms of power consumption, latency, and detection accuracy. Results show that the Portenta-based system consumes 36.2% less energy and achieves lower end-to-end latency (10,114 ms vs. 11,032 ms), making it suitable for connectivity-constrained scenarios. Conversely, the ESP32-CAM system is simpler to deploy and allows rapid model updates at the server. These findings provide a reference for Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) deployments requiring scalable, energy-efficient, and flexible road monitoring solutions.