TerraScan

GIF
Real time TerraScan dashboard showing speed, severity level, and live road health score updates from the vehicle.
Building and testing TerraScan hardware in the lab, integrating ESP32, motor driver, and ultrasonic sensing system.
Front view of the TerraScan prototype vehicle with ultrasonic sensor mounted for real time pothole detection.
Fully assembled TerraScan smart vehicle prototype ready for road surface testing and cloud data transmission.
Internal wiring layout of ESP32, L298N motor driver, and power system integration.

Inspiration

Poor road conditions cause accidents, vehicle damage, and traffic delays every day. We wanted to build a low cost system that can detect potholes in real time and generate useful road health data instead of relying only on manual inspection or public complaints.

What It Does

Our system uses an ESP32 powered smart vehicle to detect potholes using an ultrasonic sensor. It dynamically adjusts speed based on detected road severity and calculates a live road quality score. The data is uploaded to Firebase for cloud monitoring and analysis.

How We Built It

We combined hardware and cloud technologies:

ESP32 for processing and WiFi connectivity

Ultrasonic sensor for height variation detection

L298N motor driver with DC motors

PWM based adaptive speed control

Firebase Realtime Database for cloud logging

We implemented baseline calibration to measure normal road height. Pothole severity is calculated using height deviation:

heightChange = baseline - current distance

Speed adapts according to severity, and a road score between 0 and 100 is computed dynamically based on motor behavior.

Challenges We Faced

Voltage drops and torque loss at lower PWM values

Stabilizing baseline calibration

Secure HTTPS communication with Firebase

Tuning severity thresholds for realistic detection

What We Learned

We learned how embedded systems interact with real world physics. We improved our understanding of motor drivers, power distribution, sensor filtering, and IoT cloud integration. We also learned how small hardware limitations can significantly impact system behavior.

This project demonstrates how affordable IoT systems can contribute to smarter and safer infrastructure monitoring.