An improved ResNet50 model for predicting pavement condition index (PCI) directly from pavement images

Accurately predicting the Pavement Condition Index (PCI), a measure of roadway conditions, from pavement images is crucial for infrastructure maintenance. This study proposes an enhanced version of the Residual Network (ResNet50) architecture, integrated with a Convolutional Block Attention Module (CBAM), to predict PCI directly from pavement images without additional annotations. By incorporating CBAM, the model autonomously prioritises critical features within the images, improving prediction accuracy. Compared to the original baseline ResNet50 and DenseNet161 architectures, the enhanced ResNet50-CBAM model achieved a significantly lower mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 58.16%, compared to the baseline models that achieved 70.76% and 65.48% respectively. These results highlight the potential of using attention mechanisms to refine feature extraction, ultimately enabling more accurate and efficient assessments of pavement conditions. This study emphasises the significance of targeted feature refinement in advancing automated pavement analysis through attention mechanisms.