Autostrade Tech, IBM and Fincantieri NexTech Deploy a New Artificial Intelligence and IoT-based System for Monitoring Autostrade per l’Italia Civil Infrastructure

Arvind Krishna Elected IBM Chairman

A new phase in the field of road network security and infrastructure monitoring is starting. ASPI Tech, IBM  and Fincantieri NexTech announce that the new digital system for civil infrastructure monitoring, based on IBM Maximo, is now in operation. The system has been developed by Autostrade Tech, the technology-focused subsidiary of Autostrade per l’Italia Group, together with IBM and Fincantieri NexTech.

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This is a very important stage for the digital strategic development of Autostrade per l’Italia as an integrated mobility manager. It represents a significant investment in the digitization of assets and procedures, sustainable mobility, management and the provisioning of innovative services for civil infrastructure, road networks and beyond.

The new monitoring platform will use IBM Artificial Intelligence, drones, IoT (Internet of Things) and Fincantieri NexTech 3D digital modeling to deliver innovation in the surveillance and monitoring activities of the more than 4,500 structures managed by ASPI including bridges, viaducts, flyovers and tunnels, obtaining improved efficiency and transparency in these processes.

The collaboration signed between Autostrade Tech, IBM and Fincantieri NexTech is expected to be made available to the market both as a service and through on premises models.

The new system is intended to improve the process of conducting civil infrastructure inspections in a number of core ways. Civil engineers will be able to carry out inspections on the condition of each structure and access key information in the field via a mobile device that is updated in near real time, including calculations and drawings of the original project and subsequent interventions; scheduled checks and maintenance; investigations and tests on materials; and the results and details of previous inspections. This information is maintained in a digital repository, which collects information classified by type and can be consulted through an app for adequate usability in the field. Through the same mobile device, the inspector can include details and photos from an inspection, making them immediately available to the rest of organization.

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The new software also traces and manages the various steps necessary for the care of each structure, from conducting inspections, to the planning and implementation of maintenance or activities according to the priority criteria developed with the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transportation (MIT). The system also introduces Fincantieri NexTech advanced technologies never used before on Italian road networks, i.e. the ability to analyze a structure through three-dimensional “digital twins.” These digital twins reproduce a structure’s features through the use of drones equipped with topographic laser-scanners and high-resolution cameras, which can then be analyzed by AI to assist in the detection of imperfections. This visual defect detection model was specifically developed to support technicians in the recognition and classification of defects and in the planning of maintenance activities.

The use of Digital Twins will help enable the implementation of an innovative instrumental monitoring model, which utilizes Fincantieri NexTech Industrial IoT sensors and latest generation technological solutions and will allow analysis of the trends of the static and dynamic structural engineering parameters, as well as the development of algorithms to evaluate a structure in use and during maintenance activities. By 2021, a new dynamic weighing system is expected to be introduced to monitor the authorized weight limits for the road system as well as the near real time behavior of infrastructure being used by heavy vehicles.

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