Digiflec reaches halfway point of CivTech Accelerator Programme

Dunfermline based Digiflec have reached the halfway point of the Civtech Challenge Accelerator Programme, an intense and fast-tracked product development programme. The challenge is to manage traffic and road infrastructure in rural and remote communities, sponsored by Stirling Council, Forestry and Land Scotland, with Censis.

Digiflec is deploying its data gathering technology in a rural environment to solve this public sector problem in an innovate way. Their sensor equipment is used to gather 3-dimensional data which has, until now, been used exclusively in an urban environment, as opposed to being specifically focused on rural road infrastructure.

Digiflec is working to overcome power and connectivity issues associated with working in a remote area to gather 3-dimensional data, supplemented by environment data, in order to build a comprehensive picture of the changing condition of a road, as well as who uses it and how.

Digiflec additionally uses AI to accurately locate the position of infrastructure assets such as lighting, bus stops, drain covers and other features of a road or path. Their condition can then be monitored to facilitate maintenance and repair scheduling.

The gathered data will then be used to inform decision making about transport infrastructure maintenance and subsequent management. Digiflec is also working with Forestry and Land Scotland to automate road condition surveys to monitor condition and facilitate maintenance of their extensive private road network.

Digiflec is excited to be involved in the CivTech Accelerator Programme because Scotland has a working countryside, in which the existing infrastructure is not always able to cope effectively with modern demands placed on it by various users. As well as residents, different economic sectors also rely on rural road networks; commercial operations such as forestry, quarrying, agriculture, tourism and the hospitality industry.

Using a variety of sensors, Digiflec will gather data which will offer detailed insights about how the road is used, and by what types of traffic. This data can be used to show how environmental factors, coupled with road use, impact upon the condition and degradation of the road surface.

Environmental data adds a further layer to the story, having implications for the integrity of the road surface and its rate of degradation under load.

Digiflec can gather and integrate this wealth of relevant data and then distil it into a useful format, which will then be used to minimise assumption in decision making about how material resources, time and funds would best be used to improve and maintain rural roads.

A robust economy depends on a smoothly functioning transport infrastructure, and Digiflec are helping to bring this about in the most cost, time and resource effective way possible.

Steven Gillan, Director at Digiflec, commented:

"The intense nature of the accelerator programme is hard work, but the results are encouraging. We are rapidly increasing our understanding and expertise in an emergent arena for smart technology deployment, and how we can work within it to gather reliable and comprehensive data to minimise assumption in decisions about rural infrastructure. This places us in a strong position to expand into the rural environment, building on our foundations in Smart city and intelligent transportation systems."