Project Description

OMICRON’s main objective is the development of an Intelligent Asset Management Platform with an extensive portfolio consisting of area-specific technologies that help enhance construction, maintenance, renewal, and the overall upgrade of the European road network. This project will in turn improve the whole asset management pipeline by concentrating its attention towards four main pillars: 

I. Implementation of digital inspection technologies

By integrating UAVs, dedicated terrestrial inspection vehicles, and C-ITS services, OMICRON expects to reduce the exposure of personnel to traffic and improve road network availability. More specifically, the coordination of drones, vehicles with incorporated sensors and scanners, and access to a network of Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) will facilitate and optimise transportation, leading to a more unified and efficient Europe.

II. Development of a road Digital Twin

With the assistance of a digital representation of our roads’ infrastructure, the hope of providing full support to the management of road intervention actions will be a realistic and attainable goal. Visibility into the framework of our roads, bridges, earthworks and surrounding structures will be clearer than ever.

III. Structuring a Decision Support Tool for road infrastructures

All information gathered and stored by the Digital Twin will be closely processed and analysed by the Decision Support Tool. By optimising and using Artificial Intelligence techniques, this tool will be able to evaluate infrastructure conditions and plan road intervention actions accordingly. 

IV. Application of smart construction and intervention solutions for road infrastructures

In our fast-paced world, the automation and digitalisation of everyday processes is becoming increasingly more frequent and relevant. That is why OMICRON will use robotic technologies to enhance road maintenance works. One such technology will be an innovative Modular Robotic Platform, designed to support emergency, routine, and extraordinary interventions. This platform is tele-operated with a web-based Virtual Reality platform. Through the application of VR and AR based tools and technologies, OMICRON aims to help road workers by reducing hazards related to machinery and traffic conditions.

By interconnecting OMICRON’s Intelligent Platform with the BIM-oriented Digital Twin, which is simultaneously connected to the Decision Support Tool, the industrialisation and automation of road management tasks that still retain a considerably high labour component will subsequently be accomplished. All of these improvements will greatly impact the entire road network system, ranging from the pavement of our roads, to the bridges, tunnels, lighting and signalling systems that complete them. 

These actions will amount to an increase in the levels of safety concerning road intervention actions, the capacity of the road network, and an overall improvement of the efficiency of road intervention processes, finally accompanied by a reduction of maintenance costs in the long run. 

How will OMICRON carry out its agenda?

With OMICRON being such a technology-focused project, it will need to take careful provisions to ensure that its solutions and their applications are ready to be deployed in real-life situations. It is because of this that the project will test each technology separately, as well as together in order to effectively, efficiently and safely maximise the deployment of all aspects of the project.

The first demonstration executed by OMICRON will be done as a virtual technical demo. This will constitute the smart construction of bridge overpasses, performed by a digital representation of real-life bridge construction with physical and functional characteristics. The virtual demonstration will be followed by three technical demonstrations taking place on different motorways in Spain, concluded with the final demonstration which will test multiple OMICRON technologies in the A24 motorway in Italy. 

After this demonstration phase the technologies will obtain a Technology Readiness Level of 7 (TRL 7), which is the early stage within the deployment state. This is a major step in the maturity of the technology, as it is here that the system prototype will be demonstrated and its technologies deployed in operational environments, realising the purpose of the demonstration methodology.ű

Partners

The consortium is formed by 16 partners from 7 different EU countries that provide a wide array of skillsets that bring something to the table, complementing each other in such a way that is bound to make the project a sure success. These skillsets are represented by various professionals, including but not limited to:

The group of technologies developed in the project will be implemented in a virtual demo and four real demonstrators that belong to CEF corridors from two European countries: Spain and Italy. The technologies developed in OMICRON will achieve a TRL 7 after the demonstration phase.

The consortium includes:

•    Road managers and associations
•    Emergency routine and extraordinary maintenance contractors
•    Civil engineering companies
•    Smart solution developers
•    Drones and robotics experts
•    Research centres
•    Universities
•    ICT developers and integrators
•    Communications and dissemination managers
•    Business model managers and innovation and projects managers

RÉGENS' role in the project

RÉGENS is specialised in bespoke software development, web & mobile development, and cloud & IT services with more than 20 years of experience. This is one of the main determining factors that helped entrust the responsibility of data management development and the front & back-end development of the tools and apps dedicated to the infrastructure manager in RÉGENS’s capable hands. The main activities will consist of the development and implementation of the standardised APIs for the digital twin and decision support system, as well as the delivery of an instruction guide that will be used to carry out the final demonstration.

Duration

The project will begin on May 1, 2021, with a time frame of 42 months in total.

Funded

The project is funded by the Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme of the EU (H2020), Europe’s Framework Programme designed for international cooperation. Structured around three pillars (Excellent Science, Industrial Leadership and Societal Challenges), its objective is to achieve breakthroughs, discoveries and world-firsts by taking great ideas from the lab to the market while simultaneously building up relations between European countries.  

OMICRON's website: Omicron - Omicron project