Seoul – August 23, 2022 –

People and Technology Co., Ltd. has been selected for a research and development project led by the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology (KICT), titled “DNA-Based Smart Maintenance Platform and Utilization Technology for Aging Bridge Structures.” This initiative comes as South Korea faces an increasing proportion of bridges exceeding 30 years of service life, marking the onset of a critical infrastructure aging era.

To address this challenge, the project aims to develop a smart maintenance platform that provides critical data such as maintenance priorities, budget estimation, and aging levels for bridges. This will support the establishment of strategic maintenance services for bridge infrastructure.

Project Scope and Goals

The project focuses on advancing the maintenance technology for aging bridge structures by:

• Building a database of over 5 million records related to bridge aging, including environmental degradation, structural behavior, and long-term surveys.
• Implementing AI-driven methodologies to improve the reliability of aging evaluation factors.
• Developing tailored services for various users, including management entities, maintenance industries, and academic/research institutions, such as:
  • Maintenance priority rankings.
  • Budget estimation foundations.
  • Detailed aging level insights.

The Smart Maintenance Platform will integrate:

1. Over 5 million field-acquired degradation data points.
2. Enhanced degradation model accuracy through data analysis.
3. AI-based virtual modeling technologies.
4. Improved evaluation and prediction accuracy of aging factors.
5. Long-term decision-making support tools for maintenance.

Key Benefits

This platform will facilitate:

• Proactive maintenance strategies, allowing bridge issues to be addressed before incidents occur.
• Elimination of maintenance blind spots, ensuring comprehensive oversight of aging infrastructure.
• Accurate future forecasting for resource allocation and risk management.

Technology Development

People and Technology is advancing deep learning models to identify and segment damage types in bridge imagery. Progress made in 2021 includes:

• Preprocessing and quantifying aging bridge image data.
• Developing manual labeling software.
• Defining damage object types for classification.
• Building initial frameworks for deep learning using ImageNet to identify bridge damage.

The project will culminate in:

• Software capable of identifying damage types such as water stains, concrete spalling, and rebar corrosion.
• A prototype for quantifying damage objects, enabling efficient maintenance operations.

Leadership Remarks

Hong Sung-pyo, CEO of People and Technology, commented, “We are thrilled to be selected for this KICT project. It’s a significant opportunity to demonstrate our capabilities as a leading enterprise AI service provider in South Korea. We look forward to contributing innovative solutions to ensure the safety and sustainability of our nation’s infrastructure.”

This project highlights the vital role of technology in addressing the challenges posed by aging infrastructure, ensuring safer and more efficient maintenance solutions.