Smart City Technologies: LiDAR on the Tay Road Bridge

Discover how a unique partnership between LiDAR specialist Digiflec and the Scotland 5G Centre is transforming traffic monitoring in Scotland and beyond.

Digiflec as one of the winners of the Tay5G Innovation challenge fund, are developing a project for Dundee City, to move forward on its journey to becoming a Scottish Smart City. The project with the help Scotland 5G Centre, and the use of the 5G outdoor testbed in Dundee, sees how Digiflec’s Connected Intelligent Infrastructure Monitoring (CiiM) system uses cutting-edge LiDAR technology to transmit data over 5G and understand how the Tay Road Bridge is used by vehicles and other road users.

Date:

28 February 2024, 10:30-11:30am

Who it’s for:

• Local Authorities Roads and Transport teams
• Local Authorities Economic Development, Waste operations, Planning and Policy departments
• (Public) Transport infrastructure organisations
• Consultancies
• Freight and logistics companies

Synopsis:

In September 2023, Digiflec as one of the winners of the Tay5G Innovation Challenge Fund, in a collaborative project with the Scotland 5G Centre, installed an intelligent traffic monitoring system on the Tay Road Bridge, a main artery into Dundee.

The system uses LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), a sensor technology that creates a real-time, anonymous digital replica of its surroundings. Moreover, it is connected to the internet through an ultrafast 5G mobile network, enabling timely emergency responses.

So far, the system has successfully collected information about vehicle types, size, speed, and direction of travel, in all weather and lighting conditions. It can not only provide statistics but also real-time visuals. This is instrumental in streamlining the operations of the bridge management and maintenance teams.

Join us for an engaging session to explore improving safety and efficiency on bridges and road infrastructure, the role of LiDAR and 5G, and use cases for future deployment.

Our experts will provide real-life visuals and data from the Tay Bridge installation to illustrate insights and opportunities.

Takeaways:

• Learn about the Dundee-Fife Tay Road Bridge Tay5G project
• Understand the unique characteristics of LiDAR data and 5G, and their role in planning infrastructure
• Explore future use cases
  
  

Panel:

• Host: Julie Craik, Project Manager, Dundee City Council + Tay5G
• Steven Gillan, Director, Digiflec
• Andre Tapadinhas, Geospatial Analyst, Digiflec
• Jack Waland, Technical Delivery Manager, Scotland 5G Centre
• Alan Hutchison, Bridge Manager, Tay Road Bridge

About the Scotland 5G Centre:

The Scotland 5G Centre (S5GC) is the national centre for accelerating the deployment and adoption of 5G connectivity in Scotland’s Industry and Public Sectors.

Funded by the Scottish Government, S5GC provides a wide range of expert, impartial and transparent services free to Scottish-based private and public sector organisations of all sizes.

The Centre offer businesses a unique opportunity to test their products, services and solutions, risk-free, in a secure environment and to use the Private 5G testbed facilities located nationwide. The Centre provide impartial and expert advice - tailored to each business’s needs, working alongside them on their digital journey and identifying 5G solutions that can help their business. 

About Digiflec: 

Digiflec are a Scottish company that specialises in using 3D LiDAR technology to improve space usage, infrastructure, and road user safety.  

Digiflec are working towards a world where decisions about how we use our financial and material resources are made regarding high-quality, comprehensive data, and believe that accurate, granular 3-dimensional data is the key to unlocking a more interactive, smarter world. 

About Tay 5G:  

Tay5G is a project born from the Tay Cities Deal and is funded by the Scottish and UK Governments. Tay5G aims to encourage and support engagement with 5G across sectors which reflect the regional strengths and priorities of the Tay Cities Region.   

We are working with partners including the Scottish Futures Trust, the Scotland 5G Centre and Councils, Universities and other stakeholders in Tay Cities Region. 

Tay5G's goal is to create opportunities to trial 5G mobile communications with use cases for all kinds of sectors from entertainment to manufacturing, healthcare to construction, and fashion to automated transport. 5G is especially great for enabling advanced communications like virtual reality, automation and the Internet of Things that is a key tool for Smart Cities. By encouraging and supporting engagement with 5G, it's easier to understand what it offers and so this helps to generate demand. In turn, telecom companies respond to that demand with faster rollouts. 

About Tay Cities:  

The Tay Cities Deal is a partnership between local, Scottish and UK governments and the private, academic and voluntary sectors which seeks to create a smarter and fairer Angus, Dundee, Fife and Perth & Kinross under the headings Inclusive Tay; Innovative Tay; International Tay; Connected Tay and An Empowered Tay.   

In total, the 26 projects submitted require investment of £700 million of which £300 million over 10 years is being put in by the UK Government and Scottish Government, subject to final approval of robust business cases.   

If every project and programme set out in the submission is funded and delivered, up to 6,000 job opportunities could be created across the tourism, food and drink, creative industries, eco innovation, digital, decommissioning, engineering, biomedical and health and care sectors.