Nir Kessel, Head of Maintenance and Operations at Ayalon Highways, and Tom Givon, VP of Marketing and Solutions at GIV Solutions, were interviewed for the episode “When Technology Meets Bridges” on Ayalon Highways podcast “On the Road”. In the episode, they discussed the joint pilot project between GIV Solutions and Ayalon Highways, the importance of maintaining bridges, road structures, and transportation infrastructure, and the technological solutions that are changing the game.
Ayalon Highways is responsible for maintaining 87 vehicle and pedestrian bridges and 5 tunnels. Keeping the bridges in good structural condition is crucial for the safety of road users and for saving public funds. However, the maintenance is challenging and requires intensive and precise monitoring.
In traditional inspections, a civil engineer specializing in inspections must physically examine every centimeter of the bridge, identifying cracks as small as 0.1 mm in width (the width of a hair). They must reach high places, above lights and cables, and then produce a detailed analysis of the bridge’s condition for Ayalon Highways to review. Additionally, the inspection work is conducted only at night in coordination with the police and local authorities to avoid disrupting traffic.
GIV Solutions offers advanced drones (by Flyability technologies) for engineering inspections. These drones seamlessly integrate with GIV’s comprehensive management system, GIV-BMS™, built on the HxGN EAM platform and compliant with British standards. The system manages the entire inspection process—from defect identification to delivering precise recommendations for repairs and treatments. We started the joint project with a pilot for drone inspections.
GIV’s pilots arrived with Flyability’s innovative drone. This advanced drone is designed for enclosed spaces and is not GPS-based, so it must be flown manually. It easily illuminates dark areas, and its width is only 50 cm, allowing it to enter places that are inaccessible to humans. With the drone, the inspector can perform their usual work comfortably from a desk instead of hanging on a lift or rappelling. Over two nights, the pilot teams demonstrated various inspection methods, including one drone systematically and two drones complementing each other.
Nir Kessel: “We intentionally challenged GIV Solutions with a structure that is both a bridge and a tunnel. One of the challenges we identified was accessing the elements that needed inspection in such a complex structure, especially in areas with a lot of lighting and supporting construction. The conventional inspection took 3 months (including data processing), but when we brought GIV Solutions into the process with the need for minimal traffic disruption, we were able to access the structure itself, including difficult-to-reach corners and elements, while ensuring good data reception and access for the drone in such a challenging space. We saved over 300,000 ILS ($80,000) on a single inspection and reduced the (on-site) work timeline to two days – an amazing achievement!”
“The drone can produce a video of the entire inspection. For a long bridge, this results in a very long video that is challenging to review”, said Givon. “We are currently working on a complementary AI-based tool that will analyze the video and identify the relevant defects as defined by standards. We hope to implement it within the coming year.”
Tom Givon: “Our ultimate goal is to provide solutions that minimize downtime, reduce traffic jams, minimize safety issues, and maintain high maintenance standards. It is important to us that the infrastructure in the country is in excellent condition and lasts for a long time.”
The project integrates our GIV-RMS™, GIV-BMS™, and GIV-Inspection-Tech™ solutions.
Join us and listen to the full episode (in Hebrew) on various platforms:
https://open.spotify.com/show/43ogciAQpUY6tnaN7nQaGv
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzJa4h2tlas&list=PL7TzoATH6Tw9S5nRw7RDY7r9s-RyoOVRI
