Friday03 January 2025
inbusinesskz.com

Discover how a nation is revolutionizing its road quality control with cutting-edge technology! From AI-driven diagnostics to mobile labs, this ambitious plan aims to transform the transp...

To assess the quality of roads in the country, artificial intelligence has begun to be utilized.
Узнайте, как одна страна стремится стать транспортным гигантом Евразии! Инновационные технологии и цифровизация меняют подход к контролю состояния дорог. Не упустите шанс узнать, как это ...

In last year's address, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev highlighted that the transport and logistics potential of the country holds strategic significance and is expected to become one of the drivers of its economic development in the future.

“Overall, Kazakhstan must strengthen its position as a key transit hub in Eurasia and eventually become a fully-fledged transport and logistics power. The dynamic development of this sector is a strategic task. The share of the transport and logistics sector in the GDP structure should reach at least 9% within the next three years. To achieve this, it is fundamentally important to ensure effective management of the industry,” emphasized the Head of State.

Of course, to accomplish this task, it is crucial to bring the road network into order. Currently, the length of Kazakhstan's transport arteries is 95,000 km, of which 25,000 km are highways of national significance. To monitor their condition, appropriate administrative, technical, and personnel resources are needed.

For these purposes, in 2019, on the initiative of the Head of State, the Republican State Enterprise “National Center for Quality of Road Assets” (NCQRA) was established under the Committee for Roads of the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of Kazakhstan by merging 16 regional road laboratories. Today, this structure has 20 branches equipped with testing laboratories accredited according to the requirements of ISO 17025 and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).

Since then, there has been a systematic effort to improve technologies for timely and, importantly, quality control of road conditions. For instance, last year, there were 11,400 inspection trips conducted, during which 40,300 samples were collected and tested.

Analyzing such vast volumes, NCQRA is focusing on digitalization to simplify and enhance its activities. One of these projects is KazRoadLab.

“Initially, the program was created to simplify the work of the engineering staff,” explains the essence of the system, Director of the Quality Control Department Kuanish Toleukhanov. “Previously, engineers took paper reports with them on site, recording all defects. After that, they had to return to the laboratory to input the information into the system. This took a lot of time. Now, each employee has their own tablet, which synchronizes everything, and the data is entered in real-time, sending it directly to the server.”

There is now the capability to test samples in the laboratory using tablets as well. This has helped reduce corruption risks by minimizing the “human factor.”

“In any other laboratory, an employee has the opportunity to alter data because, for instance, they could weigh the sample but record different data in the log. However, our tablets are synchronized, and if the sample is placed on the scale, the data goes directly to the server, where it cannot be changed,” added the department director.

Road quality diagnostics are conducted using a mobile laboratory. Its equipment reads all indicators of the road surface condition.

The mobile laboratory consists of a path sensor, systems for measuring geometric parameters, longitudinal evenness using the IRI method, transverse evenness (rutting), video recording, GPS, and a system for measuring the linear dimensions of defects.

For instrumental assessment of road surface strength, trailer units are used: the “Dina-3” and “Dina-4” measurement systems. For evaluating longitudinal evenness of the surface and adhesion qualities, a PKRS-2U dynamometric trailer is utilized. To count traffic intensity, the RoadPod VT 5900 MetroCount device is employed.

The diagnostic process uses SRDS (Smart Road Diagnostic System) software based on artificial intelligence, which identifies road surface defects and generates detailed reports. With the existing patent for this system, the National Center is successfully implementing the product in Russia. This process is ongoing, and three license keys have already been sold to Russian colleagues.

The system consists of a linear camera (for capturing the road surface), a distance sensor (for recognizing the location of defects on the road), a GPS sensor (for identifying GPS coordinates of defects), and a computer (for recording and calculations in real time). The system is mobile and can be mounted on the vehicle of the mobile road laboratory (MRL) or any other transport.

“Annually, NCQRA conducts diagnostics on approximately 17,000 kilometers of roads,” says Deputy General Director Asshat Okasov about the project. “If earlier road defect identification was done manually, now the program, which operates based on AI, automatically reads everything – potholes, cracks, what repairs are needed, the lifespan of the road, and so on.”

The collected information about the condition of the roads enables constant monitoring and assessment of their current state. This, in turn, serves as a basis for making decisions about the necessary repair work.

Thus, if previously studying 100 km of roads took between four days to a week, now, thanks to digitalization, the time for the same volume of diagnostics has been reduced to four hours.

“This is entirely our development, created by our specialists,” says the director of the Diagnostics and Departmental Expertise Department, Talgat Zhusupov. “Initially, it was intended to eliminate the human factor. As you know, a person can get tired and may miss some defect due to simple inattention. The most important thing is that artificial intelligence is trainable. For example, if initially the detection rate, completeness of defect volumes, and characterization were about 50%, now with the data set, it’s 95%. So we are receiving almost complete information. The only downside is that the machine cannot work in rainy weather yet; the asphalt must be completely dry, and the weather clear.”

“Unfortunately, the camera may mistake a simple puddle for a defect – a pothole or some other flaw. But work is underway, and the technology is improving,” the expert added.

Of course, the use of any modern technology requires specialists. As assures Kirill Grinenko, the chief specialist of the digitalization department at NCQRA, regular courses were insufficient or entirely unsuitable. Therefore, the center is currently heavily engaged in developments in the field of road education. Platforms for assessing road industry workers have been created, as well as a training platform in the form of an educational simulator called “Virtual Laboratory.” Additionally, a system called “Academy USO” is being developed.

“Regarding the ‘Virtual Simulator,’ we understood that the information employees receive from various courses is inadequate. Thus, the idea arose to create a virtual simulator that fully encompasses the entire work of road specialists. Accordingly, we can now conduct both a full training course and certification,” said the chief specialist.

The simulator fully immerses the employee in the field of activity they intend to work in, accurately simulating all work moments.

“This year we conducted pilot tests and plan to complete the full certification of all NCQRA employees by the end of 2024. If the simulator proves effective, we plan to integrate it into road education,” added Kirill Grinenko.

Furthermore, the simulator has already been presented multiple times at major exhibitions and has received positive feedback from both domestic and foreign experts.

For instance, Chinese partners expressed interest and invited us to present the project at the annual virtual reality exhibition, the World Metaverse VR & AR Ecosystem Conference in Guangzhou.

“We have also been invited to Miami (USA) for a similar exhibition, Emerge America, in 2025. The Con London International Software Development Conference will take place in London,” emphasized the expert.

By the way, the SRDS program has garnered interest in Russia and Georgia. Currently, the company plans to create a unified ecosystem that will be used throughout Kazakhstan for road quality checks.