The new age of infrastructure maintenance using data from space

The concentration of the population in cities is accelerating, and difficulties in maintaining various infrastructures are arising due to extreme weather. Extensive infrastructures like waste landfill facilities face significant challenges due to the difficulty for managers to stay on-site or access them. These maintenance issues are resulting in various problems, including environmental pollution.

To solve these issues, the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology has developed a cost-effective and high-efficiency maintenance technology using satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. The study is published in the journal Sustainability.

The satellite-based wide-area survey technology uses SAR to generate high-resolution images. It is an active remote sensing method that uses microwaves ranging from a few centimeters to several tens of centimeters, allowing observations under all weather conditions. Recently, satellite SAR data such as the European Space Agency’s Sentinel satellites are being shared for free, making it possible to integrate this technology into cost-effective maintenance solutions.

Dr. Sungpil, Hwang and Dr. Wooseok, Kim of KICT has utilized satellite SAR data to study the impact of underground structures, including roads and subways. The research analyzed the effects of excavation, such as subsidence on the surface caused by blasting, and verified the applicability of the technology under various structural conditions in urban areas. With this technology, widespread monitoring of surface displacement is anticipated to become feasible.

The joint research team from KICT and the University of Tokyo conducted an analysis of an actual waste disposal facility to verify the applicability of the technology for landfill sites in 2024. In order to eliminate obstacles such as trees in wide-area sites like landfills, scatterers were applied.

As a result of the scatterer application, data more than 15dB higher than the surrounding areas was obtained. This suggests that the maintenance of landfill facilities can be carried out more accurately. If this technology is implemented, maintenance costs will be reduced by more than 30% compared to existing methods, and blind spots in management will be eliminated.

Dr. Hwang, the lead researcher, highlighted the growing issue of aging infrastructure, stating, “The number of facilities requiring maintenance is increasing.”

He further emphasized the potential benefits of satellite SAR data, noting, “It is expected that using satellite SAR data will enable cost-effective and efficient maintenance.”

KICT plans to develop and implement a maintenance system for landfill facilities that includes scatterers in the future. This innovative system will not only be applicable to landfills, but also offers maintenance solutions for infrastructures across wide-area regions.