Towers, pylons, building roofs… The telecoms infrastructure operator TDF has started construction of the digital twin of its 8,000 installations, on which it rents locations for their transmitters and antennas. A digitalization in three stages, which must be completed in 2027.
The first is to take a virtual tour of the facilities. “Using drones and 3D cameras, our technicians will take between 1,500 and 2,000 photos of each installation.describes Mouaad Aabibou, the project director. The solution from the Bulgarian start-up MYX Robotics then allows us, thanks to photogrammetry, to transform this capture into a 3D representation, a bit like Google street view.» Already with interesting features.
«We can simulate the addition of equipment, such as a 5G antenna, and see the impact in terms of interference, weight or wind resistance.“, argues the manager. Enough to hope to halve, by 2027, the 10,000 technical visits carried out each year. And reduce the customer response time to fifteen days for simple projects, compared to one to three months currently.
Economic gains at stake
The second step is to integrate data into the 3D model using BIM technology. Finally, “our virtual model must be interconnected with our computer system to update as soon as equipment is addedexplains Mouaad Aabibou. Because our pylons are alive, and what I captured last week is already out of date today».
The expected gains from this project: savings, better quality of expertise (drones see certain places better than technicians), improved maintenance thanks to the detection of rust or loose cables and optimization of sites. TDF hopes to be able to accommodate more customers on its infrastructures thanks to simulation.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
