Pallon is a start-up offering computer vision software to optimize analysis and increase the safety of sewage networks by using artificial intelligence instrumentation. From the reduction of pollution to the gathering of data: to further improve the efficiency of our water infrastructures, we decided to invest in a technology which, in line with our 2021-2030 Business Plan, will help us develop the integrated water cycle, which encompasses both water purification and sewage pipelines.
The state of pipelines is one of the factors that most affects the state of the water. In the last few years, we at A2A have worked hard on the state of our networks, reducing wastage by 15%. In order to keep improving, we know that a safer system depends on two fundamental elements: efficient monitoring and correct data gathering.
Damaged wastewater pipelines can result in pollutant emissions in the environment. Despite the increasingly effective inspections involving intervention by specialized personnel, with the technology in use today, only one out of four problems is detected, or is correctly identified.
Even more accurate monitoring is also vital for the optimal management of the sewage system. As we will see shortly, Pallon technology makes it possible to improve the planning of work and limit intervention to where it is really needed, for both emergencies – with rapid and effective solutions – and routine pipeline maintenance and upgrading.
Accurate gathering and organization of data mean an improved analysis capability. For us at A2A, the gathering of data is a crucial element, part of a broader picture. The European Union is working on a package of reforms aimed at fostering the birth of an increasingly open and regulated data-driven economy thus revolutionising the European market.
Pallon – born at the Polytechnic of Zurich in 2019 – has developed Computer vision software able to analyse video material collected by a robot inside wastewater pipelines, drastically reducing analysis times and with a very high degree of accuracy. The software manages to identify more than 300 types of breakage, blockage and cracks, thus providing concrete benefits to network operators.
In addition to being an excellent collector of data, Pallon enables operators to make the sewers increasingly safe, further limiting the emissions of pollutants into the surrounding areas. The potential of this technology was also demonstrated by the trial on the sewage network of the Collettore Valtrompia purification facility near Brescia, with particular attention paid to a critical four-kilometre stretch of pipeline in concrete over 20 years old.
The results obtained from inspection of the sewage pipelines of the Collettore Valtrompia plant have shown with practical examples how Pallon technology can become a strategic element.
The Pallon project heads in the direction of respect for the life cycle of sewage networks. Over the next few years, our challenge will be to continue with what we work on every day and have been working on for years: building even safer networks without releasing pollutants into the environment.
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