The SARAH (uSer-centred civil infrAstructure Reliable Assessment and Healing) project consortium, in which CATEC participates, recently held its review meeting in Helsinki (Finland) to assess the first year of the project’s development. The meeting highlighted the achievement of the initiative’s strategic milestones for this period and analysed the next steps to be taken in 2026.
CATEC was represented by Marta Arufe, as Project Manager, and José Ignacio Murillo, as Technical Lead, who attended the meeting alongside the other project partners, namely CEA (coordinator), TECNALIA, POMA, Ferrovial, Ente Italiano Di Normazione (UNI), Matz-Erreka (Erreka), Finnish Institute of Occupational Health (FIOH), Quasset, and Armengaud Innovate GmbH.
SARAH is a project funded with €5.9 million by the European Union, which will run until June 2028-It aims to develop an integrated digital solution that optimises decision-making, planning and reporting for the maintenance and repair of transport infrastructure such as railways, roads and cableways through UAS inspections, the development of digital twins and the integration of mixed reality tools.
CATEC’s primary role in this initiative is the development of the two autonomous aerial platforms (UAS) and the creation of advanced tools for repairing cracks in these infrastructures. Furthermore, it plays a key role in the integration of sensor hardware and software and in the validation of unmanned aerial systems through controlled flight tests.
At the meeting to review the first year’s progress, our colleague José Ignacio Murillo outlined the current status of CATEC’s work on the project, focusing on areas such as the development of an autonomous UAS platform for the visual inspection of defects in infrastructure, and an aircraft designed to deploy sensors and repair cracks in viaducts.
SARAH is a pioneering project thanks to its technological developments in the in-flight inspection and repair of structural cracks in hard-to-access structures, such as viaducts and transport route anchors, as well as innovative developments such as the creation of digital twins that enable the autonomous diagnosis of structural incidents in cable cars. Or, indeed, for the design and development of mixed reality systems that enable operators to work remotely, keeping them away from hazardous environments and ensuring their safety.
To this end, the project focuses on a range of technologies related to autonomous aerial navigation, computer vision, digital twins, the metaverse, acoustic modelling and analysis, structural repair, mixed reality and communications networks.
Further information on the project is available at: https://sarahproject.eu/
