Okana Awarded Grant for Aquila

Aquila is next generation, decision enhancing smart technology, using real time 4D mapping of plant equipment to review, analyse and predict performance onsite. This technology links plant equipment directly to project work programmes allowing an accelerated understanding of onsite operations.

Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation which invests in businesses developing new innovations – with an annual budget of over £1bn allocated to driving UK productivity and economic growth. The concept of Aquila very much fits within this category and was originally developed to address the under use of plant equipment on site to achieve budget and energy savings.

It is estimated misuse of plant equipment is wasting up to £100bn globally per year. Typically plant equipment and vehicles spit out exceptionally high levels of emissions, resulting in a consequential negative impact on the environment, to which the construction sector is responsible for around a fifth of all global emissions.

Okana had a vision that closer, and smarter analysis of plant equipment will produce efficiency savings in both onsite use and global emissions.  Plant equipment, particularly heavy earthmoving equipment such as excavators, bulldozers and trucks, represent a major cost element in construction projects ranging from 10% in a commercial project, and up to 50% in major infrastructure projects such as highways, railways and energy projects.

Previous research by the Okana team confirmed the opportunity of improving productivity on site by 15% or more, by increasing plant and equipment utilisation throughout the construction phase is achievable.

With net zero targets placing increasing amounts of pressure on the construction industry, the good practice of energy management on site, in addition to budget savings, is needed now more than ever.

Aquila’s greater optimisation of plant equipment will eliminate earthwork estimations and automatically determine the plant and equipment’s productivity output through machine learning algorithms in the platform.  This means no more performance predictions, the Aquila technology will accurately set project schedules for plant equipment, monitor and measure in use, down time and emissions output. Plus take lessons learned from one project to the next to maximise these efficiencies.

The consequences of equipment downtime, can be severe, ranging from delays in a project caused by an unexpected breakdown and the inconvenience of idle equipment taking up valuable space, all contributing to an overspend in project budget.

The need to deliver cost savings was a prominent feature in the development of Aquila, with the desire to remove additional unnecessary project costs. Which is why it was essential to develop a commercially, as well as technically, viable solution.

Aquila utilises simple, yet smart, plug and play mobile technologies, rather than intrusive Internet of Things (IoT) installation to sense equipment operation.

The newly awarded Innovate UK funding will enable Okana to further develop the new technology powering Aquila  that will support the essential plant equipment needed in any infrastructure or construction project. Aquila will change how project teams use these vehicles by optimising their performance for a smarter, greener future.