‘X-ray vision’: New app helps Changi Airport’s workers navigate essential services underground

SINGAPORE – In good weather, travellers often have a clear view of Changi Airport, including its control tower, terminal buildings and runways.

What they cannot see is the warren of cables, ducts and pipes that criss-cross the airfield and are critical to the functioning of the airport.

These are located underground and provide essential services such as high-voltage electricity and airfield lighting, which guides pilots to runways and helps them navigate in low-visibility conditions such as during bad weather.

The other services buried underground are pipes for Newater reclaimed water, potable water and fire hydrants, as well as power cables for iFerret, a system that detects foreign objects on the runways.

When asked, airport operator Changi Airport Group (CAG) declined to disclose the depths of underground equipment at the airport.

Any maintenance or repair work on these systems, known as the airport’s nervous system, must be carried out between 1am and 5am – during a lull in the airport’s operations – and often in pitch-darkness. This means airport workers have to spend more time getting their bearings in the dark, said CAG.

To deal with these challenges, CAG has developed a navigation tool with augmented-reality elements to help its engineers “see underground” and navigate the airfield in the dark.

The tool, known as the augmented underground services visualiser (AUSV), was developed over about three years and put into use in December. Its features were demonstrated to reporters during a visit to Changi Airport on Dec 16.

The AUSV is a 3D map of the buried network of cables, ducts and pipes that run across the airport and allows engineers to virtually position themselves in any part of the airfield to see which services are located there.

The tool – which has a built-in Global Positioning System – also allows engineers to see exactly where they are as they move around the airfield, so that they do not have to constantly orientate themselves.

In addition, the AUSV serves as a repository of the airport’s underground engineering assets. This makes it easier and quicker for new employees and contractors to obtain information and avoid damaging critical services when carrying out works on the airfield, said Mr Seoh Zhi Wen, vice-president for innovation and process enhancement at CAG’s engineering and development cluster.

The AUSV, added the airport operator, gives engineers “X-ray vision”, and allows workers to navigate more confidently and safely in low light, especially given the lack of natural landmarks on the airfield.

Previously, engineers had to navigate the airfield using 2D drawings and orient themselves against landmarks such as the control tower and terminal buildings.

If workers wanted a view of the six engineering services underground, they had to have “six different drawings of six different services” so as to have a clear picture of what they were dealing with underground, said Mr Seoh.

During the visit on the evening of Dec 16, engineers demonstrated the use of the AUSV in locating a manhole on a large grass patch amid muddy and uneven terrain – all in pitch-darkness and as planes continued to land on a nearby runway.

For one of the six services, there are more than 8,000 manholes across the airfield, CAG said, without specifying which service this is. This makes it a mammoth task to pinpoint the correct location of a manhole, if an engineer is unfamiliar with the area.

The AUSV was built on the back of an earlier application known as the Changi Airfield Tool, which was developed in 2021 with a Singapore tech vendor. A different vendor worked on the AUSV.

While the earlier tool also displayed the real-time position of workers within the airfield, it was only in 2D format.

Mr Seoh likened the AUSV’s development to an upgrade from a street directory to Google Maps in 3D.

“Actually, a street directory still works,” he said. “In our case, we have looked at engineering drawings for many, many years. But we do realise that there are better ways to do it.”

The AUSV app is available on three CAG-owned iPads. Access to these iPads is strictly controlled, given the critical nature of the information that the tool holds.

Mr Seoh said the AUSV can be updated constantly and incorporate more underground services, such as cables from telcos, in the future.

While the app does not yet have a complete map of the underground network, its accuracy will improve over time as more drawings are added when alteration or replacement works on the underground equipment are done, he said.

Going forward, engineers will have to take photos of the underground systems using a special 3D camera that is accurate to the centimetre. These pictures will then be added to the AUSV, added Mr Seoh.