PROJECT. COLLABORATION. INNOVATION.

SEED FUND 2026

Automated identification of buried utilities for faster and safer underground

construction

A single utility strike can endanger lives and cause multi-million-euro damages, yet unreliable records and slow manual radar interpretation continue to leave contractors exposed. This project will validate AI based software that automatically estimates buried utility location, depth and diameter from ground penetrating radar measurements. We will collect data at five Irish sites, verify utility geometry after excavation and improve performance across different conditions. A live construction demonstration will deliver results within an hour to inform excavation decisions on site. The project will reduce strike risk and interpretation delays for contractors and provide evidence for licensing or a university spin-out.

Lead RPO: University of Galway

Lead PI: Brian Sheil

Industry Partners: Ward and Burke; Tetra Tech

Collaborators

1 2 3

Principal Investigator

Professor Brian Sheil

University of Galway

Brian is a recently appointed Established Professor at University of Galway. He is also Co-Founder and Chief Scientist of Inframind Labs and an EPSRC Open Fellow. Previously he has held academic positions at University of Cambridge and University of Oxford.

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PROJECT. COLLABORATION. INNOVATION.

SEED FUND 2026

Automated identification of buried utilities for faster and safer underground

construction

Collaborators

Principal Investigator

Professor Brian Sheil

University of Galway

Related content

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