Telekom Malaysia Berhad through its innovation arm, TM Research & Development wins the AI – Telecommunications Award at the recent Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards 2021, presented by a Singapore business publication.
The award was conferred in recognition of the Company’s achievement in developing PATROL as a proof of function for research particularly on automatic detection of construction using vehicle dashcam and generate proactive alerts using artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning algorithms.
This is the fourth award received by TM R&D from the Malaysia Technology Excellence Awards in its three years of running. The awards ceremony lauds exceptional companies that have successfully pioneered IT products, solutions and innovative technology projects in their respective industries to boost Malaysia’s fast-growing economy.
Commenting on the accomplishment, Dr. Sharlene Thiagarajah, Chief Executive Officer, TM R&D said, “This is indeed a proud moment for us. Winning the award is a huge boost for our effort in showcasing how AI can be applied to solve real-life problems. It is also a huge encouragement for us to further strengthen our position as the leader in the research, development and innovation field. This award goes out to the team for delivering such outstanding work. We hope it will give them the drive to explore more innovations for TM to serve a more digital society, digital business, digital industry and digital Government, towards accelerating Digital Malaysia.”
Project PATROL was developed to provide early warning alerts on areas where the company’s infrastructure has a high risk of being destroyed due to civil and construction works by a third party. Ideally, before the civil or construction works were to begin, utility companies are to be consulted to ensure proper precautionary measures are taken to avoid telecommunication cable or other utility infrastructure cuts such as water or sewerage.
The cable cuts will lead to loss of broadband and other telecommunication services which will cause major inconveniences to consumer lifestyle and businesses, as well as operation nightmare for any telcos. To fill in those gaps, PATROL was developed powered by digital and AI capabilities.
The system leverages AI, object detection capabilities and the Internet of Things (IoT) to detect a construction area using a dashcam. It then automatically checks if the unregistered civil and construction activity is in close proximity to underground or overhead cable infrastructure. Several parameters are used to assess risk before an alert is sent to the Network Operations Centre for investigation.
“PATROL provides real-time alerts on civil and construction activities that pose a high risk to the security and safety of TM’s cable infrastructure. This information allows telco providers to act fast in preventing possible threats to their assets. With PATROL, we foresee a huge opportunity for operational cost avoidance due to cable cut cases,” she further added.
Established in 2001, TM R&D is the innovation arm for TM Group focusing on creating smarter ecosystems to make business and life easier for a better Malaysia. The arms solutions are clustered around four (4) pillars namely Intelligent Platforms, Data Brokerage, Connectivity/Tools and IR4.0/Digital Solutions.
Growing from strength to strength since 2016, the department has won multiple global awards and generated more than 2,800 Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs) and 1,400 digital assets to date. Its innovations are all developed in-house and cut across multiple verticals such as Utilities, Retail, Agriculture, Healthcare and Education with safety and productivity as the top priority. As it continues to expand beyond connectivity and into smarter digital ecosystems, its role in TM has become more prominent and exciting.
