Painting a picture with data

Phillipa Slater of NGED points out that her asset management team is now focused on building up a detailed digital picture of the network. “Where we can really reduce exposure to risk and benefit health and safety is by moving to a more data-driven approach,” she explains. “We have information from LiDAR, from high-definition photos, and from thermal imaging, and we are able to pull it all together.” This helps create a point cloud-based digital twin of the network.

Slater says: “That enables us to understand what the risks are from an asset perspective, and we only send people out to complete work or carry out further investigation if needed. Foot patrolling the whole network just isn’t feasible.”

That three-dimensional network model enables accurate distance measurement of vegetation from assets and decisions to be made about whether vegetation should be managed. Although the “potential of the digital twin has only been scratched”, says Slater, it is already enabling NGED to track changes in vegetation growth and predict which assets need vegetation management – and which can be left alone. “That means we can be much more targeted in our approach,” says Tutcher.

Using LiDAR data in this way marks an evolution from its original purpose, Slater says. When overlaid with other data sources such as maintenance, inspection, and fault information, “we really understand not only what the network looks like, but how it is performing”.

“That will help shape prioritisation of decision-making and the elements we want to target. Then, when it comes to the asset management side, it means you are just so much more informed.”

Long-term, the aim is predictive maintenance, Slater says. “Because we have thermal imaging, we can identify how hotspots change over time, and then can get cleverer at understanding the rate of asset deterioration and the deterioration mechanisms. So, as well as keeping on top of vegetation management, we start to understand deterioration a lot better.”

In terms of reactive maintenance, there are also benefits in having such a detailed digital picture. “If a fault occurs and we know vegetation isn’t causing a problem, and that it is a mechanical or electrical issue, we can be super-targeted and pinpoint where we need to go, which means we are much quicker to respond.”

Although data has immense value for asset management, it’s important to be selective, Slater adds. “We have so many assets out there it can end up being a bit of a data swamp. So, it is about collecting the right, useful data that directs you to make decisions. Not all data is useful data, so we spend a lot of time refining it to help to shape what we do.”

Bateman of Cyclomedia says that building up a clearer picture of the network through surveying and capturing imagery by vehicle not only improves health and safety but also helps reduce customer minutes lost. There is a place for both aerial and ground-based surveying, he says. “I think we need a mix of technologies. We can cover about 70 – 80% of the LV network, but we can’t cover the parts that aren’t close to roads or that go across fields.”

Areas for innovation at Cyclomedia include investment in more powerful camera technology, and increasing the speed of turnaround time from capturing data to providing the information the DNO needs. The company is also exploring detecting changes between sets of images, along with the possibilities of machine learning.

“Remote surveying is an exciting area for DNOs right now, and historically, it’s perhaps been underinvested in. So, we know we are in a position to make a big impact,” Bateman concludes.

For more information, contact James Bateman: jbateman@cyclomedia.com