Assessing wearable technology applications for transmission operation and design

Completed

Other Cross-Cutting Technologies or Research
Other Power and Storage Technologies(Electricity transmission and distribution)

Applied Research and Development

PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND MATHEMATICS (Computer Science and Informatics)
ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Electrical and Electronic Engineering)

Not Cross-cutting

Project Contact
National Grid Electricity Transmission

Network Innovation Allowance

Ofgem

01 May 2020

01 April 2021

ENA months

£286,487

Power

London

Network Innovation Allowance

Project Contact, National Grid Electricity Transmission

This project will solve these problems by introducing wearable technology by way of a pilot study using the Microsoft HoloLens 2, Microsoft Dynamics 365 applications and a Microsoft Mixed Reality partner to utilize data from National Grid. Wearable technology has the capability to allow a user to be completely handsfree in tasks that would traditionally require the user to alternate between the task and guidance material. Software applications will allow mixed reality overlay, guided visual assist and remote assist live video feedback to remote experts.The project will use wearbale technology in real world environment and collect evidences for demonstrable benefits, especially in terms of user acceptance. The project will cover the following use cases: Hands free document assist. Using the application guides to allow handsfree task completion leaving the user to concentrate on the task at hand whilst being guided through the process step by step. Appropriate task will be identified from actual work task. Live video sharing see what I see. Using the application Remote Assist to share live field of view to remote users. Investigation of mixed reality overlay of assets direct to site. Understand the technical requirements and data integration of 3D visualization of substation assets at real world scope. Improving access to drawings on site using virtual document overlay and investigating capability to pull in the correct drawings and/or asset information based on GPS location rather than having to manually search. Demonstrate capability to model a substation virtually to assist in silver command for emergency response. Applying mixed reality applications into a real world environment to determine how appropriate the technology is for a substation scenario – Durability testing, climate condition testing, water ingress resistance, connectivity and data availability using wifi, 4G, 5G in the field. Comparing utilisisation of HoloLens apps across different hardware solutions. How do they perform on a tablet vs the HoloLens 2 and can this make mixed reality more broadly applicable across the business without hardware investment. The objectives for this project are to: Understand the benefits of wearable technology within National Grid in greater detail Exploring the full width of the capabilities of HoloLens 2. Test the concept live in the field and assess the benefits, e.g. reduction in maintenenace time and site visits. Understand additional requirements and costs to integrate NGET data with wearable technology through a mixed reality partner software pending successful implementation of Dynamics 365 standard apps.

Wearable technology has been adopted widely for personal use and is now on the uptake for business. It is currently predominantly used to create handsfree operation, facilitate remote expert assistance and produce mixed reality overlay of information to task. These applications will be explored at National Grid through a proof of concept pilot study to gauge suitability for wider use across the business pending demonstratable improvements in productivity and decision making.

02/11/22