Matt Seber, a crew leader for Georgia Power, agrees that the GPS data is something his crew does not want to give up after their experiences with it. “GPS data is of real value to anyone in the field,” Seber said. He has experienced problems with the GPS signal not being available when it was needed most, but this has been fixed. Recent upgrades have seen the antenna move from a magnetic device placed on the outside of the truck's cab to being part of the laptop. “Like all modifications, there will be problems at first, but the value of the system far outweighs those small problems,” Seber concluded.

“Hurricane Isabel, which occurred in 2003, was a wake-up call for Dominion (Richmond, Virginia, U.S.),” said Jerry Warren, systems analyst. Dominion had been working with MapFrame Corp. (Dallas, Texas, U.S.) since 1999 in developing mobile data and communications systems, and Warren had been part of the project team since its inception. The team saw how storm restoration would be greatly improved with real-time GIS/GPS data available to their field personnel.

Since mapping was one of the original driving forces (the system replaced more than 15,000 paper maps), data was available, but like the rest of the application, a storm-damage assessment process had to be defined and implemented into the Dominion scheme. He recalls how excited the linemen team members were as the assessment tool unfolded. Warren said, “I heard one comment repeated by the linemen over and over during the development stages: Look what we can do now!”

Dominion continues to improve the process and has recently combined its Panasonic Toughbook laptops with Verizon wireless cards, giving the crews almost complete real-time coverage in the Dominion service area.

VALUE IS IN THE MIND OF THE USER

The intelligent solution to the problems facing the industry is the integration of software and hardware. The advanced technologies of the digital utility are doing that in the line truck.

Linemen are using these technologies every day to do their jobs more efficiently and safely. Wireless connections to their laptops allow them to exchange data with the company's network from the field. They are able to view system one-line diagrams, check out structural drawings, schedule outages and clearances on transmission lines or call for hot-line holds. Some see the new technologies as an invasion of the field by the office, but the advantages of having answers at their fingertips outweighs any drawbacks.

PHASE IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM

Avistar Inc., a subsidiary of PNM Resources (Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.), has developed a handy bit of wizardry for linemen's tool boxes. The AP-20 identifies phases and phase angles in seconds on overhead and underground lines.

Al Houghton, senior applications engineer, remembers the good old days when he did distribution work for Public Service Company of New Mexico. Houghton recounted how the connection to the feeder would be made, and then he would find a place (perhaps at the substation miles away) where he could set up a signal generator on a known phase of the distribution feeder. He would then return to the connection point, get out the phasing stick and buzz the line to identify that phase. Then he would go back to the identification point, move the generator to the next known phase, and drive back to the connection point to buzz the second phase. The third phase was a given at this point. Houghton said it could take hours to identify the phasing on a feeder connection. Unfortunately, many times the connection phasing was wrong and had to be taken apart and reconnected.

The AP-20 changes all that. A base unit is installed somewhere on the system as a reference point. It really doesn't matter where the base unit is as long as it has telephone access. The hot-stick unit is touched to the line (120 Vac to 500 kVac) and sends zero crossing information to the field unit, which establishes a cell-phone connection to the reference unit and then identifies phase. The connection is made and the technician moves on.

This also is handy when balancing feeder loads. It seems feeders get unbalanced over the years as customers are added. This is so time consuming that most utilities never try to rebalance them. Houghton pointed out, “Each phase connection can be checked by just driving to it and making the reading. If the customer is on a heavily loaded phase, move them to another phase right then.” Houghton recalls that in the development stages, there was a great deal of work with the line department. He said, “The engineers were so impressed with the AP-20 they wanted to use it, too. So, the developers went back and made it simple enough that an engineer could use it — now that is user friendly.”