Cyber Sensing for Power Outage Detection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for power outage detection are inefficient and inaccurate, particularly in areas without advanced metering infrastructure, leading to delays and poor situational awareness during widespread power outages, as they rely on manual customer reporting and lack standardized data processing for multiple utility scales.
Innovation Solution
A cyber sensing system that uses IP network addresses to detect power outages by gathering, filtering, and analyzing data from communication networks within specified geographic regions, creating a baseline for normal operation and visualizing changes in power availability, enabling real-time monitoring and rapid response.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If manual customer reporting is used to detect power outages, then coverage can be achieved in areas without advanced metering infrastructure, but detection accuracy and response time deteriorate significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary system that aggregates and analyzes data from multiple sources (AMI meters, customer reports, social media, and third-party data providers) to compensate for the weaknesses of each individual source. This intermediary processing layer enables accurate outage detection by cross-validating information and filling gaps where single sources are insufficient.
Solution Approach 2:
The system creates a universal outage detection platform that can process and analyze multiple types of data sources simultaneously - structured data from AMI meters, unstructured data from social media, and reports from various utility providers. This multi-functional approach allows the system to adapt to different data formats and sources while maintaining consistent detection accuracy.
2Loss of information
If data from multiple electric utilities is collected and amalgamated to understand widespread impact, then comprehensive situational awareness is achieved, but processing time increases due to lack of standards and multiple providers
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transforms disparate outage data from multiple utilities into a standardized format by changing the parameters and structure of the data during aggregation. It normalizes different data schemas, time formats, and geographic representations into a unified model, enabling efficient processing and analysis without losing critical information about outage scope and impact.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary data validation, filtering, and normalization as data arrives from multiple utilities, rather than processing everything at once. By pre-processing data streams continuously and maintaining ready-to-analyze datasets, the system reduces the computational burden during crisis situations and accelerates the time to actionable insights.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for cyber sensing for power outage detection includes receiving a selected geographic region for detection and monitoring of power outages; gathering Internet Protocol (IP) network addresses of IP networks within the geographical region; filtering the gathered IP network addresses of IP networks within the geographical region, wherein the gathered IP network addresses of IP networks within the geographical region are referred to herein as geo-relevant IP network addresses; calculating a baseline value for each geo-relevant IP network; scanning the filtered geo-relevant IP network once per predefined time interval, so that each individual IP address within each geo-relevant IP network is tested for response and determining how many devices within the geo-relevant IP network positively respond to the testing; periodically repeating the step of scanning and comparing scan results; and displaying results of scanning.