NortecView and the American Gas Technology Institute (GTI) have launched the VISUS, a cutting-edge mobile traceability system for gas distribution networks. The VISUS captures information on pipes, joints, fusions and operators, which directly integrates with a company’s GIS to create maps and records of new installations in real-time. This technology will confine to the dusty bin of history issues of pipeline vandalism which is perennial in places like Nigeria
In March 26, 2015, a huge explosion caused East Village in Manhattan to tremble. In the explosion, 3 apartment buildings collapsed causing the death of 2 people and injuring dozens. This recent explosion occurred only a year after the East Harlem explosion in which 8 people were killed and 70 injured. Both explosions are part of a chain of explosions caused by improper installation and insufficient information on the condition and the location of underground natural gas pipelines.
Since 2008, federal and state regulators in the U.S. enacted regulations requiring asset records to be “traceable, verifiable and complete”. These regulations, which are adopted also outside the U.S., are leading utility companies to shift away from manual data documentation practices to automated data collection methods for asset tracking to reduce the opportunity for human error and to increase data quality and reliability.
For that purpose, NortecView and GTI have co-developed the VISUS, an advanced traceability system that will answer gas utility companies’ need to minimize any discrepancies between the data collected in the field and the database created in the back-office.
The VISUS includes mobile GIS software, near sub-foot accuracy GPS external receivers, barcode scanning technology, unique fusion application and a durable label with 50-year lifespan in underground conditions that serves as a “black-box” in the field.
The data collected includes, among other things, the operator’s name, qualifications and certifications, pipes and joints manufacturers and batch numbers, and finally, fusion data attributes. This technology enables utility companies to perform real-time monitoring, save back-office processing time & costs as well as minimize human errors.
After the explosions in NY City, the local regulator published a notification that regulations requiring fusion traceability will soon be issued.
NortecView is a member of the Nortec Group that specializes in developing traceability solutions for harsh environments, mainly for the energy, electronics, automotive, aerospace, security and military industries. The technology was built with funding from US Operations Technology Development partnership (OTD) and the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development (BIRD) Foundation.
