A whole new way

UTTO consists of a cloud-based platform, a mobile tablet app and a networked locator device. IPEG Corporation approached Cambridge Consultants for help with the complex system integration – including wireless communications hardware, app development and server-side software.

“We believe this new technology will revolutionise the locate industry,” said Alan Haddy, president of IPEG Corporation. “Since the first underground pipes and cables were laid, utility companies and skilled field technicians have had to search repeatedly to find their assets. Now, they can map and relocate those assets with the support of our cloud-based technology – saving time and money, and reducing mislocates.

“We chose to work with Cambridge Consultants on this project as it has the multidisciplinary expertise necessary to solve our complex technical challenges fast – and has enabled us to link together all the elements into a complete platform from core to cloud.”

In the US – unlike the UK – it is the responsibility of utility companies to provide contractors with details of the location of underground assets such as pipes and cables. A contractor will call a utility company 48 hours in advance to warn them that work is about to start at a certain location. The utility company then contracts an asset location company to go to the site with pipe and cable location equipment and physically mark the position of the underground assets. In areas where a lot of work is carried out, the same asset can be marked up over and over again – yet the precise location information is not usually recorded.

With UTTO, the locator device is used in the field in the same way as existing devices – but the data is stored and uploaded to a mobile tablet app and then uploaded to the cloud. The crucial innovation is the linking together of all the information elements to dramatically improve the speed and accuracy of asset location.

“Our world-leading expertise in industrial sensing and wireless technology was key to the success of this project – coupled with our multidisciplinary teams, which have all the necessary skills under one roof,” said Nathan Wrench, head of the industrial and energy business at Cambridge Consultants. “Our relationship with IPEG Corporation goes back many years and we’re delighted to be part of its transformation into a world-class technology solutions provider – and to be helping it deliver this radical innovation to market.”