Substation Intelligence at the Edge
A substation is a dense array of power transformers, circuit breakers, disconnectors, earth switches, instrument transformers and busbars, often in a rural yard with no signal. When something trips, the engineer needs the single-line diagram, the switching schedule and the OEM manual—critical national infrastructure documents that cannot go to a public cloud.
Steel.vision recognises the equipment in view, reads the rating plate (voltage ratio, MVA, vector group, SF6 fill pressure), and pulls the matching passage from the manuals loaded on the phone, citing file and page. Substation yards and switchrooms are not hazardous-area zoned, so a standard managed iPhone is enough.
Single-Line Diagram Tracing
Tracing a circuit through a legacy single-line diagram is error-prone, and a mistake at 33 kV or 132 kV is lethal. The tracer highlights the path between two points on the drawing and the isolation and earthing points along it, as a check for the authorised person—not a replacement for the safety rules.
Network Specifics
- No signal required: Highland and island substations work exactly like the depot; the language model runs on the phone.
- Storm response: when the mobile network is down the app is unaffected; manuals, drawings and answers are already on the device.
- Innovation-route ready: pilots are shaped for network innovation programmes (NIA trials, Strategic Innovation Fund partnerships) with a pilot pack covering risk assessment, data protection and managed-device deployment.