Month: May 2020

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National Grid choose UTTO’s Locate Assurance Platform

<section class="av_textblock_section av-jw9ix716-65be9b5e3b41cc775d6d9c7565e6cfcf"> <div class="avia_textblock"> <p>National Grid (<a href="http://www.nationalgridus.com">www.nationalgridus.com</a>) with operations in Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York are taking their damage prevention operations to a whole new level and requiring UTTO’s Locate Assurance™ for all their locate and mark tickets.</p> <p>Locate Assurance is an advanced, quality assurance technology that helps measures and incentivize field workers to use best practices when performing locate and mark operations.</p> <p>Without Locate Assurance an operations field supervisor has no insight into what is happening in their daily field operations and only when it is too late, and a damage has occurred, is the problem revealed.</p> <p>NGrid were thrilled with the results of an R&amp;D program in 2019 that included UTTO and PG&amp;E among others, which established “what a good and what a bad locate looks like” and they have now made UTTO Locate Assurance part of their requirement for any locate contractors who bid and work for them in the future.</p> <p>NGrid are now able to view their Contractor’s daily field <em>activity and performance</em>. Field users upload data to the UTTO Cloud after each locate and NGrid supervisors will receive alert messages when exceptions to best practice occurs (based on UTTO’s best practice algorithm). They will then be able to view why an alert occurred and contact the Contractor should it be necessary.</p> <p>On the UTTO 3D Activity Map locate sessions can instantly be viewed and prioritized. Audits can now be targeted and prioritized using real data and risk assessments rather than random selections, saving manpower and time.</p> <p>From a broader industry perspective, the unique part of NGrid’s leadership is for the first time the utility industry AND the contract locate industry will share field technician performance data. UTTO is the bridge between the two. Some see this of this as disruptive, other see it as the future.</p> <p>UTTO are pioneering the drive to have asset owners, contractors, device manufacturers and developers all work toward a common goal of reduced damages, accountability and improved productivity.</p> <p>For more information, please contact:</p> <p>Jeanne Zagursky – jeanne@utto.com</p> </div> </section> <p>&nbsp;</p>

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Rave Reviews for UTTO’s revolutionary Locator Training and Certification Simulator

<section class="av_textblock_section av-jw9ix716-65be9b5e3b41cc775d6d9c7565e6cfcf"> <div class="avia_textblock"> <p>USIC (<a href="https://www.usicllc.com/">www.usicllc.com</a>) begin their phased roll out of UTTO’s Locate Training and Certification Simulator and continue to lead the way in adopting new technologies that will transform the damage prevention industry by improving quality, employee skills and motivation.</p> <p>The Locate Simulator enables Trainers to establish immersive, custom locate scenarios that can teach, explain and challenge field techs. Scientific based performance scoring and certification reporting is delivered and customers can establish their own success criteria, or use a suite of preset metrics.</p> <p>The Locate Simulator integrates seamlessly with UTTO’s real-world Locate Assurance platform, providing visibility and incentives the industry so desperately needs.</p> <p>For more information, please contact:</p> <p>Jeanne Zagursky – jeanne@utto.com</p> </div> </section> <p>&nbsp;</p>

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Augmented Reality system for electromagnetic buried asset location

<section class="av_textblock_section av-jw9ix716-65be9b5e3b41cc775d6d9c7565e6cfcf"> <div class="avia_textblock"><b>UTTO is pleased to announce the grant of US Patent 10460523B1<br /> </b><br /> This addition to UTTO’s patent portfolio further solidifies UTTO’s long term, data driven strategy that will drive the industry to rethink decades old methods and practices related to underground pipe and cable location.The patent describes a revolutionary system that simultaneously locates and maps with minimal user input. The handheld system calculates and then visualizes the position of a buried conductor by leveraging the fusion of traditional electromagnetic sensors with augmented reality sensing (imaging and inertial sensors).</p> <p>Research shows that doing more than one task at a time, especially more than one complex task, takes a toll on productivity and quality. Locator personnel cannot help but suffer due to the repetition and multitasking required while performing traditional locate methods. New technology will address this overlooked issue and by supporting the field tech in his workflow, training time and damages will be reduced while productivity improves.</p> <p>While scanning a target area with a single sensor, the system precisely calculates motion and distance moved while analyzing thousands of data points per second. This basically turns a single small sensor (2″/5cm) into a distributed sensor of equivalent width to the scanned zone (say 12ft/3.7m).</p> <p>The EM/AR system evaluates the quality and vectors of the EM field/s rather than depending on the field technician to make constant best guesses as to interference levels and target positions. A live view 3D model representing the target location and depth is displayed conveniently on a smartphone device.</p> <p>An additional benefit will be provided when the site data (imagery and locate records) are uploaded to the UTTO Cloud. The stored visual data set and relative target positioning will enable sub-meter target relocation in areas where GPS quality is typically compromised by multi-path interference (ie. most areas where the majority of digging activity takes place in urban environments).</p> <p>With UTTO’s technology the world’s utilities and services providers are able to accurately index their underground assets, improve safety while reducing damages and improving productivity. The grant of the patent provides further recognition of the quality of the innovation being carried out by UTTO’s development team.</p> <p>For more information, please contact:</p> <p>Jeanne Zagursky – jeanne@utto.com</p> </div> </section> <p>&nbsp;</p>