On-Ramp Wireless Successfully Deploys Underground Distribution Automation Pilot

DOE-funded pilot programs at San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Edison demonstrate how On-Ramp’s wireless solution can securely and reliably monitor the hardest to reach utility assets to significantly improve grid reliability

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On-Ramp Wireless, developer of wireless solutions for energy automation, announced today the results of its U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)-funded field trials at San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) and Southern California Edison (SCE). The DOE awarded On-Ramp Wireless and its project team members a $2.1M project to integrate and demonstrate its award-winning wireless network solution for below-ground distribution automation, including outage detection and distribution transformer monitoring. The demonstrated performance results prove that On-Ramp’s solution exceeds DOE’s stated 2016 Smart Grid Performance Target to improve System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI), an important metric of electric grid reliability, by greater than 10%.

“The support of the DOE was critical to bringing together industry leading wireless and sensor companies to deliver a complete end-to-end solution”

The goal of the project was to leverage wireless network automation and information technology to improve electric grid reliability, a critical national need. With a cellular-like network which was purpose-built for utility automation, On-Ramp’s solution can service both powered and battery-operated sensors in below ground locations of the utility environment and across disparate geographies. The ability to support multiple applications like electric grid reliability, advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and critical infrastructure monitoring enables the solution to deliver Smart Grid benefits at a total cost of ownership significantly lower than existing technologies.

“The support of the DOE was critical to bringing together industry leading wireless and sensor companies to deliver a complete end-to-end solution,” said Joaquin Silva, president and CEO of On-Ramp. “We are thrilled that our solution has demonstrated the ability to improve distribution grid performance and provide substantial cost savings which has a substantial utility and societal benefit. We look forward to implementing the solution with our utility customers and partners worldwide.”

About On-Ramp Wireless

On-Ramp Wireless has developed the first wireless system purpose-built to efficiently connect billions of hard-to-reach devices in metro scale and other challenging environments. On-Ramp’s field-proven Ultra-Link Processing™ system enables low-power monitoring and control applications within Smart Grid, oil and gas operations, water efficiency, industrial sensing, and location tracking. Operating in un-licensed spectrum, the signal processing innovation finds weak signals even in high noise environments, yielding extreme coverage, immunity to high interference, and significantly lowers cost. For more information, visit www.onrampwireless.com or follow @onrampwireless.