Glossary

Sensors and software that identify the optical, acoustic, or electrical signature of electrical arcing inside switchgear or transformers. Provides early warning before arc faults escalate into equipment damage or fires.

See also: Substation Monitoring, Substation Monitoring Solution Sheet

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Continuous, sensor-based measurement of voltage, current, temperature, and load on individual distribution transformers. Reveals overload, imbalance, and degradation conditions before they cause outages or asset failures.

See also: Grid Monitoring, Improving Power Quality with Real-Time Monitoring, Keeping Harvest Season Safe with Real-Time Monitoring., Averting Catastrophic Losses at a High-Volume Manufacturing Facility

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The far end of a utility's distribution network — the transformers, secondary lines, and meters that connect to customer premises. Real-time visibility at the grid edge is what separates predictive maintenance from reactive truck rolls.

See also: Utilities, Grid Monitoring, Distribution Visibility Is the New Reliability Standard

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The replacement of legacy high-pressure sodium or mercury-vapor streetlights with LED fixtures. Reduces energy consumption significantly but creates new operational blind spots — LEDs report less about their own health unless paired with a smart-controller layer.

See also: Cities, Intelligent Streetlight, Solving the Hidden Costs of LED Streetlight Upgrades

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A measure of how closely the electrical supply matches the ideal — stable voltage, clean waveform, balanced phases. Poor power quality causes equipment damage, production downtime, and elevated energy bills for both utilities and their end customers.

See also: Power Quality Monitoring, Enterprises, Utilities, The Hidden Cost of Poor Power Quality in Commercial and Industrial Operations , Solving a Medical Facility’s Power Quality Mystery

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System Average Interruption Duration Index — the average total time, in minutes per year, that customers in a utility's service territory go without power. Lower SAIDI indicates a more reliable distribution grid.

See also: Utilities, Grid Monitoring, Distribution Visibility Is the New Reliability Standard

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System Average Interruption Frequency Index — the average number of times a utility customer experiences a power outage in a year. Used alongside SAIDI to score grid reliability and inform regulatory performance reporting.

See also: Utilities, Grid Monitoring, Distribution Visibility Is the New Reliability Standard, saidi

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The continuous, real-time understanding of what is happening across an area or asset, combining video, sensor data, and analytics into a single view operators can act on. Foundational to modern public-safety and substation-protection deployments.

See also: Public Safety, Safety and Security, Substation Monitoring, Substation Monitoring Has Changed and So Have the Risks

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A streetlight enhanced with a sensor-equipped controller that reports its status, accepts remote dimming and switching commands, and acts as a pole-mounted platform for additional municipal sensors. The foundation for most smart-city deployments.

See also: Cities, Intelligent Streetlight, UbiCell Intelligent Lighting Control, From Reactive to Predictive: The Future of Smart Street Lighting

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Real-time observation of substation equipment for thermal events, arcing, intrusion, and operational anomalies. Combines physical-security awareness with electrical telemetry to protect crews and infrastructure.

See also: Substation Monitoring, Substation Monitoring Solution Sheet, Substation Monitoring Has Changed and So Have the Risks

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Continuous measurement of equipment temperature — typically via thermal imaging, infrared sensors, or thermocouples — to detect hot spots, overload, and insulation degradation in transformers, switchgear, and connections.

See also: Substation Monitoring, Grid Monitoring, How One Utility Turned a Power Crisis into a Partnership Win

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A field-service trip dispatched to diagnose or repair an asset. Each truck roll represents real cost in fuel, labor, and time; smart-infrastructure platforms are evaluated partly by how many truck rolls they eliminate.

See also: Utilities, Cities, Intelligent Streetlight, From Reactive to Predictive: The Future of Smart Street Lighting

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