Signatech Systems Wins Prestigious United States Department of Energy Small Business Innovations Award to Develop Advanced Visualization Technologies for the Smart Grid

The US Department of Energy (DOE) has awarded Signatech Systems a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) project to develop Advanced Visualization for Power Distribution Systems. The project is expected to be for 9 months starting in June 2009 with potential funding of approximately $750,000 in a follow-on effort to demonstrate technology in April 2010. The resulting product will allow timely visualization of critical parameters to enable reliable implementation for the Smart Grid.

Charlotte, NC (PRWEB) June 2, 2009 -- Vast amounts of data are available to quantify the supply and demand of electricity in a distribution system. However, distribution operators require more succinct depiction of the data through effective visualization. Signatech Systems has teamed with the world renowned Visualization Center at the University of North Carolina Charlotte to develop, test and conduct user experiments of the impact of interactive visualization tools on a prototype of various distribution system models--such as rural, suburban, industrial.

An open-source visualization toolkit such as the Visualization Toolkit (VTK) will be used for rapid development and testing. To ensure success, the project team will collaborate with the nation's leading utility research organizations: the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI), Palo Alto, CA and the U.S. Department of Energy's Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories (PNNL), in Richland, WA. It is likely that models developed by the organization to examine data flow for typical simulations will be utilized, such as DOE's GridLab-D and EPRI's OpenDSS.

A key aspect of this project is to demonstrate proof of concept on typical distribution system model. The technologies will be integrated with SCADA-compatible inputs. The visualization tools will be evaluated with member utilities in a follow up study (through the sponsorship of EPRI).

In an expected follow on effort in April 2010, Signatech Systems will prototype the system for evaluation by several utilities and identify opportunities for improvement in performance as well as commercial availability of the product to enable utilities to meet Smart Grid requirements.

About Signatech Systems, Inc.

Based in Matthews, NC, Signatech Systems provides practical technology solutions to meet the electric power industry needs for reliable technology to improve asset intelligence and improve performance. Signatech Systems customer base includes global electric utilities, their supply chain participants and government agencies in the United States of America.

For more information, contact:

Dr. Ramesh ("Rudy") Shankar
Phone: 704-771-1400
www.signatechsystems.com

Copyright © Signatech Systems, Inc.

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