Learnings

Outcomes

Remote Assist:

1.1   Use Cases 

Engineering services - dial in a specialist

Silver command – live view

Field Engineers – shared view for limited space work

Video capture to the cloud for training and quality reviews.

1.2   Benefits

Remote Assist allowed more dynamic work because field staff no longer have to wait for the specialist to travel to site. It was also shown to reduce errors in work as field staff can quickly validate the correct procedure by sharing the field of view with the expert.  Other benefits included the ability to annotate the field of view and share documents that the user can directly control as a separate window.

1.3   Difficulties 

Testing revealed that the app had some stability issues. Its lack of consistency in usage would need to be improved if it is to be relied upon in the future. Communicating outside of the NGET trial tenancy was also not possible during the test which excluded communication with suppliers to NGET who could often be the expert in an equipment or asset-based scenario.

1.4   Integration to the business 

As Remote Assist is operated via Microsoft Teams, integration for this app should be straightforward for users of a Microsoft and Teams environment. Investigation into the capability and security around communicating outside of the NGET tenancy would be beneficial and in theory possible. The additional expense to integrate would be driven by the hardware and software licences.

Guides:

2.1   Use Cases 

Asset familiarisation training

Contextual digital data – drawings, maintenance documents, multimedia guides

Guides under duress - protection and control relay configuration

Replacing traditional paper based standard operating procedures and maintenance specifications.

2.2   Benefits

As Guides is controlled using eye-tracking it means that there can be completely handsfree usage. This was found to allow faster completion of the task allowing a user to be more time effective against their daily task list. Multimedia attachments allow users to add videos, holograms and images into the field of view as part of a Guide which acts effectively as a refresher on previous training on procedures that are not often done. This was found to help standardise processes and therefore improve quality.

2.3   Difficulties 

The lack of CAD/BIM models available limited the testing of the full capabilities of the app. Currently the QR codes used bring up all available Guides for NGET, as this number increases it will become harder to manage. Guides was unable to integrate steps to drive timed data input e.g. ‘enter the value seen on the gauge here’.

2.4   Integration to the business 

Integration for Guides, although still a Microsoft product, would not be as simple as Remote Assist. As Guides is driven by common data services this was found to require additional understanding by the IS team on how to roll this out to the business. Other considerations would be how NGET links Guides to other data such as maintenance specifications and how a Guide would potentially reduce the need for on site visits. Additional expenses identified would involve again the hardware, software licences and time involved in creating and updating the Guides.

VGIS:

3.1   Use Cases

Contextual data tables – asset health, maintenance due dates

Contextual data – pinned drawings to location 

Overlaying BIM models to site for mixed reality view, visualising underground assets

Asset insight visualisation – colour coded assets when data prompts i.e., status, temperature etc. 

3.2   Benefits

The VGIS app was found to have potential for highlighting individual asset health issues visually i.e., out of maintenance although this will be reliant on the quality and granularity of the data input.  The underground asset visual overlay 2D/3D/cut out view, contextual data at site or at an asset, the distance measurement from user standpoint to the virtual asset, and the potential for many users to do data cleansing by comparison of the virtual view with the real view were likewise found to have potential to augment the users’ asset management capabilities.  In addition, the birds-eye view functionality has potential applicability for tactical situation management e.g. for NGET Silver Command incident response.

3.3   Difficulties 

VGIS applicability was found to be limited by the locational accuracy of some asset GIS records, leading to misalignment of the virtual overlay with the physical asset. Resolution of this issue could require extensive GIS data clean-up to meet the higher locational accuracy standard needed to apply VGIS to some smaller or underground assets. Applicability was also impacted by integration challenges in linking VGIS with existing GIS data sets in existing data management systems, compounded by the need to ensure data security is not compromised through the establishment of the link.  Visualisation of third-party GIS data alongside NGET GIS data may present an additional integration challenge, e.g. where different network companies’ assets are in close proximity. 

3.4   Integration to the business 

Integration of a GIS based contextual data system such as VGIS was found to be the most complex to achieve. While the application is plug and play and simple to implement itself, the challenge in use was found to be driven by asset data accessibility. 

Physical Testing:

4.1   Comfort

Two sets of equipment were trialled: a standard HoloLens2 and a PPE mounted HoloLens2 by Trimble. Throughout the trial comfort assessments of the HoloLens2 were generally positive and ranged from no side effects at all to some discomfort after 30-45 minutes of use.  The Trimble headset however received poorer assessments due to its relative lack of stability on the head, increased weight and poor sound quality with the bone conduction headset. The recommendation for this project is that the tested Trimble headset would not be suitable for extended periods of use.

4.2   Connectivity

Quality of experience was trialled over Wi-Fi connections, and for 3G, 4G and 5G connectivity. Results showed that the HoloLens experience was not impacted on a Wi-Fi connection or 4G and 5G, but with lower bandwidth Wi-Fi connections and 3G some interruptions in call and video quality were experienced intermittently although not significant enough to impact the task being conducted.

4.3   Durability

Throughout the trial one headset was returned under warranty due to a hardware failure. Software stability was found to be insufficient for business use at present, without improvement in this area it would not be expected to be widely adopted. 

An expert occupational health assessment of the equipment and durability testing to replicate typical usage conditions for the equipment including all weather testing were identified as areas requiring further work in future if usage patterns from initial operational deployments are known.

Recommendations for further work

The recommended course of action for wearable technology applications would be to carry out more comprehensive testing within the live business environment focussing on applications with the strongest business case so that full data integration can be implemented.

Further to this, consolidating the wider business mixed reality requirements to develop a more bespoke wearables application specification which is aligned to NGETs digital strategy will allow easier integration, as the capability and ease of use of the technology evolves in future.

Lessons Learnt

The capabilities of mixed reality investigated within NGET has allowed faster completion of tasks and remote support. It is also found that communication and stability of the devices shall be improved to keep consistency in usage. 

On data and integration, the project evaluated what a “best in class” solution should look like and what would be required to be able to achieve this within NGET. This generated some key learning points:

• Clearly defined KPIs/metrics and critical success factors based on the effectiveness and benefits of the new technology vs traditional methods are required to strengthen the business case and invest in technology deployment,
• Testing must be comprehensive and include the full final use case and not just the products themselves, and
• New technology implementations must be aligned with NGETs wider data governance & data management strategy.

Dissemination

Dissemination of the learning from this project will be through the NGET Annual Innovation Report.