When a line support fails, conductors can hang energised at dangerous heights, risking public and livestock safety. This 12‑month, £98,000 project will advance from TRL 2 to TRL 6, producing prototypes and a design basis for mass manufacture (£25 per device) to enable UK Power Networks (UKPN) to detect low‑hanging conductors and respond swiftly.
The Challenge
Electricity distribution lines have a field life of about 55 years and undergo inspections every five to six years. Patrols check poles, cross‑arms, earth conductors and insulators, but faults can go unnoticed between visits.
Today, faults are found via human patrols or public reports, which are costly and unreliable. Falls, low‑hanging conductors and failed poles pose serious safety risks to the public and livestock.
Advances in wireless sensing and Internet of Things (IoT) yield low‑cost devices with long service lives. These can automatically detect dangerous conditions and send alerts, enabling DNOs to act before incidents occur.
This proactive monitoring reduces maintenance costs, improves response times and protects a DNO’s reputation compared with reactive inspections or public reports.
The Innovator
Professor Edward Boje leads the Department of Electrical Engineering at the University of Cape Town. He has over 30 years of academic research experience and has driven innovations such as electromagnetic and ultrasonic flow meters and a powerline inspection robot.
The project is supported via subcontract by Nuvetech, an SMME that pre‑developed this solution with the Energy Innovation Centre (EIC) and UKPN, and offers non‑product development consultancy.
What’s Next?
The project will deploy a wireless sensor network to report pole status to a central server using magnetic and vibration sensing, with local data comparison to minimise transmissions.
To detect low‑hanging conductors still on insulators, sensors will monitor shock events from adjacent pole movement and measure tilt. Sensors will run on PV‑charged supercapacitors and use Bluetooth LE spaced every 150 metres for redundancy.
Edge devices will handle cellular communication, exploiting Bluetooth LE’s 300 metres range and LoRa’s 5 km sea‑tested reach. All units will be fully encapsulated to ensure environmental protection.
Last Updated
17 July 2025.