This project will focus on monitoring of electrical insulation with mobile sensors. Their network will accommodate a full range of spatial and temporal resolution requirements posed by power quality sensitive customers and a highly competitive yet cost-conscious deregulated power industry. Several most relevant sensor technologies will be combined in a single system to nondestructively evaluate aging status, presence of incipient faults, and exact location of failing sections in insulating cables and power equipment. A mobile micro-manufactured platform will be used for periodic comprehensive and need-driven longitudinal scanning of insulation status, whereas traditional of stationary sensors will provide systemwide information for multi-sensor diagnostics. The project will lead to a new concept of distribution power systems, especially for underground cables, in which the entire network will be periodically tested by automatic "crawlers". Prime sensing mechanisms will include fringing electric field dielectrometry, acoustic sensing, and infrared sensing. Additional sensors are likely to be installed once the first prototype of the mobile platform is complete. Communication links and source of power for device operation would determine maximum range and miniaturization aspects of mobile platforms.
