23 December 1997 Research project to push boundaries of artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence researchers at Lincoln University have been contracted to develop a ground­ breaking fault diagnosis and repair system for New Zealand's electricity distribution network.

The joint venture project between Transpower and researchers at the Department of Natural Resources Engineering aims to build an ''intelligent" system that will detect and respond to black outs faster than humans can.

A three year research agreement was signed at Lincoln University today (Wednesday, December 17).

Principle aims of the project arc to produce an intelligent alarm processing unit that will filter all incoming alarms, pass on only those that are considered crucial and diagnose the cause of a fault. After diagnosis, the system will calculate the right switching sequence to restore the power system while continuously monitoring the overload lines or transformers during a black out.

Project supervisor Dr Sandhya Samarasinghe said the research was at the high end of artificial intelligence and the project was attracting considerable interest from researchers worldwide.

Mr Ramesh Rayudu will be joining the research team at the Department of Natural Resources Engineering at Lincoln University as a research engineer to work on the project. He has been working on previous Transpower projects over the last four years.

“We calculate that this technology could save up to 25% a year in lost transmission outage time," said Dr Samarasinghe. That is a substantial gain in an industry where a few seconds of system failure can result in major losses and inconvenience for the public." Similar systems in Singapore and Canada have achieved a rapid pay-back through a reduction in power failures and more rapid repairs.

"This is an exciting development which continues an important research partnership with Transpower and places Lincoln University at the forefront of applied research into artificial intelligence," said Dr Samarasinghe.

Transpower's General Manager, Service Delivery, Kevin Mackey, said the research would make New Zealand's transmission network among the most efficient in the world. Previous research at Lincoln University, including a computer simulation of how network staff diagnose faults, had provided long term efficiencies in the system and potential for reducing operating costs.

"We see this next stage of research as an important step in providing a least cost service to our customers," he said.

The contract is the largest undertaken by Lincoln University for a commercial enterprise and is one of the largest ever awarded to a New Zealand university.

Peter Dwan, Director, Community Relations Centre, Lincoln University, Canterbury, New Zealand.

Mark Pearce, Transpower, New Zealand