DESC:FORM 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
[39 of 1970]
&
THE PATENTS RULES, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(Section 10; Rule 13)

METHOD OF CREATING A GEODATABASE BASED ON GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM MAPPING OF UTILITY POLES AND SUBSTATIONS OF A FIBERGRID NETWORK

Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited,
122, Madhapur Rd, Kavuri Hills Phase 1,
Kavuri Hills, Jubilee Hills,
Telangana 500033,
An Indian Company

The following Specification particularly describes the invention and the method it is being performed

RELATED APPLICATION

The present invention claims benefit of the Indian Provisional Application No. 201641021629 titled “METHOD OF GEODATABASE CREATION USING GIS MAPPING OF UTILITY POLES AND SUBSTATIONS OF FIBERGRID NETWORK” filed on 23rd June 2016 by Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited, which is herein incorporated in its entirety by reference for all purposes.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to fiber optic cable communications, and more particularly relates to a method of creating a geodatabase based on geographical information system mapping of utility poles and substations of a fibergrid network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Existing network infrastructure provides services to household environments, office premises etc, via Ethernet cables however, lacks adaptability to upgrade to new network systems. For example, if a government body wishes to change the entire existing 33/11KV power cable network in a particular state by means of fiber optic wires, information such as physical location of utility poles, number of utility poles and substations situated in that region are required to be collected. Figure 1 is a pictorial representation of an electrical power network, according to the existing art. As shown in Figure 1, the electrical power network consists of a transmission tower, plurality of sub-stations, distribution transformation poles, and then to factories, households etc. Let us assume that a particular state has 3000 substations and 4lakhs utility poles. In order to provide optical fiber communication, all necessary details such as type of utility pole, longitude and latitude values are required to be collected for 3000 substations and 4lakhs utility poles and stored in a database for further analysis.

Currently, there exists no solution to collect and store details of utility poles and substations. In view of the foregoing, there is a need for a database for maintaining geo spatial information and other details of the utility poles and substations.

The above-mentioned shortcomings, disadvantages and problems are addressed herein and which will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Various embodiments herein describe a method of creating a geodatabase using a geographical information system (GIS) in a fibergrid network. According to one embodiment, the method comprises of obtaining, by the geographical information system, a geographical data of one or more physical components of a fibergrid network present in a region, converting the obtained geographical data into a GIS platform using ArcGIS, where the obtained geographical data is converted into a usable network dataset, integrating the converted geographical data with one or more administrative boundaries and base map features, and creating a geodatabase with the integrated data.

According to one embodiment, the one or more physical components comprises of electric poles, and power substations.

According to one embodiment, in performing analysis on the network dataset, the method further comprises for selecting the substations at strategic locations as presence of points (PoPs), and generating optimum routes automatically to connect the strategic locations.

According to one embodiment, the analysis of the dataset comprises of defining connectivity rules and network attributes for the network dataset, performing various network analyses in ArcMap using a Network Analyst, and providing analyst extension geoprocessing tools to create models that automate analyses.

According to one embodiment, the GIS uses a global positioning system (GPS) data and remote sensing (RS) data or capturing information relating to one or more physical components of the fibergrid network.

According to one embodiment, the GPS data comprises location information of the one or more physical components on a surface of the earth in latitude and longitude co-ordinates.

According to one embodiment, the RS uses satellites or aircraft to capture information on the one or more physical components on the surface of the earth.

According to one embodiment, the one or more administrative boundaries comprises at least one of Revenue Villages or Gram Panchayat boundaries, Mandal or Thasil boundaries, Revenue Division Boundaries, and District Boundaries.

According to one embodiment, the base Map features comprises at least one of Settlements/Habitations, Road Network, Rail Network, Forests and Sanctuaries, and Water bodies and Rivers.

According to one embodiment, the method further comprises of generating hardcopy of maps based on one or more of base map features, enabling a user to update missing details of the one or more physical components of the electrical power system, and updating the geodatabase to finalize physical components present in the fibergrid network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE ACCOMPANYING DRAWINGS

The other objects, features and advantages will occur to those skilled in the art from the following description of the preferred embodiment and the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a pictorial representation of an electrical power network, according to the existing art.

Figure 2A and 2B illustrates exemplary data collected across different administrative boundaries for geodatabase creation, according to one embodiment.

Figure 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a global information system (GIS) platform, according to one embodiment.

Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating an exemplary method of creation of Geodatabase, according to one embodiment.

Figure 5 is a pictorial representation of an arcMap showing state connectivity, according to one embodiment.

Although specific features of the present invention are shown in some drawings and not in others, this is done for convenience only as each feature may be combined with any or all of the other features in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention describes a method of creating a geodatabase based on geographical information system (GIS) mapping of utility poles and substations of a fibergrid network. In the following detailed description of the embodiments of the invention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

The specification may refer to “an”, “one” or “some” embodiment(s) in several locations. This does not necessarily imply that each such reference is to the same embodiment(s), or that the feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments.

As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless expressly stated otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “includes”, “comprises”, “including” and/or “comprising” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations and arrangements of one or more of the associated listed items.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure pertains. It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

The present invention uses a geographical information system (GIS) for creating a geo database for storing information of plurality of physical components present in an electrical power network. The physical components may correspond to utility poles, substations present in a particular region. The information of plurality of physical components corresponds to their attributes and its values. The GIS is a systemic tool designed to capture, store, manipulate, analyze, manage and present all types of spatial or geographical data. In order to obtain the geographical data, the GIS uses global positioning system (GPS) and remote sensing (RS), wherein the GPS provides longitudes and latitude co-ordinates of the earth’s surface and the RS utilizes the use of satellites or aircraft to capture information about the earth’s surface. In one embodiment, digital ortho images captured are used as key product to map accurate digital photos.

The collected data was converted into GIS platform using ArcGIS. The entire text data was converted from points to lines converting the data into a usable network. This data was then integrated with administrative boundaries like
i. Revenue Villages /Gram Panchayat boundaries
ii. Mandal /Thasil boundaries
iii. Revenue Division Boundaries
iv. District Boundaries

It was also integrated with base map features like Base map features like of Survey of India Digital Maps in 1:50,000 Scale
v. Settlements/Habitations
vi. Road Network
vii. Rail Network
viii. Forests and Sanctuaries
ix. Water bodies and Rivers

This is illustrated in Figure 2A and 2B. As shown in Figure 2A and 2B, data collected for physical components is integrated with different administrative boundaries for creation of geodatabase.

Once the integration of data collected for the physical components across different administrative boundaries is completed, hardcopies of maps were generated state-wise, division-wise and section-wise with all the features and transmitted to the officers/ technical heads to verify and fill-in any missing details. The data received from them is updated in GIS to finalize entire network and substations. In one embodiment, census data at revenue/Panchayat level was also integrated into GIS to identify population density in both urban and rural areas. Similarly, wind data was also integrated into GIS for providing stronger cables in windy and coastal areas. An exemplary diagram illustrating creation of geodatabase using ArcGIS is shown in figure 3.

The geodatabase or spatial database is optimized to store and query data that represents objects defined in a geometric space. Most existing spatial databases, allow representing simple geometric objects such as points, lines and polygons, linear networks and TINs. While typical databases are designed to manage various numeric and character types of data, additional functionality needs to be added for databases to process spatial data types efficiently. These are typically handled by geodatabases. Such geodatabases also have very useful features like Versioning and Integration & analysis of non-geo spatial database. Also, specialized extensions are needed to meet requirements like ArcGIS Network Analyst and ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst. The ArcGIS Network Analyst extension allows to build a network dataset and perform analyses on a network dataset and allows following functions.

• Define connectivity rules and network attributes for the network dataset.
• Perform various network analyses in ArcMap using the Network Analyst. An exemplary ArcMap created is shown in Figure 5.
• Analyst extension geoprocessing tools to create models that automate analyses.

The ArcGIS Geostatistical Analyst extension is an interactive tool to visually investigate the collected data prior to analysis.
• Investigate the distribution of the collected data and look for outliers (Histogram)
• Look for systematic trends in your data (Trend Analysis)
• Explore local variability and clusters (Voronoi Map)
• Visualize spatial correlation within and between datasets (Semivariogram/Cross-Covariance Clouds

Now that the data is integrated, it is also important to map Optical Ground Wire system as well as splice locations in that region to leverage network planning. In electric utility industry, Optical Ground Wire (OPGW) is primarily used. The OPGW is placed in the secure topmost position of the transmission line where it “shields” the all-important conductors from lightning while providing a telecommunications path for internal as well as third party communications. The OPGW is a dual functioning cable, serving two purposes. The OPGW is designed to replace traditional static / shield / earth wires on overhead transmission lines with the added benefit of containing optical fibers which can be used for telecommunications purposes. The OPGW is capable of withstanding the mechanical stresses applied to overhead cables by environmental factors such as wind and ice. The OPGW is also capable of handling electrical faults on the transmission line by providing a path to ground without damaging the sensitive optical fibers inside the cable.

In one exemplary operation, consider that the OPGW is deployed in a state to replace the existing electrical power system. The OPGW is used in such a way that it is leveraged to finalize our state ring to connect all district headquarters (HQs) in a loop. The required business logic to create final network was also built into the geodatabase. An exemplary flow diagram illustrating creation of final network is shown in Figure 4. As shown in Figure 4, at first, at step 402, location details of utility poles and substations and their attributes are collected. The collected data are stored in as a table in a database. The collected data are further converted into GIS Map and network. Further, information regarding GIS Basemap Layers such as Settlements Roads, Rail, water bodies and terrain of SoI, GIS administrative boundaries, other locational information like tower/PoP locations, other infrastructure location like schools, hospitals and other ancillary data like census at village level are collected, at step 404. The collected data, at step 406, are integrated and converted into GIS platform. At step 408, geodatabase using the collected data to automatically generate routes to identify poles and substation for deploying optical fiber network is created. All the above collected information is used to process the data to
• Select substations at strategic locations as PoPs;
• Automatically generate the optimum routes to connect these strategic locations;
• Real-time monitoring of proposed network; and
• Generation of final maps in both digital and hardcopy for field implementations to scale.

An exemplary fiber optic cable type of electrical network is deployed in a state like Andhra Pradesh (AP) state. The complete connectivity across the AP state was provided in a layered fashion as follows:
• The state ring with Visakhapatnam as (Network Operating Center) was created at the top level connecting all district HQs.
• Then zonal rings were created in each district connecting all revenue divisions, main mandal HQs and major cities/towns in the district so that entire district is well covered.
• At next level, mandal rings were created connecting all mandals in a loop (where lop was not possible, linear connection was used) in the district.
• At the last level, all the remaining substations were connected in a loop (where lop was not possible, linear connection was used).

Additionally, the following actions were taken:
• 2449 substations were identified as PoP locations and
• Almost 23,000 Kms long routes have been created.
• Finalized electronics at different PoP locations (district HQs, zonal HQs, Mandal HQs and other substations)

With the above obtained information, request for proposal was floated for implementation. The generated Digital maps, hard copies of the maps to the scale were given to the implementing agencies for their validation of routes and PoP locations. After the feedback was received from the implementing agency, based on field conditions and terrain, the routes were suitably altered. Final maps (digital and hard copies to the scale) with all the features were supplied to the field staff to identify the actual route and lay the cable.

To meet the time lines, and to avoid errors and implement the whole process very fast, an app FOAM (Fiber Optics Assets Management) was developed as described below. As soon as a cable is laid, the vendor sends a photo of the pole along with accurate location (latitude and longitude) to the server using this app. This data is then overlaid on the proposed network. This will give following advantages.

• To ensure that the cable is laid as per requirement
• Calculate the length of total cable laid so far
• Check from the photograph whether the cable is properly tied. The workflow is deigned in such a way that if there is any defect or if the cable is not properly tied, it is rejected and the agency has to send the new photo after rectification before data for next pole is accepted. If the agency wants any deviation, approval of the appropriate authority will be taken.

Similarly, location information of splicings in latitudes, longitudes are captured. This information is critical if in future alternate new routes have to be added to connect other areas. For example, Capture PoP establishment status such as earth pit, installation of power meter, site readiness, installation of hardware and equipment configuration from the photos sent by the agency. This information is critical to plan the number of connections (ports) and bandwidth management. The FOAM application is integrated to a GIS dashboard, wherein the monitoring team can view live progress monitoring. The ESRI ArcGIS 10.3 Desktop software is used for all the mapping, GIS database creation and analysis and mapmaking activities

At present open source internet mapping tools like Map server were used for the web based applications and real time dashboards for concept validation. In the final implementation, the ArcGIS Server is planned to be used for creating enterprise Geodatabase and development of web based applications like Dashboards.

Thus, the Geodatabase comprises information such as GPS Coordinates, Image of the Pole or Substation Line Type (33/11/440), Splice Type (2/3/4 Way), Pole Type, Clamp Type, Time Stamp, Cable Meter Start Reading, Cable Meter End Reading, Direction of the layout for the pole and GPS Coordinates, District, Name, Splice Type, Next Terminations, Cable Meter Start Readings, Cable Meter End Readings, Time Stamp and so on.

While the foregoing describes various embodiments of the invention, other and further embodiments of the invention may be devised without departing from the basic scope thereof. The scope of the invention is determined by the claims that follow. The invention is not limited to the described embodiments, versions or examples, which are included to enable a person having ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention when combined with information and knowledge available to the person having ordinary skill in the art.

,CLAIMS:Claims

We claim:

1. A method of creating a geodatabase using a geographical information system (GIS) in a fibergrid network, the method comprises of:
obtaining, by the geographical information system, a geographical data of one or more physical components of a fibergrid network present in a region;
converting the obtained geographical data into a GIS platform using ArcGIS, where the obtained geographical data is converted into a usable network dataset;
integrating the converted geographical data with one or more administrative boundaries and base map features; and
creating a geodatabase with the integrated data.

2. The method of claim1, wherein the one or more physical components comprises of:
electric poles; and
power substations.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising performing analysis on the network dataset for:
selecting the substations at strategic locations as presence of points (PoPs); and
generating optimum routes automatically to connect the strategic locations.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein analysis of the dataset comprises of:
defining connectivity rules and network attributes for the network dataset;
performing various network analyses in ArcMap using a Network Analyst; and
providing analyst extension geoprocessing tools to create models that automate analyses.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the GIS uses a global positioning system (GPS) data and remote sensing (RS) data or capturing information relating to one or more physical components of the fibergrid network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the GPS data comprises location information of the one or more physical components on a surface of the earth in latitude and longitude co-ordinates.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the RS uses satellites or aircraft to capture information on the one or more physical components on the surface of the earth.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more administrative boundaries comprises at least one of:
Revenue Villages or Gram Panchayat boundaries;
Mandal or Thasil boundaries;
Revenue Division Boundaries; and
District Boundaries.

9. The method of claim 1, Wherein the base Map features comprises at least one of
Settlements/Habitations,
Road Network,
Rail Network,
Forests and Sanctuaries, and
Water bodies and Rivers.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
generating hardcopy of maps based on one or more of base map features;
enabling a user to update missing details of the one or more physical components of the electrical power system; and
updating the geodatabase to finalize physical components present in the fibergrid network.

Dated this the 23rd day of June 2017

Signature

KEERTHI
Patent agent
Agent for the applicant