"QV2 is a continuation of the InnovateUK funded QVision project (132541) which investigated the feasibility of commercialising microgravity QT devices in the utility market sector when integrated with the OXEMS system. QVision, almost complete, has been successful and includes proposed new layered data and associated ROI models using Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) techniques to automate the surveying process and deliver enhanced value for utilities. QV2 is a feasibility study to continue investigating the market potential for microgravity QT devices but to broaden the future market focus from utilities to all other markets that have a need to survey underground structures. Moreover, QV2 will develop novel inversion techniques based on numerical modelling combined with machine learning to help with the location of buried features, while also investigating the potential of obtaining condition information. QV2 is a collaboration between OXEMS and the University of Birmingham (UoB) which will provide access to the QT-Hub in Sensors and Metrology led by the UoB. The overall aim is to generate a comprehensive understanding of the potential future market for QT microgravity sensors in the UK and overseas."

An extensive buried utility network (e.g. water mains, >415,000 km, and sewer pipes, >343,000 km in the UK) underpins modern society and provides essential services for daily life. Often, the location and condition of these assets is poorly understood. OXEMS has developed a unique integrated solution offering virtualization of buried assets provided they have been located and tagged with the company’s unique tags. Qvision is a feasibility study which will investigate the market potential of incorporating Quantum Technology gravitational sensors with OXEMS’ integrated solution, thus enabling utility customers to access and visualize a significantly larger proportion of their network rapidly whilst retaining many of the unique advantages of the OXEMS solution. Qvision will cover the potential impact on the UK economy of manufacturing British designed QT gravitational sensors for deployment alongside OXEMS integrated solution in the global market. This will be achieved by undertaking market and commercial testing with potential UK clients and an assesment of the relative competitive strengths of the proposed new integrated solution.

Utilities across the world are replacing ageing ferrous pipes with modern plastic ones, but they have a major problem. The traditional way to find pipes is to use a Cable Avoidance Tool (CAT) which is effectively a specialised metal detector working on the ferrous properties of the assets. Clearly with plastic a CAT will not work. Today there are a number of propositions on the market such as Ground Probing Radar (GPR) but none of them give utilities what they need, a combined plastic and ferrous version of a CAT which is simple and quick to use and is cost effective enough for network-wide rollout. This project is about delivering to this need whilst taking advantage of modern digital technologies to also provide a complete strategic asset management solution. OXEMS was spun out of the University of Oxford in 2010 and aims to mark buried assets with passive tags (no active electronics, no power requirement etc) using an innovative and patented variant of RFID technology (Radio Frequency Identification). Then by using a new detector and an integrated identification system utilities will be able to automatically record and recall asset information quickly and simply in real time from the street. Information will be displayed to the user in map and data form consistent with existing practice. The OXEMS system will be cost effective for network wide rollout whilst the tags will be built for the construction market and designed to have a life at least as long as the assets themselves. The project will be a major step towards delivering a fully integrated utility asset management solution which incorporates major benefits to the contracting industry. It will lead to real reductions in roadworks, to improvements in site based health and safety, to a reduction in carbon footprint, to reduced utility maintenance and repair costs and to many wider social and economic improvements for the community and the wider environment.