NREL
Role
Lead Product Designer / Sole I.C.
Agency
Devetry
Project engagement
2023 (9 Months)
The grid had data. What it lacked was visibility.
Power disruptions aren't always immediately visible to utility operators. In some cases, utilities may first learn something is wrong when customers begin reporting an outage. SAGA explored how broadband infrastructure could provide another signal, helping expose disruptions and abnormal behavior sooner.
· User Interviews & Surveys
· Wireframing
Client Working Sessions
· Inclusivity & Accessibility
· Dashboard / Application Design
· Data Visualization
· Prototyping
HiFi Visual Design
· QA Testing
Project Success
Broadband power sensors
K
Near real-time voltage intervals
min.
Homes within 1,000 ft. of infrastructure
The challenge wasn't simply visualizing more information. It was determining what deserved an operator's attention, how those signals related to one another, and how someone could move from detection to investigation without becoming overwhelmed.
Prioritize the signal
Severity, event type, cause, location, affected customers, and status establish a hierarchy that helps operators identify what requires attention first.Connect data to place
Geospatial visualization transforms abstract sensor readings into physical events, allowing operators to see where anomalies are occurring and how they spread across the grid.Connect data to time
Historical and near real-time views give each anomaly context, helping users distinguish isolated events from larger patterns.
creative team
Group Manager: Nicholas Gilroy
Technical Project Manager: Haiku Sky
Goals
Product Design & Strategy
Developer-facing portal for professionals working with big data and complex infrastructure.Prototyping & Testing
Going wide in ideation and rapidly testing concepts with the team actively using the data.Iterating with Feedback
Continuously iterating on concepts and validating product decisions with the development team on implementation.
Control Room Operators: From Guesswork to Precise Diagnostics
Traditionally, distribution grids lack intensive sensor coverage. Operators often have to wait for customer phone calls to map out an outage.
Instant Geographic Isolation:
Operators use the Vis-SAGA geospatial dashboard to see live voltage anomalies instantly. They can isolate exactly which neighborhood or street block is dropping power without waiting for a deluge of support tickets. They can also track and submit new logs as the anomaly progresses.
Eliminating "Alarm Fatigue":
Control rooms are often overwhelmed by sensory noise and competing data streams. Vis-SAGA synthesizes raw time-series broadband data with local weather feeds to contextualize an anomaly. This helps operators instantly understand if a voltage dip is an electronic fluke or a physical storm knocking down lines.
Critical Gaps I targeted:
The Blind Spot Dilemma
Utility companies often do not realize a power disruption has occurred until customer notifications or phone calls start rolling in.Operational Complexity & Data Overload
The rapid integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), like solar panels and batteries, creates multi-directional power flows that traditional utility systems struggle to track in real time.Rising Cyber-Physical Threats
Grid operations are facing sophisticated cyberattacks and extreme weather anomalies, creating a dire need for faster, predictive detection tools.
Geospatial Split-Screen & Linking:
The map layer allows operators to view different regions simultaneously. When an operator selects two distinct geographical zones, the interface synchronously maps out their respective broadband-sensor clusters
Juxtaposed Time-Series Charts:
Below or beside the main map, the platform populates independent, color-coded time-series graphs for each location. As the live stream flows in, both charts update simultaneously on the same global time axis, making it immediately clear if a voltage sag in Location A is causing a ripple effect or localized stability issues in Location B.
The project successfully integrated machine learning models and visual analytics to prove that independent broadband networks can actively detect localized power failures, identify hidden cyberattacks (such as data manipulation), and accelerate emergency power restoration.
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