Project History
TAV Networks has successfully delivered valuable technical and business services to clients in more than 100 contracted revenue projects. The highlighted projects listed below are representative of our experience and capabilities:
SACRAMENTO MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT (SMUD)
El Rio Substation Telecom System Design
Subcontracted through Burns & McDonnell to design the Telecom and Security subsystems of SMUD’s new El Rio substation, the largest substation ever built by SMUD. This substation is scheduled to become operational during 2026. SMUD operates an electric utility in the northern central valley of California, with 600,000 meters in their network.
PORT OF OAKLAND
Meter Data Management
Contracted to support the Port’s utility services department with meter data management and planning for the 100 percent electrification of the Port by 2030. The Port of Oakland operates an electrical distribution system at the shipping port in Oakland, California, and at the Oakland International Airport.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON (SCE)
Private LTE / CBRS Network Design
Subcontracted through Worldwide Technology to deliver an RF Coverage Assessment based on the use of CBRS spectrum and Private LTE radio technology.
PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY (PG&E)
RF Coverage Remediation
Contracted to redesign and remediate PG&E’s Field Area Network (FAN) in Bakersfield, California to optimize RF coverage and network performance.
SACRAMENTO MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT (SMUD)
Wind Power Quality Assessment
Subcontracted through Black & Veatch to conduct a power quality assessment for the latest construction phase of SMUD’s Solano wind power generation project.
PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY (PG&E)
Line Sensor Pilot Deployment
TAV Networks served PG&E on its Line Sensor Pilot Deployment project during the period 2014-2020, to provide communications engineering support and the development of communication of remediation solutions.
CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION (CALTRANS)
TOSNET Cyber Security Design
Subcontracted through Anvaya Solutions to deliver an in-depth network security assessment of the CALTRANS Traffic Operations Systems Network (TOSNET), including risk levels and recommendations for remediation.
OKLAHOMA GAS & ELECTRIC (OG&E)
Private LTE Network Use Case Development
Subcontracted through Worldwide Technology to deliver a use case study and business justification for OG&E’s adoption and capitalization of Private LTE (i.e. 4G/5G) radio technology.
XCEL ENERGY
Private LTE Network Use Case Development
Subcontracted through Worldwide Technology to deliver a use case study and business justification for XCEL’s adoption and capitalization of Private LTE (i.e. 4G/5G) radio technology, across its service territory.
BALTIMORE GAS & ELECTRIC (BGE)
AMI Deployment and Meter Testing
TAV Networks was engaged with Baltimore Gas & Electric from 2013-2021 to conduct field remediation for BGE’s 2-million-meter AMI deployment. In this engagement TAV Network field engineers were deployed and responsible for the inspection, diagnosis and remediation of non-communicating meters. Additionally, our test engineers were responsible for laboratory testing of equipment and verification of equipment performance and firmware functionality.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EDISON (SCE)
Field Area Network Design
Subcontracted through Cisco and ABB to design RF Mesh networks operating at several frequency bands, to cover SCE’s 50,000 square mile service territory, while achieving high probability of connection with 50,000 field devices.
SACRAMENTO MUNICIPAL UTILITY DISTRICT (SMUD)
MPLS Network Upgrade
Subcontracted through All Valley Engineering to develop and document SMUD’s Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network upgrade in multiple substations.
BC HYDRO
Smart Meter Infrastructure (SMI) Deployment
TAV Networks was engaged with BC Hydro in Vancouver, British Columbia during 2013-2014, on their Smart Meter Infrastructure (SMI) project, for a 2-million-meter deployment across 95% of British Columbia’s population, with 80,000 kilometers of transmission and distribution lines. Our role was to provide business advice regarding the required scale of radio infrastructure needed to meet coverage objectives across the vast service territory, to develop and test more economical technology solutions for multi-dwelling units and sparsely populated rural regions, and to manage the investigation and disposition of non-communicating meters.
PACIFIC GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY (PG&E)
AMI RF Network Deployment
TAV Networks served PG&E as its primary Smart Meter deployment engineering resource during the period 2007-2013, beginning with the requirements analysis, proceeding with equipment selection, AMI infrastructure network design, Smart Meter deployment, and continuing through the remediation of hard-to-reach Smart Meters. PG&E was the first utility company in the U.S. to undertake a large-scale Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) deployment. PG&E is seen in the U.S. as a technology leader in Smart Grid deployment, and now has nearly 6 million electric smart meters, plus another 4 million gas smart meters in operation.
INSTITUTO COSTARRICENSE DE ELECTRICIDAD (ICE)
Field Area Network (FAN) Design and Deployment
Introduced by Cisco, TAV Network became engaged with ICE for a multi-year deployment of Cisco FAN equipment, designing the network for optimum RF coverage and network performance, with on-site project support.
HITACHI, LTD.
Advising AMI Communication Technology for Japan
Hitachi engaged TAV Networks to develop an optimal AMI communication technology portfolio for the Japanese electric utility market, and to conduct a Smart Grid communications workshop in Tokyo at the facilities of Hitachi, Ltd. The premise of this work was that multiple communication technologies are needed for the most economical deployment across a variety of geographies (urban, suburban, rural, mountainous, and agricultural regions). Hitachi was preparing for contracting as a system integrator to begin Japan’s deployment of 27 million Smart Meters.
SAN DIEGO GAS & ELECTRIC COMPANY (SDG&E)
Radio Coverage Modeling
TAV Networks provided technical services to SDG&E in San Diego, California, to develop radio propagation models in support of an early AMI wireless meter-reading deployment, in cooperation with the equipment manufacturer. During this contract TAV Networks assessed requirements, determined feasibility and utility of simulation tools and GIS databases, researched commercially available simulation products, and developed radio coverage predictions.
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAS
Gas Meter Battery Life Assessment
Conducted an evaluation of equipment life and warranty exposure for a deployment in Los Angeles, CA. TAV Net developed battery life and equipment reliability models to assess the likelihood that metering equipment would meet the target equipment lifetime, to support the evaluation of warranty costs.
DISTRIBUTECH UTILITY UNIVERSITY
Training at Industry Conference Short Courses
By invitation, developed and delivered short course for “Line Sensors for Distribution Automation: Practical Deployment, Data Collection and Use Cases”, 2016-2018, and for “RF Techniques for Smart Grid & AMI: A Practical Introduction to Wireless for Utility Applications”, 2013-2015, DistribuTECH is the leading annual conference and exhibition for the electric utility industry.
MANITOBA HYDRO
UtiliSat Product Development
As a Viasat development partner, developed a satellite terminal with battery backup to provide backhaul communications for sensor data from remote assets.
CISCO (DEVELOPMENT PARTNER)
Radio Network Interface Card (NIC) Product Development
As a Cisco Development Partner, designed a standards-based radio network interface module for use in Cisco’s industrial routers.
KANSAS CITY POWER & LIGHT (KCP&L)
SensorConnect Product Development
Developed a cloud-based sensor data collection engine in connection with VoltSense for applications in power quality management.
ADDITIONAL PROJECTS
TAV Networks has been engaged with or proposed development work in many other Industrial IoT projects, such as American Electric Power (AEP) Ohio’s Field Area Network (FAN) pilot project, PSEG Power’s FAN requirement, Hawaiian Electric Companies (HECO) for the procurement of a FAN and AMI system, Sacramento Municipal Utility District Distribution’s (SMUD’s) Automation network, Chicago’s Commonwealth Edison, and the Port of Oakland CBRS private radio network project.
TAV Networks has also worked with many Smart Grid equipment suppliers, including Silver Spring Networks (acquired by ITRON), Cisco Systems, World Wide Technology (WWT), Sentient Energy, QinetiQ North America, S&C Electric, On-Ramp Wireless, and Corix Utilities. TAV Networks is currently focused on the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) with intelligent networked sensors for detection of anomalies and analysis of fault data.