Utilities Can Harness the Power of Micatu’s Optical Sensing Platform at the Oracle Industry Lab

New Chicago lab provides a testing ground for utilities to explore and innovate with solutions such as using optical sensing for safe, real-time measurements to solve their toughest electrical grid challenges 

Oracle and Micatu Incorporated (Micatu)  are joining forces to help utilities create new opportunities and solve tough challenges at the Oracle Industry Lab. Opened today, the facility provides hands-on, simulated industry settings for guests to experiment, learn, and bring transformative technologies to life.

Micatu is changing the way the world measures with light through its optical sensing platform that bridges the gap between today’s analog infrastructure and tomorrow’s digital grid, providing utility operators with safe, accurate, real-time data. At the lab, visitors will experience how utility operators are pairing Micatu’s optical sensors with Oracle’s software solutions to balance loads and relieve electric grid stress caused by the influx of renewable energy sources, resulting in greater safety, reliability and resiliency. 

“With renewable integration completely changing the landscape of the electric utility grid, operators need to safely collect accurate measurements to make data-driven decisions,” said Michael Oshetski, Micatu CEO. “We don’t know what we don’t know. By working with the Oracle Industry Lab, we can help utilities develop solutions that will provide unprecedented visibility into what is happening on the grid so operators can avoid issues that threaten reliability and safety.”

The 30,000-square-foot Oracle Industry Lab brings customers, technology partners, and the entire Oracle portfolio of solutions and decades of deep industry expertise together to incubate and demonstrate new solutions across industries. Supported by Verizon 5G Ultra-Wideband, the Oracle Industry Lab will first focus on use cases in utilities, construction and engineering, communications, and manufacturing.

“Many industries are at a crossroads as they look to navigate increasing regulatory, environmental, and customer-driven demands,” said Burcin Kaplanoglu, vice president, Oracle Industry Labs. “We built the Chicago lab to bring together leading innovators like Micatu so we can jointly help customers shape bold ideas into powerful solutions that improve productivity, operational intelligence, and sustainability.” 
Micatu’s Gridview optical sensing platform uses light passed through a crystal to measure voltage, current, temperature and vibration. By measuring with light, the sensors are not passing electrons, making them an extremely safe option for line crews and wildfire mitigation since the sensors are not ignition sources. Optical sensors also collect data with unprecedented accuracy, collecting and transmitting 15,000 samples per cycle to utilities for data analysis.