The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in partnership with New York-based SmartKable Powerline is developing AI to enable a smarter electric grid.

RIT Dubai is working with SmartKable’s Equinova Middle East and Africa arm to develop the AI in an agreement that will see RIT Dubai take a small equity stake in Equinova to allow for a long-term collaboration.

Faculty and students will collaborate with the company to advance smart grid technologies by integrating generative AI and predictive analytics into SmartKable’s line analyser software. Students are heavily involved, with some doing capstone projects through Dubai’s Smart Energy Lab, and a postdoctoral student in Rochester who is providing architectural oversight and integration.

Jinane Mounsef, chair of the electrical engineering and computing science department at RIT Dubai (www.rit.edu/dubai/), who is one of the project’s leads, said the group was aiming to develop ways to automate power assessment reporting with AI-driven insights, provide real-time smart notifications for grid reliability, enhance predictive capabilities to forecast failures and optimise planning, and support intelligent demand-supply control for resilient energy systems.

“This initiative highlights how, together, academia and industry can transform challenges into opportunities for innovation and sustainable growth,” said Mounsef.

SmartKable’s Line Ranger network measures line voltage, current and related parameters on lines in real time. It can identify, track and trace losses, separate commercial from technical issues, enable dynamic line rating, and predict the remaining lifetime of power lines.

“We want to help the grid successfully evolve in spite of all the new electrification and items that are happening,” said Bill Collins, co-founder of SmartKable Powerline. “We ultimately want to turn the grid into something that is intelligently controlled by AI.”

Collins explained that, at the end of the project, the team expected they would be able to start using this commercially with customers.

“The need for a smart, efficient and predictable grid is a universal, global issue,” said Wojtek Bulatowicz, managing director of SmartKable Equinova. “This is why SmartKable now has its operations in the United Arab Emirates to serve the Middle East and Africa markets.”

SmartKable (skpls.com) is based in Skaneateles, New York, and already has deployed its Line Ranger devices around the world.

The company previously connected with RIT through the co-op programme, and it was interested in partnering with Dubai after learning about the campus’ experts in engineering and AI. The agreement between the campus and the company is key to providing RIT students with the experience of real-life scenarios and the support to find technology that can be used worldwide.