Texas811 & Centerpoint: Damage Prevention with Validation

Thursday, June 4, 2026

9:10 AM - 10:10 AM CT

Location: CC - L100G

Speaker(s)

Kyle VanLandingham

Director of Business Development
Texas811
Richardson, Texas, United States
Dane Langen, PSP

Board Member & Vice Chair - Technology Outreach Committee
Fiber Optic Sensing Association (FOSA)
HOUSTON, Texas, United States

PDF

Moderator(s)

Joann Howell

VP, Spectrum Services
UTC
UPPER MARLBORO, Maryland, United States

Damage to underground utilities costs the US $30 billion a year. And 26%, $7.8 billion, comes from excavating without an active 811 ticket. There is no way to identify excavation without an active 811 ticket to prevent excavation damage. Texas811 Guardian, using DFOS (Distributed Fiber Optic Sensing), changes that.
The emerging field of using DFOS to protect underground facilities from excavation damage represents a huge opportunity for electricity, oil & gas, telecommunication and other operators. There are over 5.4 million miles of natural gas and liquid gas product pipelines crisscrossing the US which will require adjacent fiber lines for full deployment.
Texas811 and CenterPoint Energy have conducted proof of concept tests to demonstrate that DFOS can detect and alert to unauthorized excavation.
Hear what this exciting development can mean for your company.