BEAVERCREEK — A company that offers sensor technology to help electric utilities monitor overhead power lines from afar has applied for state funding to help develop the product for commercial markets.

Grid Sentry LLC, of Beavercreek, applied to the Ohio Department of Development on Friday for $400,000 in Third Frontier funding. Collaborators supporting the project include the University of Dayton’s Institute for Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology, Dayton Power and Light Co., and Grid Sentry’s sister company, defense contractor Defense Research Associates Inc., said Tom McCann, president of Grid Sentry.

State officials are to review the competing applications from around Ohio and announce the grant awards in July.

Grid Sentry and its supporting investors and collaborators will be required to match dollar for dollar any Third Frontier grant awarded, under requirements of the technology-nurturing program.

Grid Sentry markets technology to electric utility companies. It’s a sensor unit that clings to an overhead power line and draws power from it to function. The product allows utilities to remotely monitor operating conditions of power lines, including surges, outages and line temperature..

The potential utility market for the remote-sensing technology is valued at $3.2 billion, McCann said.

Grid Sentry was spun off in 2009 from Defense Research Associates, which shares its Beavercreek headquarters. DRA developed the power-harvesting equipment to draw radiated electricity from overhead wires, without harming the lines, to power cameras and sensors used in surveillance. The U.S. armed forces and civilian law enforcement agencies are DRA’s key markets for this technology, DRA officials said.

DRA developed the technology initially with funding from the Air Force Research Laboratory, through the Small Business Innovation Research program that provides funding to help small companies develop technology to support Defense Department needs.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.