Water Pipeline Leakage Detection Based on Machine Learning and Wireless Sensor Networks

The detection of water pipeline leakage is important to ensure that water supply networks can operate safely and conserve water resources. To address the lack of intelligent and the low efficiency of conventional leakage detection methods, this paper designs a leakage detection method based on machine learning and wireless sensor networks (WSNs). The system employs wireless sensors installed on pipelines to collect data and utilizes the 4G network to perform remote data transmission. A leakage triggered networking method is proposed to reduce the wireless sensor network’s energy consumption and prolong the system life cycle effectively. To enhance the precision and intelligence of leakage detection, we propose a leakage identification method that employs the intrinsic mode function, approximate entropy, and principal component analysis to construct a signal feature set and that uses a support vector machine (SVM) as a classifier to perform leakage detection. Simulation analysis and experimental results indicate that the proposed leakage identification method can effectively identify the water pipeline leakage and has lower energy consumption than the networking methods used in conventional wireless sensor networks

Small unmanned airborne systems to support oil and gas pipeline monitoring and mapping

Acknowledgments We thank Johan Havelaar, Aeryon Labs Inc., AeronVironment Inc. and Aeronautics Inc. for kindly permitting the use of materials in Fig. 1.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Feasibility Evaluation of a Vibration-Based Leak Detection Technique for Sustainable Water Distribution Pipeline System Monitoring

Conventional water pipeline leak-detection surveys employ labor-intensive acoustic techniques, which are usually expensive and less useful for continuous monitoring of distribution pipelines. Based on a comprehensive review of literature and available commercial products, it has been recognized that despite previous studies and products attempting to address the limitations of the conventional surveys by proposing and evaluating a myriad of leak-detection techniques (LDTs), they lacked extensive validation on complex looped systems. Additionally, they offer limited compatibility with some pipe materials such as those made of plastic and may even fail to distinguish leaks from other system disturbances. A novel LDT that addresses some of these limitations is developed and evaluated in the current study using an experimental set-up that is representative of a real-world pipeline system and made of Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) pipe. The studied LDT requires continuous monitoring of the change in the cross spectral density of surface vibration measured at discrete locations along the pipeline. This vibration-based LDT was hypothesized to be capable of not only detecting the onset of leakage, but also determining its relative severity in complex pipeline systems. Findings based on a two-phase, controlled experimental testing revealed that the proposed LDT is capable of detecting leakages and estimating their relative severities in a real-size, multi-looped pipeline system that is comprised of multiple joints, bends and pipes of multiple sizes. Furthermore, the sustainability merits of the proposed LDT for a representative application scenario are estimated. Specifically, life cycle costs and energy consumption for monitoring the large diameter pipelines in the water distribution system of the Charleston peninsula region in South Carolina are estimated by developing conceptual prototypes of the sensing, communication and computation schemes for practically employing the proposed LDT. The prototype designs are informed by the knowledge derived from the two-phase experimental testing campaign. Overall, the proposed study contributes to the body of knowledge on water pipeline leak detection, specifically to non-intrusive vibration-based monitoring, applications on plastic pipelines, and smart and sustainable network-wide continuous monitoring schemes

Framework for integrated oil pipeline monitoring and incident mitigation systems

Wireless Sensor Nodes (motes) have witnessed rapid development in the last two decades. Though the design considerations for Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have been widely discussed in the literature, limited investigation has been done for their application in pipeline surveillance. Given the increasing number of pipeline incidents across the globe, there is an urgent need for innovative and effective solutions for deterring the incessant pipeline incidents and attacks. WSN pose as a suitable candidate for such solutions, since they can be used to measure, detect and provide actionable information on pipeline physical characteristics such as temperature, pressure, video, oil and gas motion and environmental parameters. This paper presents specifications of motes for pipeline surveillance based on integrated systems architecture. The proposed architecture utilizes a Multi-Agent System (MAS) for the realization of an Integrated Oil Pipeline Monitoring and Incident Mitigation System (IOPMIMS) that can effectively monitor and provide actionable information for pipelines. The requirements and components of motes, different threats to pipelines and ways of detecting such threats presented in this paper will enable better deployment of pipeline surveillance systems for incident mitigation. It was identified that the shortcomings of the existing wireless sensor nodes as regards their application to pipeline surveillance are not effective for surveillance systems. The resulting specifications provide a framework for designing a cost-effective system, cognizant of the design considerations for wireless sensor motes used in pipeline surveillance

An energy scaled and expanded vector-based forwarding scheme for industrial underwater acoustic sensor networks with sink mobility

Industrial Underwater Acoustic Sensor Networks (IUASNs) come with intrinsic challenges like long propagation delay, small bandwidth, large energy consumption, three-dimensional deployment, and high deployment and battery replacement cost. Any routing strategy proposed for IUASN must take into account these constraints. The vector based forwarding schemes in literature forward data packets to sink using holding time and location information of the sender, forwarder, and sink nodes. Holding time suppresses data broadcasts; however, it fails to keep energy and delay fairness in the network. To achieve this, we propose an Energy Scaled and Expanded Vector-Based Forwarding (ESEVBF) scheme. ESEVBF uses the residual energy of the node to scale and vector pipeline distance ratio to expand the holding time. Resulting scaled and expanded holding time of all forwarding nodes has a significant difference to avoid multiple forwarding, which reduces energy consumption and energy balancing in the network. If a node has a minimum holding time among its neighbors, it shrinks the holding time and quickly forwards the data packets upstream. The performance of ESEVBF is analyzed through in network scenario with and without node mobility to ensure its effectiveness. Simulation results show that ESEVBF has low energy consumption, reduces forwarded data copies, and less end-to-end delay

From Radio to In-Pipe Acoustic Communication for Smart Water Networks in Urban Environments: Design Challenges and Future Trends

The smart management of water resources is an increasingly important topic in today’s society. In this context, the paradigm of Smart Water Grids (SWGs) aims at a constant monitoring through a network of smart nodes deployed over the water distribution infrastructure. This facilitates a continuous assessment of water quality and the state of health of the pipeline infrastructure, enabling early detection of leaks and water contamination. Acoustic-wave-based technology has arisen as a viable communication technique among the nodes of the network. Such technology can be suitable for replacing traditional wireless networks in SWGs, as the acoustic channel is intrinsically embedded in the water supply network. However, the fluid-filled pipe is one of the most challenging media for data communication. Existing works proposing in-pipe acoustic communication systems are romising, but a comparison between the different implementations and their performance has not yet been reported. This paper reviews existing works dealing with acoustic-based ommunication networks in real large-scale urban water supply networks. For this purpose, an overview of the characteristics, trends and design challenges of existing works is provided in he present work as a guideline for future research