Measurements and physical-layer modelling of transmission loss for gas turbine engine sensor networks

The aim of this study is to extract a physical-layer wireless channel model from a set of channel measurements, in support of the wider, collaborative, WIDAGATE project to assess the potential of wireless sensor networks for the condition monitoring of gas turbine engines. The collaborative partners in WIDAGATE are Rolls-Royce, Selex and University College London. The resulting model is being incorporated into a complete system protocol stack as part of the wider project. The physical layer channel model incorporates interference [1] and noise in addition to signal transmission characteristics

Empirical modelling and simulation of transmission loss between wireless sensor nodes in gas turbine engines

Transmission loss measurements between a grid of hypothetical WSN node locations on the surface of a gas turbine engine are reported for eight frequencies at 1 GHz intervals in the frequency range 3.0 to 11.0 GHz. An empirical transmission loss model is derived from the measurements. The model is incorporated into an existing system channel model implemented using Simulink as part of a wider project concerning the development of WSNs for the testing and condition monitoring of gas turbine engines

Implementation of a herd management system with wireless sensor networks

This paper investigates an adaptation of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) to cattle monitoring applications. The proposed solution facilitates the requirement for continuously assessing the condition of individual animals, aggregating and reporting this data to the farm manager. There are several existing approaches to achieving animal monitoring, ranging from using a store and forward mechanism to employing GSM-based techniques; these approaches only provide sporadic information and introduce a considerable cost in staffing and physical hardware. The core of this study is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks by using alternative cheap, low power consumption sensor nodes capable of providing real-time communication at a reasonable hardware cost. In this paper, both the hardware and software has been designed to provide a solution which can obtain real-time data from dairy cattle whilst conforming to the limitations associated with WSNs implementations

Empirical Channel Models for Optimized Communications in a Network of Unmanned Ground Vehicles

Extensive research has been conducted on unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), used for critical applications, such as military or search and rescue operations. As all those unmanned vehicles use wireless communications due to mobility constraints, it is therefore important to further define the limits of high reliability communication links in operational environments. The practical importance of this study relates to applications where antennas are located very close to plane surfaces e.g. small, unmanned, vehicles used for exploration, monitoring or rescue purposes in confined spaces. An empirical channel model allows better understanding of the RF propagation mechanisms and enables optimisation of the sensor network with certain reliability levels

Wireless sensor networks for cattle monitoring

This paper investigates an adaptation of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) to cattle health monitoring. The proposed solution facilitates the requirement for continuously assessing the condition of individual animals, aggregating and reporting this data to the farm manager. There are several existing approaches to achieving animal monitoring, ranging from using a store and forward mechanism to employing GSM-based techniques; these approaches only provide sporadic information and introduce a considerable cost in staffing and physical hardware. The core of this solution overcomes the aforementioned drawbacks by using alternative cheap, low power consumption sensor nodes capable of providing real-time communication at a reasonable hardware cost. In this paper, both the hardware and software have been designed to provide real-time data from dairy cattle whilst conforming to the limitations associated with WSNs implementations

Empirical Channel Model for Placement Optimisation of Sensors Deployed on Oil & Gas Transmission Pipelines

Sensor optimisation is a significant challenge addressed when deploying a Wireless Sensor Network, especially in applications where a large number of sensors is considered. However, a compromise between the minimum number of sensors and the best possible performance shall be taken into account. For this reason, an empirical channel model is necessary. This study is focused on the RF propagation around and along steel cylindrical surfaces. A large number of transmission gain measurements was conducted within the 2.4 GHz ISM-band. An empirical channel model was extracted from those measurements as a function of cylinder’s arc length s and curvature κ. This channel model could be used for the optimisation of sensor placement during planning and deployment of a wireless sensor network for applications such as monitoring of Oil and Gas transmission pipelines

A self-calibrating partial discharge WSN for condition monitoring in the future smart grid

A self-calibrating wireless sensor network (WSN) of radiometers designed to detect PD radiation is proposed as a low cost approach to real-time condition monitoring, asset management and operational optimization in the future smart grid. The principles of the proposed PD WSN are described in detail. Some early progress in the development of subsystems for a proof-of-principle prototype is also presented

Adaptation of wireless sensor network for farming industries

In recent years, wireless sensor networks (WSN) have received considerable attention within agriculture and farming as a means to reduce operational costs and enhance animal health care. This paper examines the application of WSNs to livestock monitoring and the issues related to hardware realization. The core of this study is to overcome the aforementioned drawbacks by using alternative cheap, low power consumption sensor nodes capable of providing real-time communication at a reasonable hardware cost. In this paper, various factors i.e. radio frequency selection, channel bandwidth, etc. have been evaluated to provide a solution which can obtain real-time data from diary cattle whilst conforming to the limitations associated with WSNs implementations

Development and validation of a simulator for wireless data acquisition in gas turbine engine testing

Owing to its cable-free deployment, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have drawn great attention as a new technique for industrial data acquisition. However, the harsh environment of the gas turbine engine provides a number of challenges to deployment of wireless sensors. A definitive study of the impact of harsh environments on WSNs is currently lacking, which represents an obstacle to WSN's deployment in safety-critical industrial instrumentation and automation. In this study, the authors report the test results of applying WSNs to data acquisition in gas turbine engine testing and the development of a realistic software simulator with the purpose of de-risking the wireless data transmission technology in a project called WIDAGATE (wireless data acquisition in gas turbine engine testing). This study provides an overview of the simulation platform developed and investigates how small-scale tests of a WSN deployed on a real engine were used to validate and improve the simulator platform. This work proposes realistic modelling of the physical layer (radio channel) when subject to interference in harsh industry environment during aero-engine testing. Based on the validated, realistic physical layer model, different medium access control protocols are simulated to demonstrate how this improved simulator can be used to select an appropriate protocol