INNOVATIVE AD-HOC WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS TO SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCE LEAKAGES IN UNDERGROUND WATER INFRASTRUCTURES Daniele Trinchero(1), Riccardo Stefanelli(1),

Luca Cisoni(1), Abdullah Kadri(2), Adnan Abu-Dayya(2) , Mazen Hasna(3) , Tamer Khattab(3) (1) iXem Labs, Electronics Department, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy (2) Qatar University Wireless Innovation Center, Doha, Qatar (3) College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar
ABSTRACT This paper presents an ICT solution to overcome the problem of water dispersion in water distribution networks. Leakage prevention and breaks identification in water distribution networks are fundamental for an adequate use of natural resources. Nowadays, all over the world, water wasting along the distribution path reaches untenable percentages (up to 80 % in some regions). Since the pipes are buried within the terrain, typically only relevant breaks are considered for restorations: excavations are very expensive and consequently the costs to identify the position of the leakage or just the position of the pipe itself are too high. To address this problem, and simplify the leakage identification process, the authors have designed a wireless network system making use of mobile wireless sensors able to detect breaks and reveal unknown tracks and monitor the pressure spectrum of the fluid flowing in the pipe. The sensors transmit the acquired data from the terrain to the surface by use of a wireless connection. On the surface ground there are stations that receive the signal, process it, and communicate with a central unit where necessary intelligent signal processing techniques are used to detect leakage sources. Compared to other leakage detection solutions already available in the market (such as: Ground penetrating radar (GPR), pure acoustic techniques and tracer gases), the proposed technique appears very efficient and much more inexpensive. Keywords Wireless sensor networks, Ad-hoc networks, RFIDs, Green technology, radio-acoustic sensors 1. INTRODUCTION Breakdowns and damages in fluid distribution systems represent a problem of growing importance, due to their fundamental role as a primary good that water and gas symbolize all over the world [1]. This problem is emphasized by the progressive decrease of water resources not only in Equatorial Countries, but also in Western ones. All over the world, water distribution networks are typically
Authors thank the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) for financing the project, in the framework of the National Priorities Research Program (NPRP)

old and suffer from leakages and dispersions. . On the other hand, gas infrastructures are less affected by damages and falls, but the cost and the strategic value of the resource makes relevant the effect of even small, rare or distributed damages. The restoration of damaged pipelines, especially when pipes are deployed under the ground surface, requires high complexity, first of all because the exact paths are generally unknown, and secondly because, even when the path is known, it is difficult to identify the exact location of the damage along the conduit. Therefore, despite these breaks represent for companies that manage fluid transportation infrastructures, and consequently for the social community, a huge dispersion of primary resources, the renovations are complex and require long times to reach an acceptable solution. From the point of view of the costs, the first factor is represented by the technological process needed to identify the leakage. Hence, it is strongly related to time drawbacks. As an example, the detection of failures using advanced technologies may cost 3200 USD per kilometer when it is easy to identify the break, up to 65000 USD per kilometer if the damage occurs in a complex metropolitan environment. In general, expenses increase with the complexity of the urban scenario, because of indirect costs generated primarily by the excavation process. Especially when works concern relatively huge areas, there can be an unbearable effect on traffic, public services and business activities. All these costs can be lowered by refining the identification techniques with more accurate approaches. Several monitoring techniques are available in the literature [2], [3], [4], [5]. Among all these, tracer gases [6] and ground penetrating radars (GPR) [7], [8] appear to be very promising since they do not require any direct connection between the pipe and the outside, but they are not able to identify small leakages or to survey the pipe before strong damages occur. Gas tracing makes use of special gas mixture, a mix of hydrogen (5%) and nitrogen (95%), used to identify the conduit leakages within the ground. The gas is inserted in the pipeline and subsequently is investigated from the exterior using special instruments able to detect the concentration of gas in the environment. The system requires service interruption (tracer gases must replace the fluid normally conducted in the pipe) and is very expensive, due to the high cost of the gas itself, together with the gas sensors on the ground surface. GPR, on the other hand, may

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allow an easy estimation of unknown tube paths, but cannot provide a comprehensive monitoring of small pipe damages. An automatic system able to measure electromagnetic parameters of oil field pipes automatically has been developed [9], so that the correct interpretation of steel pipe defects can be provided. The fault of steel products can be detected based on the eddy current technique, and an automatic measuring technique is used to correlate results. This system is applicable only to steel pipes, since it is based on the measurement of steel electromagnetic properties. Accurate techniques make use of acoustic sensors [10], able to detect the acoustic noise typically produced by the presence of water losses and generated by the pressure gradient between the inner side and the outer side of the pipeline. The noise can be monitored on the pipe, in the ground or within the pipe itself. I.e., it is possible to apply a correlation technique to two measured acoustic/vibration signals on the pipe, on either side of a leak [11]. The technique that makes use of geophones [12] requires an operator with high professional background and good expertise, in order to identify the acoustic noise produced by losses in the framework of an external acoustic background. For this reason, the technique is critical in urban environments with high background noise. Furthermore, it becomes even more critical in case of large losses and fluids with low hydraulic pressure. An alternative acoustic solution is based on a time-domain technique that makes an analysis of the noise propagation delay. For this purpose, two different sensors are applied on the pipe surface in separate positions. Synchronizing the sensors and calculating the time taken by the noise to reach the two probes, it is possible to identify the position of the damage. Depending on the mechanical properties of the material used to construct the tube, the technique works on distances ranging from 50 to 200 meters. More recently, it has been possible to deploy microphones in the pipe, processing the data on-site, without the need of a further elaboration. The main drawback, in this case, is represented by the need to keep the flow of the sensor under control, to reconstruct its position and make correlations between sensor position and the monitored acoustic spectrum [13]. Apart from the last one, all the known acoustic techniques normally require a direct wired connection with the sensor on or inside the tube. Therefore they are inappropriate to investigate pipes networks over long distances. Furthermore, they do not provide useful solutions for the detection of underground paths. To overcome these drawbacks, our group has recently proposed a system able to detect breaks and reveal unknown tracks by monitoring the acoustic spectrum of the noise produced by the fluid flowing in the pipe [14]. It transmits the detected information on a wireless channel, hence it does not require a physical connection to the surface, it gives an accurate detection of the leakage location; it allows an easy and repeatable identification of the track.

2. AN APPROACH BASED ON WIRELESS SENSOR NETWORKS To simplify the construction and management of the system, the architecture is based on the use of underground mobile wireless sensor networks [14]. As shown in Fig.1, the suggested network is made up of ground stations, collocated in fixed or even movable locations, in proximity of known pipe crossing positions. The ground stations are equipped with directive antennas, pointed towards the terrain and communicating with mobile sensors that flow through the pipe network, transported by the liquid. These sensors represent the core of the monitoring system. They are made up of a hydrophone as a sensing unit, and a radiofrequency or microwave radio as a transmitting unit. The wireless component is able to connect to the ground stations, even if it is collocated within the liquid, inside a pipe interred in the terrain. Since the sensor is transported by the liquid under normal working conditions, the proposed solution preserves water provisioning, without the need to take the liquid out of the conduit. The flow of the sensor is controlled by means of hydraulic tricks and kept constant along the path. In this way it is possible to make real time and continuous pressure acquisitions without the use of wires or cables. Furthermore, when the sensor intercepts a ground station, its position is identified and the acquired spectra are correlated to leakage positions. The proposed network scheme allows detecting breaks by monitoring the spectrum of the fluid pressure, and revealing unknown paths, by tracking the sensor movements. The detected information is transmitted through wireless channels; hence, a physical connection to the surface is not required. An accurate detection of the leakage position is provided. An easy and repeatable identification of the track is possible. 3. SENSOR CONFIGURATION

Fig. 1. Mobile Wireless Sensor Network applied to water pipes survey. The ground stations are collocated in fixed or movable positions, where the pipe crosses the normal direction to the ground (typically, where manholes are located).

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Fig. 4. The microcontroller board Fig. 2. Block-diagram of the mobile wireless sensor unit.

The sensor must make a measurement of liquid pressure in time domain, which is further processed in the frequency domain, to recognize pipe damages or fluid leakages. Hence, the general scheme of the wireless sensor unit is shown in Fig.2: the pressure is measured by means of a standard hydrophone, interfaced with a digital acoustic card. The card is controlled by a Single Board Computer (SBC), where the detected information is processed electronically, digitalized, stored on a flash memory and transmitted to the surface. Power supply is obtained from standard rechargeable batteries. 4. SENSOR REALIZATION Several prototypes were designed, working at different frequency ranges, from 100 MHz to 2.4 GHz. Among all, three have been designed, at 180 MHz, 433 MHz and 700 MHz. As a sensor, different acoustic transducers able to work within water (hydrophones) were considered. Finally, a miniaturized hydrophone with high sensitivity, -198 dB re 1V/Pa, was selected. Figure 3 shows the hydrophone, which does not need a power supply in order to generate acceptable signals based on the acoustic noise. Preliminary experiments showed that the output signal amplitude ranges between 10 mV and 100 mV based on the level of the generated noise. The microprocessor board hosts and manages the whole

Fig. 3. The hydrophone implemented in the wireless mobile unit

mobile system. The main managing tasks are the control of the interface with the hydrophone and the sampling operation, the conversion of the acquired data from analogue to digital, the storing, pre-processing and routing of the data, the control of the RF board through the serial peripheral interface (SPI) interface, and the power control of RF board through a specific and ad-hoc protocol. Among the numerous of-the-shelf controllers capable to perform most of these tasks, the PIC32 from Microchip Technology Inc was chosen (see Fig.4 for reference). The main features of the board are: 32-bit 80 MHz core microprocessor, 16 channels 10-bit analog to digital converter (ADC), 16-bit timer, several types of interfacing protocols, 512 KB flash memory, 128 KB SRAM, etc. The wireless transmission is realized by means of an RF board operating on the industrial, scientific, medical (ISM) band. The operating frequency was chosen, based on previous results [6]. The highest transmission power is 27 dBm. The module has input sensitivity level of -117 dBm with high data rate up to 115.2 kbps. Also, it exhibits analog and digital received signal strength indicator (RSSI). The wireless protocol used between the transmitter, the detection module, and the receiver, the gateway, is being developed in such a way to reduce the overhead exists in other wireless chipsets available in the market. This is required to minimize the time needed to send and receive data. Consumed energy is a critical factor in the proposed setup and reducing transmission time significantly improves the system performance. As far as the design activity concerns the realization of the antenna, one must take into account that, in order to favor the flow of the sensor within the pipelines, the sensor must be as small as possible. Hence, the antenna must be miniaturized, even if the selected frequency ranges would require antennas with relevant dimensions (especially at 180 Mhz and 433 MHz) to optimize the transmission to the surface. As a matter of fact, the antennas are much smaller than the wavelength. Being small, electrical antennas are not suitable for the desired application, as they are inserted in conductive media and consequently completely mismatched from the surrounding environment. Hence, the use of magnetic antennas (dipoles) is mandatory. Electrically small magnetic dipoles are characterized by very short dimensions: their circumference C has to be less than one

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REFERENCES
[1] Substantive Issues Arising in the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, November 2002. General Comment No. 15, www.ohchr.org. [2] H.V. Fuchs and R. Riehle. Ten years of experience with leak detection by acoustic signal analysis. Applied Acoustics, 3:119, 1991. [3] D.A. Liston and J.D. Liston. Leak Detection Techniques. Journal of the New England Water Works Association, 1992 [4] O. Hunaidi, W.T. Chu, A. Wang, and W. Guan. Leak Detection Methods for Plastic Water Distribution Pipes. In Seminars on Water & Sewer Infrastructure Systems: Challenges and Solutions, pages 249-270, Ottawa, Canada, 2000. [5] X.J. Wang, F.M. Lambert, R.A. Simpson, and J.P. Vitkovsky. Leak Detection in Pipelines and Pipe Networks: A Review. 6th Conference on Hydraulics in Civil Engineering: The State of Hydraulics,pages: 391-400. Barton, A.C.T.: Institution of Engineers, Australia, 2001. [6] Sensistor AB. The H2 Method for Locating Leaks in Buried Water Pipes. Application Note, Sensistor AB, 1997. [7] O. Hunaidi. Ground Penetrating Radar for Detection of Leaks in Buried Plastic Water Distribution Pipes. International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar, 1998. [8] B.J. Allred and N.R. Fausey. G.P.R. Detection of Drainage Pipes in Farmlands. In International Conference on Ground Penetrating Radar, Delft, Netherlands, 2004. [9] J. Yin, J. Pineda de Gyves, M. Lu. An Automatic System Measuring Electromagnetic Parameters for Oil Field Pipes. IEEE International Conference on Industrial Technology, 1994. [10] Hunaidi O., Wing C., Acoustical Characteristics of Leak Signals in Plastic Water Distribution Pipes, Journal of Applied Acoustic, 1998. [11] Y. Gao, M.J. Brennan, P.F. Joseph, J.M. Muggleton, and O. Hunaidi. On the selection of acoustic/vibration sensors for leak detection in plastic water pipes. Journal of Sound and Vibration, Volume 283, Issues 3-5, pages 927-941, 2005. [12] http://www.watertechnology.net/contractors/pipe_clean/pure_tech/. [13] M. Thompson, M. L. Harper, The body is the sensor, Insight Non-Destructive Testing and Condition Monitoring, Volume: 50, Issue: 2, pages: 98-99, 2008. [14] D. Trinchero, R. Stefanelli, "Microwave Architectures for Wireless Mobile Monitoring Networks Inside Water Distribution Conduits," Micr. Theory and Tech., IEEE Trans. on, vol.57, no.12, pp.3298-3306, Dec. 2009

Fig. 5. . Real and Imaginary Parts of the input loop's impedance versus its circumference normalized to the wavelenght (C/)

fifth of the wavelength and then the input impedance tends to be a short circuit. For this reason they are completely mismatched from the transmitter because of a very high reactive part and a very low (almost zero) real part of the input impedance. Starting from results shown in Fig.5, the design of the antenna is carried out by fixing the real part of the antenna impedance at 50 Ohm, and consequently manipulating the imaginary part by inserting in series to stubs with input reactance equal to half the reactance of the antenna. The geometrical result is shown in Fig.6 The insertion of the stubs slightly modifies the impedance of the antenna, and consequently their length must be re-adapted, following an iterative algorithm. 6. CONCLUSIONS The paper presents an innovative concept that uses mobile wireless network technology to monitor pipes for water

Fig. 6. A magnetic antenna with the matching circuit, specifically designed for the described application, at 433 MHz

provisioning. The numerical electromagnetic predictions, as well as the experimental data, validate the proposed approach and demonstrate its applicability on larger scales. At the moment three different solutions have been implemented. The one working at 750 MHz has been already measured in a real scenario [14], it works well and allows the use of more directive antenna over the ground surface, minimizing the generation of noise. The second one works at 433 MHz, and it has been presented here. The third one works at 180 MHz, it is under construction now and will be presented in future publications.