Focal Design Issues Affecting The Deployment Of Wireless Sensor Networks For Pipeline Monitoring

Focal Design IssuesAffecting
The Deployment Of Wireless
Sensor Networks For Pipeline
Monitoring
Presented By:
K Sandeep
Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering,
Navodaya Institute of Technology
A seminar on

Abstract
Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are a target
technology for oil and gas pipeline monitoring because
they offer benefits of low cost, ease of deployment and
ability to cater for data acquisition at great spatial and
temporal scales.
It discusses the concept of cooperative communication
for pipeline- monitoring sensor networks deployed in
sub-sea environments.

Content
Introduction
End-User View of Manufacturing WSN
Features of WSN’S
Critical Requirements
Pipeline monitoring wireless sensor network
Architecture
Overview of key design issues
Conclusion
References

Introduction
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN)
Autonomous sensing networks comprised of many cheap sensing
nodes.
Energy Constrained
Often deployed in remote
or hard to access.
In this ppt we identify vital design issues that must be considered to
facilitate the employment of WSN for pipeline monitoring.

End-User View of
Manufacturing WSN
Likes
 Mobility
 Compactness
 Flexibility
 Low cost
 Short range (security)
 Ease of installation
Dislikes
 Complexity
 High cost for coverage in
large plants
 Portability issues (power)
 Too risky for process control
 Lack of analysis tools

Features of WSN’s
The following are the features of WSN’s
Small Size
Wireless Architecture
Ease of deployment
Ubiquitous nature
(0,0) (4,0)
(0,4) (4,4)
S1 S2
S4S3
S5

Fields of application of
wireless sensor networks

Critical Requirements
Oil and gas pipelines transverse several kilometers of
hazardous inaccessible terrains.
The cost implications of a wired sensor network will be
counter-productive.
Due to longer distances, it makes it difficult and
uneconomical to access.

Architecture of Pipeline
Monitoring Wireless Sensor
Network

Made up of sensor nodes to accomplish a common task.
Breaks long distances into a series of shorter hops.
Finds alternative routes to maintain data transmission.
Capable of event localization to determine where an
incident has occurred.

Overview Of Key Design
issues
The surveillance part collects information from the environment.
Acquiring information is a fundamental design issue for every
network.
Affected by highly non-linear spatial and temporal processes.
Must differentiate one type of physical anomaly from the other.

Classification Of Issues
We can classify these issues in the following categories:
Sensing Modality
Power Efficiency
Energy Harvesting
Network Reliability
Localization

Sensing modality
Sensors are of different type – uni-directional, multi-
directional, omni-directional.
Coverage of each sensor is determined by the kind of
sensing.
The sensor placement is in-deterministic
The sensor however are not dynamic enough to assume a
deterministic position to assume maximum coverage.

Sensing Modality
cont…
Sensors are employed for pipeline monitoring using:
Steady-state detection methods
Transient detection methods
Steady-state detection methods are used when the physical
condition of pipelines are expected to remain relatively
unchanged over time.
Required to distinguish between the normal operational and
anomaly.
Ineffective for pipelines that undergo continuous transient
changes and also for long transmissions.

Transient detection methods on the other hand are useful for
scenarios where the variables experienced by operational
pipelines change rapidly over time.
The method exploits the hydraulic behavior of the pipeline.
Transient based methods have been increasingly used for
pipeline monitoring.
Pipeline monitoring WSN technologies must however utilize
suitable detection methods to facilitate effective monitoring.

Power Conservation
More concern where the gateway nodes have access to
dedicated power supply.
Such scenarios may occur when the infrastructure is deployed at
certain environments where power is available, for instance at
reservoirs, pumping stations or heat stations.
However in most scenarios, dedicated power supply is
unavailable such that the nodes rely entirely on battery power.
The key design issue is thus to consider factors that can sustain
battery life.

Factors that can sustain
battery life.
Sensor type and cell capacity
Communication standard
Communication protocol
Data fusion
Physical deployment

Energy Harvesting
Increase the field lifetime of the nodes.
Energy harvesting allows on-site charging of rechargeable batteries,
which can be cycled hundreds of times before their performance
degrades.
With proper hardware and energy management, the lifetime can
be extended almost indefinitely. For example, a NiMH battery will
decrease to 80% of its rated capacity after about 500 full cycles.
However, if it is cycled daily at only 10% of its capacity, the lifetime
will increase to 5000 cycles, or about 13 years.1
The critical issue is the need to harvest and store these energies in
small-scale magnitudes that are applicable to WSN.
Thus the focus is to investigate energy harvesting technologies for
self-sustainable pipeline monitoring battery powered sensor
nodes.

Localization in WSN
What?
To determine the physical coordinates of a group of sensor nodes
in a wireless sensor network (WSN)
Due to application context, use of GPS is unrealistic, therefore,
sensors need to self-organize a coordinate system
Why?
To report data that is geographically meaningful
Services such as routing rely on location information; geographic
routing protocols; context-based routing protocols, location-aware
services

Localization cont….
Location information is taken for granted in many network
designs, e.g. geographic routing
Nodes can often measure their distances to nearby nodes, e.g.
ultra-wideband ranging
The network localization problem is to determine the
positions of all the nodes.
Equipping each node with GPS is not always feasible due to
power constraints and other limitations inherent to sensor
networks
The cost implication of sensor nodes with GPS capability may
increase the overall cost of the WSN.
GPS signals may be unable to penetrate concrete or metal
pipe walls.

Localization cont…
Mapping technique on the pipeline where each sensor node is
required to provide a form of unique identification.
The shortcoming of this method is that a problem of scalability
may arise in large networks.
In Crossbow Technology it uses combination of ultra-sound and
RF signal strength to determine the location of nodes and relative
defects.
It’s results indicate an accuracy of a couple of centimeters.
RIPS is also used where two radio transmitters operating at slightly
different frequencies to provide an interference signal capable of
determining ranging information for localization.

Network Reliability
Major challenges is to ensure end-to-end data delivery.
Creating increased redundancy paths is invaluable for pipeline
monitoring because some nodes are expected to experience
hardware failure during the lifetime of the network.
Sparse deployment results in limited routing alternatives and
inability to cater for node and link failures.
It may also create power inefficiency due to long range transmission.
A high density of sensor nodes may not be completely advantageous
because it may increase the overall cost of the network.

Network Reliability
cont…Sensor node failure is a major issue that hampers network
reliability.
During the lifetime of the technology, some nodes will
become inactive as a result of energy depletion.
Failure also be caused by hardware malfunction, node
displacement, and by external factors like environmental
changes and security breach.
It results in holes which are created in the network topology
causing loss of connectivity.

Network Reliability
cont…
To achieve network reliability, 2 mechanisms are used packet
loss recovery network congestion control.
Packet loss recovery:
Packets may get lost in transit as a result of collision, resulting
in node failure and link failure.
The aim of packet loss recovery is to detect and correctly
reinstate lost packets.
Network congestion control:
Occurs when the magnitude of the acquired data supersedes
the capacity.
 Congestion can hamper data detection at the gateway node
even when the sensor node effectively collects data.

Conclusion
The low cost, simple deployment and flexible attributes
of WSN makes the technology impeccable for pipeline
monitoring.
Their ease of installation allows easy distribution in
inaccessible terrains where pipelines may transverse.
In order for WSN to meet present day pipeline-
monitoring requirements, certain design requirements are
inevitable.

References
N. Graham, Smart infrastructure: wireless sensor networks for
condition assessment and monitoring of civil engineering
infrastructure, MESSAGE, EPSRC Joint Project Between
Imperial College London and University of Cambridge, 2010.
Y. Jin, A. Eydgahi, Monitoring of distributed pipeline systems
by wireless sensor networks, in: Proceedings of the 2008 IAJC-
IJME International Conference, 2008.
N. Baker, The Four Rs of Reliability, Article of Sensicast
Systems,2006.
A. Sabata, Remote Monitoring of Pipelines Using Wireless
Sensor Networks, United States Patent, Patent No.
7526994B2, May 2009.
C. Ludlow, Energy Harvesting with Piezoelectric Sensors, Mide
Engineering Smart Technologies Article, May 2008

Focal Design Issues Affecting The Deployment Of Wireless Sensor Networks For Pipeline Monitoring

Focal Design Issues Affecting The Deployment Of Wireless Sensor Networks For Pipeline Monitoring

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