A Wireless Communication System for Urban Water Supply Networks Based on Guided Acoustic Waves

Abstract

The structural complexity of real-world pipeline networks makes it difficult to derive physicsbased models of acoustic propagation. This work deals with the design of a communication system based on the propagation of acoustic waves in water-filled pipes. A method based on the experimental characterization of the communication channel is proposed. This approach is applied to an urban water distribution pipeline, and a black-box model representing its frequency response is obtained. The derived two-port model is used for the simulation of a complete communication system, comprising transmitter and receiver models, with the aim of using the water pipe as a wireless communication channel. It is shown that the choice of modulation parameters is critical in order to deal with issues such as the frequency selectivity of the channel and multipath wave propagation. A communication system is presented and the experimental results of the communicated data are provided.INDEX TERMS Acoustic wave communication, channel characterization, data transmission, underwater communication, urban water supply system.

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

“…Experimentally measured acoustic attenuation over a distance of 6 m yielded estimations of maximum distance of 18 m and 5 m for exposed and buried pipes, respectively. The works presented so far have in common the fact that experimental validation was performed in ad-hoc built test rigs, with communication distance below 10 m. This is in contrast with the nature of real, large-scale water distribution networks, where the distance between adjacent access points can be of several 10s of m. The only reported works dealing with acoustic communication in real, large-scale urban water distribution networks are Joseph et al [13] and Fishta et al [21]. These works will be presented briefly at first and then, in the following section, a comparative study in the communication system implementation will be provided.…”

“…A method was discussed in [21] to design the acoustic wave-based communication system, starting from the experimental characterization of the channel. The case study was a large-scale water distribution network with a ring structure providing two main propagation paths with length of 73 m and 165 m. The test structure is schematically shown in Figure 6.…”

“…Conversely, [21] proposed a channel characterization procedure based on the frequency response measurement performed for electronic devices [55,56]. The proposed system architecture for the channel characterization is shown in Figure 9.…”

“…Such a solution allows for a better coupling between the transducers and the medium, but it also requires the transducers to properly operate under a large hydrostatic pressure, as well as an invasive mounting. Also the probing signal employed in [21] for the characterization differs from that proposed in [13]. Instead of the chirp signal, the channel is probed with single tones and the frequency response in magnitude and phase is extracted for each tested frequency point.…”

“…In recent years, the number of works investigating acoustic communication technology in fluid-filled pipelines has constantly increased [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21], with applications to industrial communication [22,23], drilling applications [24,25], and offshore oil and gas extraction [11,26,27]. The common denominator of these different contexts is the existence of a fluid-filled pipeline which can act as a Disclaimer/Publisher's Note: The statements, opinions, and data contained in all publications are solely those of the individual author(s) and contributor(s) and not of MDPI and/or the editor(s).…”