Water flow Driven Sensor Networks for leakage and contamination monitoring

In this paper, we introduce the concept of Water flow Driven Sensor Networks for leakage and contamination monitoring in urban water distribution systems. The unique aspect of our work is that the sensor network can be deployed in the underground water network with only access to connection points (through manholes) and driven only by water harvested energy so as to avoid access to AC power or need for frequent battery changes. The main problems addressed are (a) adaptation of the network to the available energy in order to maximize leak/contamination detection, and (b) minimal artificial water circulation or leakage to improve detectability during periods of almost zero natural water flow. The paper shows, through extensive simulations, that the proposed approach can drastically reduce the leakage/contamination reporting time (more than 3 hours to ~30 minutes), and the adaptation can reduce this circulation by ~33% and yet enhance the collected/transmitted data by 30%.