Advanced Architectures for Non-Destructive Imaging within Underground Water Pipeline

Tthis paper presents an innovative architecture for non- destructive imaging (NDI) within underground water pipelines. This NDI architecture consists of a free-moving wireless device that communicates with a gateway fixed on the ground. This device is equipped with a sensing element “hydrophone” responsible for imaging the condition of the pipe by continuously measuring the noise spectrum. The measured data is transmitted wirelessly to the gateway on real-time bases for further analysis. Advanced algorithms are applied on the data to get useful information about existing or futuristic leakages. A novel experimental setup has been designed and built for carrying out preliminary experiments. The acquired results have shown not only the ability to detect leakages but also identifying their magnitude.