System and method for in-situ integrity and performance monitoring of operating metallic and non-metallic natural gas transmission and delivery pipelines using ultra wideband point-to point and point-to point and point-to-multipoint communication
First Claim
1. An operational monitoring system for natural gas pipeline infrastructures, comprising:
- a transmitter located at a first location arranged to transmit a wireless signal through natural gas contained within a pipeline infrastructure; and
a receiver located at a second location structured to receive the wireless signal transmitted through said natural gas contained within said pipeline infrastructure; and
means to analyze said received wireless signal indications of operational changes in said pipeline infrastructure,wherein the transmitter comprises a modulator that is structured to transmit a plurality of wireless signals.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An operational monitoring system for use in communications, and a method thereof, for operational, systems or integrity management of pipeline infrastructures which operates by broadcasting wireless signals through gas distribution networks and analyzing the traversed signals to assess the operational, systems or integrity of the natural gas pipelines. The operational monitoring system includes a transmitter located at a first location arranged to transmit a wireless signal through natural gas contained within a pipeline infrastructure; a receiver located at a second location structured to receive the wireless signal transmitted through the natural gas contained within the pipeline infrastructure; and a device to analyze the received wireless signal indications of operational changes in the natural gas pipeline infrastructure.
-
Citations
23 Claims
-
1. An operational monitoring system for natural gas pipeline infrastructures, comprising:
-
a transmitter located at a first location arranged to transmit a wireless signal through natural gas contained within a pipeline infrastructure; and a receiver located at a second location structured to receive the wireless signal transmitted through said natural gas contained within said pipeline infrastructure; and means to analyze said received wireless signal indications of operational changes in said pipeline infrastructure, wherein the transmitter comprises a modulator that is structured to transmit a plurality of wireless signals. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
-
-
8. An operational monitoring system for natural gas pipeline infrastructures, comprising:
-
a transmitter located at a first location arranged to transmit a wireless signal through natural gas contained within a pipeline infrastructure; and a receiver located at a second location structured to receive the wireless signal transmitted through said natural gas contained within said pipeline infrastructure; and means to analyze said received wireless signal indications of operational changes in said pipeline infrastructure, wherein the transmitter and receiver are disposed in a common location such that wireless transmissions from the transmitter are reflected by the pipeline infrastructure and are received at the receiver.
-
-
9. A method of operational monitoring in a utility pipeline infrastructure, the method comprising:
-
transmitting from a transmitter a wireless signal through a contents of a pipeline infrastructure; receiving said transmitted wireless signal which has traversed said contents of said pipeline infrastructure; and analyzing said received traversed signal for indications of operational significance, wherein the transmitter comprises a modulator that is structured to transmit a plurality of wireless signals. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
-
-
20. A method of collecting operational, damage, tampering, real-time or historical information regarding gas pipelines, the method comprising:
-
broadcasting from a transmitter at least one wireless signal within a gas in a gas utility distribution pipeline infrastructure; receiving at least a portion of said wireless signal broadcasted through said gas in the said gas utility distribution pipeline infrastructure; and subsequently analyzing data or signal errors in the received portion of the wireless signal to determine indications'"'"' of operational, damage, tampering, trend and/or temporal significance, wherein the transmitter comprises a modulator that is structured to transmit a plurality of wireless signals. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23)
-
Specification