Author(s): Chengcheng Yin; Wei Zeng; Benjamin Cazzolato; Martin Lambert
Linked Author(s): Martin Lambert
Keywords: Smart water network Internet of things Leak detection Water distribution system Noise cancellation Signal-to-noise ratio
Abstract: Water main breaks can lead to serious consequences, including property damage, traffic delays, and negative publicity for water utilities. To detect emerging cracks early, acoustic sensors are commonly deployed. However, one major challenge for these acoustic early warning systems is false alarms caused by environmental noise, such as from pumping activities, water usage, and pressure-reducing valves. This research introduces a coherent-based noise cancellation technique to suppress fluid-borne interference noise measured by hydrophones in water pipes. The proposed method extracts the leak noise component from sensor-measured signals in the frequency domain by synchronizing interference noise components, making them coherent, and then subtracting them from the measured signals. Numerical analyses were performed to evaluate this technique, and the results demonstrated its effectiveness in eliminating fluid-borne interference noise from sources located outside the sensor bracket of a sensor pair.
Year: 2025