Multiobjective Optimization of Inline Mobile and Fixed Wireless Sensor Networks under Conditions of Demand Uncertainty

Abstract

Using a system to promptly detect anomalous water quality levels in a water distribution system (WDS) is a critical task to ensure security of a public water supply. Using continuous monitoring stations placed at strategic locations throughout a WDS has shown to be an effective method to detect potential contamination or low water quality; however, the performance of these monitoring stations is highly sensitive to the specific locations at which they are placed throughout the network. As a result, a large amount of research has explored how to determine the locations at which to place monitoring stations in a WDS, which may be composed of tens of thousands of junctions and pipes. These studies have typically used explicit simulations of network hydraulics, and contamination events imposed on a water distribution system, to compare how effectively a network of monitoring stations detects simulated contamination events. Building off these previous studies, the work herein proposes a framework to place fixed monitoring stations and input inline mobile sensors to best detect contamination events under uncertain water quality conditions. An adaptive-noisy-multiobjective-messy genetic algorithm is used to efficiently determine the locations at which to place monitoring stations in two sample water distribution systems for minimum cost. Results show that monitoring stations and sensor networks designed within a demand uncertain framework outperform the solutions designed in a deterministic demand framework when evaluated under more realistic demand uncertain conditions.