Development of an Unmanned Ground Robot for Pipeline Vandalism Detection

Abstract

Vandalism remains one of the biggest of threats to energy and utility companies. This, therefore, necessitates a system capable of remotely detecting and reporting pipeline vandalism. This work designed and implemented an unmanned ground robot for detecting pipeline vandalism. The system was developed using an Arduino Uno microcontroller, DC motors, a motor driver, an infrared sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, and a GSM module. The microcontroller serves the heart of the device, around which the functionalities of other components were designed using relevant algorithms. An SMS based notification status for vandalism was created via a SIM808 GSM module. The functionality of the developed system was tested using improvised pipes of different diameters-400, 600 and 1500 mm, all of which are 2 m in length. The speed of the developed system for pipe vandalism detection was also examined by creating a binary number representation of the robot speed, which was embedded within the implementation code of the microcontroller. Results showed that the developed robot for pipeline vandalism detection functioned satisfactorily. The minimum size of vandalism (artificial opening) that was detected by the system in 400, 600 and 1500 mm diameter pipes was 10, 20 and 90 mm at locations 1.20 m (7^o13'40.5"N 3^o27'12.7"E), 1.70 m (7^o13'40.5"N 3^o27'12.8"E) and 1.20 m (7^o13'40.5"N 3^o27'12.7"E), respectively, along the pipe. The robot, however, was unable to detect vandalism points in pipes where the diameter was greater than 1500 mm and vandalism size was less than 90 mm. The developed robot can be robustly scaled up for real-time pipeline vandalism detection, especially in developing nations such as Nigeria, seriously bedeviled with oil theft.