Long-Range Wireless Communication for In-Line Inspection Robot: 2.4 km On-Site Test

This paper presents a study of the feasibility of using in-line inspection (ILI) techniques with long-range communication-capable robotic systems deployed with advanced inspection sensors in natural gas distribution pipelines, which are rare in the literature. The study involved selecting appropriate antennas and determining the appropriate communication frequency for an ILI robot operating on Istanbul 12″ and 16″ steel pipelines. The paper identifies the frequency windows with low losses, presents received signal strength indicator (RSSI) and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) information for various scenarios, and evaluates the impact of T-junctions, which are known to be the worst components in terms of communication. To utilize the pipeline as a waveguide, low-attenuation-frequency windows were determined, which improved communication by a factor of 500 compared to aerial communication. The results of laboratory tests on a 50 m pipeline and real-world tests on a 2.4 km pipeline indicate that long-distance communication and video transmission are possible at frequencies of around 917 MHz with low-gain antennas. The study also assessed the impact of the early diagnosis of anomalies without incidents on the environment, achievable with ILI robots using long-range wireless communication.