Network simulation for the monitoring of water distribution infrastructure

Abstract: The smart society, including smart infrastructures is developing quickly. The smart monitoring of the water distribution systems is a significant part of this development, trying to address possible problems in the Water Distribution Networks (WDNs) such as water leakages, pressure instability and water contamination. By sampling and sensing important parameters in the water distribution infrastructure and sending these data to control systems through a low power wide area network (LPWAN), a Cyber Physical System (CPS) of a digitalized WDN can be built. This thesis provides support for the design of such a CPS, by the design of a simulation framework, which includes coordinated WDN and communication network simulators. First, we make a selection on the communication network simulators and protocol stacks. Network simulator 3 (NS-3) is chosen as the simulation tool and Long Range (LoRa)/long range wide-area network (LoRaWAN) is chosen as the network protocol. The EPANET software is used as WDN simulator. Then, the existing implementation of the LoRaWAN protocol stack in NS-3 is modified, to allow the network simulator run parallel to the WDN simulator, and to transmit WDN sampling data to a control center. Finally, the effect of the communication network properties on the performance of the WDN monitoring system is evaluated, and it is shown that the communication delays can affect the monitoring performance even in small systems. The thesis provides the first steps of the development of a simulation environment of the cyber physical system of digitalized water distribution networks, and is expected to support further research in the area.