Sensor Data Validation Methodology and Network Performance Assessment Applied to the Water Transport Network of Terrassa

Joseba Quevedo¹, Vicenç Puig¹, Pere Mora², and Adrian Oliva²

1. CS²AC Research Center, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain

2. Taigua, Aigua Municipal de Terrassa Carrer de la Societat, 30, 08221 Terrassa, Spain

Abstract: Terrassa municipal water company (TAIGUA), through a collaboration research agreement with the CS²AC Research Center of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), has applied a computer tool based on mathematical algorithms that allows validating the data from the flowmeters of the water transport network that supplies potable water to the city of Terrassa and other small cities surrounding. This water transport network is made up of 58 Km of pipes, 65 pumping stations and 13 reservoirs that supplies potable water to more than 218 thousand of inhabitants of Terrassa. Contains more than 28 flowmeters installed in pipes with a size ranging from 50 mm to 600 mm in diameter. The network is meshed and guarantees the continuity of the service through the contribution of the different production plants (ETAPs and IDAMs). Critical infrastructures (CIS), as in the case of the water transport network operated by TAIGUA, are complex systems of large scale, geographically distributed with a hierarchical structure. CIS require supervision and control schemes in real time (RTC) to guarantee high performance, but also demand adequate maintenance actions when malfunctions appear as, e.g., in sensors due to drifts, battery or communications problems. The development of the study presented in this paper involves the use of several mathematical models based on different algorithms that allow evaluating the automatic (daily) measurements and proposing the validity of the daily measurement or its possible error, leading in this case to a specific reconstruction of the value.

Key words: data analysis, data validation, data reconstruction, flowmeters