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In the space community, there is increasing interest in adaption and augmentation of launch fairing thermal-acoustic blankets, to also control electromagnetic environment threats. This paper reports on the development of simulation methods to both optimize blanket materials for RF absorption and to provide quantitative guidance on their minimal spatial deployment inside the fairing. A stochastic power-balance model with multiple connected sub-cavities is used to map the reverberant electric field in the fairing when RF absorbing blankets are applied only locally – ie only partial coverage of the fairing wall. The sub-cavity Q factors resulting from different RF absorption blanket materials is calculated from published reflection loss data and a field incidence correction factor. Comparison with model-scale test data verified that the model correctly predicts the attenuation of different absorber materials, the spatial distribution of the field and the improvement in shielding effectiveness.

The electric field levels established at various points within a modeled rocket fairing under different excitations are measured. Both interior sources placed within different fairing sub cavities and exterior excitation was used. The effect of the addition of different absorbers on the electric field level in different sub cavities was investigated as well. The shielding effectiveness of the fairing within the different fairing sub cavities was considered. The relation between the total surface of absorber and the electric field level studied. In addition, the electric field level excited inside the fairing under external illumination was numerically simulated. The laboratory measurements were verified through comparison with the simulation results.

A launch vehicle payload fairing scale model has been designed, fabricated, and tested to investigate the reverberant electromagnetic fields within launch vehicle fairings. The fairing scale model uses a mechanical stirrer to attain statistically uniform fields within the fairing cavity. A removable payload model and payload adapter model are included in the fairing to study the interactions of fields with these structures. The layering of the fairing walls, use of shielding gaskets, and field probes to measure the cavity fields are described. The quality factor is measured when the fairing cavity is empty and when the surrogate payload and payload adapter models are added. The quality factor of the empty fairing measured from about 32 dB at 1 GHz to 41 dB at 6 GHz. The Q values dropped approximately 2 dB across the band when the payload and payload adapter models were placed in the fairing cavity. Measurements of Q at different probe positions within the fairing yielded similar results.

A study of the effect of the field-sampling probe configuration used in nested-cavity measurements has been performed. The outer cavity was an overmoded reverberation chamber and the inner cavity was a small conducting enclosure that included a coupling aperture. Mechanical stirring within both the external and internal cavities was combined with frequency stirring to yield the mean received signal. Monopole, meanderline, and log-periodic probes were evaluated. The three-dimensional meanderline probes overall showed the best performance, better sampling the low-frequency signals where the inner cavity is undermoded. Despite the advantages, the mean signals levels still show a dependence on the specific configuration of the meanderline used, particularly at low frequency, and care must be used in interpreting the measured levels.

The effects of cable routing within a shielding box has been evaluated using a numerical electromagnetic package. Different cable paths with both constant and varying lengths have proposed. The cable-feed port reflection coefficient and radiated electric field were considered for different test cases. The influence of slot apertures in the enclosure itself, gaps between external structures and the enclosure body, and cable route on radiated electric field and excited slot resonances are examined. The coupling between enclosure and cable resonances and their effects radiation emission are presented. The effect of the wire path on the slot resonances is also shown. The simulations for representative cases were empirically verified through comparison with laboratory measurement.

The external noise immunity of a real structure’s scale model has been studied. Using the scale model improves the accuracy and reduces the convergence time of numerical simulation. Different coupling paths into the structure were investigated using the Computer Simulation Technology (CST) electromagnetic simulation software. The effects of slot, aperture-slot, and gap-slot coupling apertures on the shielding performance of the scale model are the same as for the real tunnel box. The simulation results were experimentally verified through three different measurement setups.

Analytical expressions for uncertainties introduced into reverberation chamber field intensity measurements due to imperfect knowledge of the mean field level are derived. Expressions for the normalized root-mean-square error in estimates of the mean field level show that the maximum-likelihood estimation approach is superior to direct averaging of field samples, independent of the number of samples used in the estimate. The probability distribution functions of the ratio of test-field-sample to estimated-mean are then derived, both for the case where the test sample is an additional independent measurement and when the test sample was used in performing the mean estimation. The distributions give a direct representation of the effects mean field level uncertainty on the sample-to-mean ratio statistics. The expressions are general for both one-axis and three-axis field-intensity measurements.

In this paper, the immunity of a tunnel box shielding structure against external electromagnetic noise has been studied. The electromagnetic susceptibility of the structure has been characterized by determining different coupling paths into the system. Computer Simulation Technology (CST) electromagnetic simulation software was used for all simulation. The effects of slot, aperture-slot and gap-slot on shielding performance have been studied. The simulation results were verified through measurement.

In this paper, off-body ultra-wide band (UWB) channel characterization and modeling are presented between an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and a human subject. The wearable antenna was patched at nine different body locations on a human subject during the experiment campaign. The prime objective of this work was to study and evaluate the distance and frequency dependent path loss factors for different bandwidths corresponding to various carrier frequencies, and also look into the time dispersion properties of such unmanned aerial vehicle-to-wearables (UAV2W) system. The environment under consideration was an indoor warehouse with highly conductive metallic walls and roof. Best fit statistical analysis using Akaike Information Criteria revealed that the Log-normal distribution is the best fit distribution to model the UWB fading statistics. The study in this paper will set up a road map for future UAV2W studies to develop enhanced retail and remote health-care monitoring/diagnostic systems.

Estimating the electromagnetic field strength in avionics boxes and other small enclosures at the design stage requires an estimate of the Q factor of the cavity modes. When the enclosure is small, it is typically under-moded so that Q measurement techniques which are standard practice in over-moded reverberation chambers may not be a robust measure. Furthermore, practical antenna used to measure Q in a small cavity may have a strong influence on the result obtained, as reported by Tait et al, IEEE Trans. EMC 55 2 2012. This paper reports the results of testing to determine the Q factor of a small aperture enclosure, used in a statistical power balance model to predict the electric field strength. The contributors to the total Q are identified. A novel S 11 curve fitting method to measure modal Q is introduced and compared with the time domain method for measuring Q.

The generalized extreme value distribution has been recently presented as a leverage to find the maximum distribution function directly without a knowledge about the parent distribution. In this paper, this key component is investigated when the parent distribution is not known. The measurement is performed inside a nested chamber with different aperture dimensions and shapes on the enclosure. The Anderson Darling test is applied to show the field does not follow Rayleigh distribution. The results are shown by using parametric and non-parametric estimation in the confidence interval.

A brief presentation on how to solve using the finite element method and the application of the method to microstrip problem are discussed.

The effects of aperture dimension on the maximum field distribution function in the nested chamber were investigated. The maximum distribution was calculated directly by applying the generalized extreme value (GEV) distribution regardless of the parent distribution. The purpose of this paper is to show how aperture dimensions affect the maximum field distribution by changing the dependence of the environment within the box on the big chamber. Maximum likelihood is used to estimate the parameters of the distribution and parametric and non-parametric estimation are used to model and to verify the results.

A dual band FSS based on array of double square ring shaped resonators has been proposed. The proposed structure represents a wide-angle perfect rejection of incidence wave and polarization independency. The rejection occurs at two different resonant frequencies as high as 98% and 99%, at 2.45(GHz), 5 (GHz) respectively. The proposed Frequency Selective Surface has designated for blocking the WI-FI signals and screen room applications. Simulation results show polarization independency for both rejection bands.

Committees of multilayer neural networks were used to estimate the appropriate surface area and thickness of RF absorbing material needed to achieve a desired quality factor (Q) inside a reverberation chamber. The networks were trained with Bayesian Regularization to avoid overfitting. Monte Carlo cross-validation was used to develop confidence bounds on the accuracy of the network committees.

A previously introduced numerical approach to modeling a susceptibility test within a reverberation chamber has been validated against experimental measurement. A sample equipment-under-test (EUT) was fabricated and tested within a reverberation chamber over a large frequency band. The scattering parameter between the source antenna and the EUT measurement port measured within the chamber over a large number of mechanical tuner steps is used to derive an estimate of the mean current magnitude excited on a probe within the EUT by a random chamber field of given RMS level. The numerical simulations were performed using a moment-method based technique accelerated by the fast multipole method. The numerically simulated and measured currents agree very well over the measured band, confirming the validity of the numerical approach for test equipment ranging in size from large to small compared to the electromagnetic wavelength.

The dependence of the quality factor (Q) of a reverberation chamber as measured using a time-domain approach on the total bandwidth included in the time-domain signal has been investigated. Time-domain measurement of the Q factor of a mechanically stirred, metal cavity has been been performed using synthesized pulses of different bandwidth with the cavity both loaded and unloaded by absorbing material. The results show that the bandwidth does not need to be sufficiently large to give an equivalent pulse duration that is shorter than the wall scattering time to give an accurate measurement of the quality factor.

The use of Feature Selective Validation (FSV) in validating the current induced on a wire inside a highly resonant cavity environment by an incident plane wave in the frequency range from 300 MHz to 8.5 GHz is examined. FSV gives fair agreement between measured and simulated results. A visual comparison of the responses suggests that the agreement is better than fair. When comparing the results of different numerical simulations of the same problem, FSV was sensitive to slight differences in the position of current probe and different mesh structures that give a small difference in the amplitude of the induced current, but its validation results are similar to the opinion of experienced researchers. FSV proved to be highly sensitive to slight offsets in the frequency of resonant responses due to modeling or physical geometry differences, potentially limiting its application to problems of this type.

This paper discusses the results of exploratory research in analyzing the electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) of commercially available radio frequency transceivers co-located within the chassis of an Unmanned Air System (UAS). Tests were performed on a UAS with multiple communication systems onboard encompassing frequency bands with center frequencies of 915 MHz, 2.4 GHz, and 5.8 GHz. These tests were performed in a normal operational environment a.k.a free space and also inside a multipath environment where the UAS was subjected to performance evaluation i.e. the status of the communication systems of the UAS were monitored while there is no external EM threat and also while applying an external EM field.

An in-silico (numerical) study of the measurement of the quality factor (“Q”) of a reverberation chamber has been performed using an efficient moment method based on the cavity Greens function. Antenna mismatches directly reduce the Q measured in the frequency domain but not in the time domain. Well matched antennas load the chamber more severely than mismatched antennas and yield lower measured quality factors, particularly at lower frequencies. Quality factors measured in the time domain are approximately equal to the mean of the frequency-domain Qs averaged across the pulse bandwidth and are therefore less affected by non-ideal field distributions in chambers operating at low frequency.

The Quality factors of an empty and loaded reverberant cavity were measured using time domain techniques. Measurements were performed for a set of frequencies under different loading conditions achieved by varying the material type and material amount. The measured data were used to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) model that predicts the amount of material required for a desired change in Q at a certain frequency for the cavity under consideration. The results show good comparison between the measured and the predicted values, thereby supporting the benefit of the ANN paradigm for studies like this, where experiments tend to be expensive.

Electronic devices, more specifically, devices enclosed inside cavities require special protection from sources of electromagnetic radiation. These include sources from outside and also sources that are co-located. This paper discusses experimental data obtained by measuring the absorbing effectiveness of materials of varying thickness. Results indicate that an increase in absorber surface area provides an overall better reduction in energy absorption while the increase in volume of the absorbing materials demonstrates little to no difference over one absorber.

Electromagnetic interference can hinder the operations of systems near the source of the interference. This paper details the process of using a nested reverberation setup in order to determine the absorptive effectiveness of several absorbing materials. Results show that the position of absorbing materials is inconsequential as long as they are placed outside of the working volume and away from wall joints of the cavity given that the cavity is overmoded and the cavity under consideration produces a well stirred environment during normal operation.

Two recently introduced methods for selecting the Ewald splitting parameter used in the evaluation of the rectangular cavity Greens's function have been tested for electro-magnetically large, lossy cavities. The input impedance of dipole radiators placed in large, lossy cavities were found using the cavity Green's function moment method. Cavities with dimensions up to 132 wavelengths have been modeled. Tests show that a splitting method optimized for the spatial arguments of the Green's functions is more efficient than a splitting based only on frequency when the Green's function three-dimensional series is evaluated individually for each set of spatial arguments. However, best efficiency is achieved when the 3-D series is evaluated with the contributions of all spatial arguments combined. Frequency based splitting is slightly more efficient in this case since a single splitting is not optimal for all spatial arguments simultaneously.

In this paper a one-port time domain measurement technique for quality factor estimation of a loaded and unloaded metallic cavity is presented. By observing the power decay profile of S11 the quality factor can be computed. Validation of the one-port time domain technique is done by comparing quality factor estimation with the Q estimations from both two-port frequency and time domain data. The usefulness of the one-port time domain technique is also demonstrated using a physically small but electrically large cavity with different types of RF absorber material.

In order to understand the effects of loading on the estimation of independent samples and the consequent effect on the chamber uniformity, a series of measurements have been performed in a reverberation chamber with different sets of loads. The relationship between independent samples, loading and uniformity has been evaluated from the measured results.

Summary form only given. Several test facility options for conducting electromagnetic compatibility testing including immunity, emissions, and shielding effectiveness are available. Generally each facility provides a different test electromagnetic environment. A reverberation chamber is a cavity enclosed by conducting surfaces with a method of exciting modal structure changes within the cavity. The test electromagnetic environment, a superposition of plane waves with random phase, results from repeated reflections from the conducting surfaces. The statistical isotropy, random polarization, and uniform electromagnetic environment of a reverberation chamber permit a robust, all aspect angle test without the requirement for rotation or translation of the equipment-under-test. The reverberation chamber electromagnetic environment provides the correct emulation of the equipment-under-test performance when it operates in a cavity. Many standards permit the use of reverberation chambers as an alternate method for certification. As with every electromagnetic compatibility test technique, reverberation chambers are not a panacea and have disadvantages as well as advantages.

An electromagnetic susceptibility test in a reverberation chamber has been simulated numerically. The electromagnetic environment of the chamber was simulated using a previously introduced method that samples the plane wave spectrum of the random fields at fixed incidence angles determined from spherical sampling theory. The sampling scheme gives excitation fields that have ideal statistics over the volume occupied by the equipment under test (EUT) while reducing the computation time over traditional approaches. A refinement of the technique has been introduced that exploits the reciprocity principle to further reduce the computational load when simulating electromagnetically large EUTs with a limited number of test points of interest. Up to 1000 000 samples of the random chamber fields were considered. The simulations show that the current coupled onto a wire that is partially shielded by a conducting box with a large aperture exhibits strong resonances. The resonant frequencies appear to be determined mainly by the box dimensions, with aperture resonances also contributing. Statistical testing shows that the induced wire currents follow an ideal Rayleigh distribution independent of the frequency of the excitation.

In this work we address some considerations for using frequency sweeping for immunity tests in reverberation chambers and compare these with tuner sweeping. Previous investigations have discussed the impacts of frequency scanning rate on immunity testing and several authors have identified that susceptibility bandwidth of the equipment under test is a significant factor for immunity testing but have not quantified its effects. We show the interaction of the reverberation chamber quality factor bandwidth and the susceptibility bandwidth of the equipment under test is critical while planning a frequency stirring immunity test and identify some issues for frequency stirring for immunity tests.

Differences in the quality factor of a complex cavity as measured in the frequency and time domains in reverberation chamber measurements are shown. The possible reasons for the discrepancy between the two measured quality factors are discussed along with a detailed study of the parameters in consideration when performing a time domain measurement. The advantages of time domain in the estimation of the time decay constant by windowing the direct path effects is detailed. The efficiency of the time domain technique in the measurement of the quality factor of any complex cavity is of particular interest.

The random electromagnetic field within a reverberation chamber is modeled using a superposition of plane waves. Based on rigorous sampling theory, the ideal continuous plane-wave spectrum within the chamber is sampled over the sphere to yield nearly ideal field statistics (including spatial autocorrelation) over a specified test volume such as that occupied by an equipment under test (EUT). The same spectral sampling (as defined by the individual plane-wave directions) is used for each trial, with randomness added to the specific fields associated with the individual plane-wave samples in the different trials. Since the sampling is fixed, the response of the EUT to only a single plane wave at each sample point must be found numerically. The response of the EUT to specific realizations of random fields within the chamber is found through a linear superposition of the individual plane-wave responses weighted by appropriate random coefficients. This minimizes the number of times the field on the EUT must be solved using a numerical electromagnetics technique, giving an efficient method to numerically simulate susceptibility tests within reverberation chambers.

Radiated susceptibility testing of a highly directive device is challenging. To ensure the worst case coupling test in an anechoic chamber, an exhaustive measurement scheme is required which usually is not a viable option. When a test is performed with minimal requirements, the potential to miss susceptibilities are high and the uncertainty worsens when directivity is a function of frequency. Reverberation chambers assure best case susceptibility tests due to the nature of complex cavities but the potential to under test is also present as the directivity of the EUT are smoothed out. In this study, simulations are performed on a box with apertures to calculate directivity. An anechoic chamber test and reverb like tests are simulated to calculate the coupling. The differences in maximums of the induced fields are shown as a comparison.

With the advent and abundance of wireless devices and the confined spaces in which they are installed, the exposure dominance of the direct path and the scattered path needs to be studied. Wireless connectivity and reliability of wireless routers installed in industrial environments, deployment of RFID tags on concrete structures for structural monitoring, safe operation of various sensors coexisting in ad-hoc networks are examples of wireless systems that are encountered every day. The metallic nature of the installation environment reflects EM energy which can constructively or destructively aid the performance of wireless systems. When there is a line of sight between the transmitter and the receiver, the direct path seems to dominate and the received power varies as square of the distance. When the environment is reflective, the multipath contribution is dominant over the direct path even for small distances of separation. In this paper, a method to measure the distance at which the direct and the scattered path are equal is proposed and measurements in both frequency domain and time domain are presented.

This paper presents comparison results between measurements using mechanical-stirring and source-stirring techniques in a reverberation chamber. Three criteria (S21 scatter plot, log normalized received power Cumulative Distribution Function (CDF) plot, and the number of independent samples calculated from each data set) are used in the determination of the source-stirring method effectiveness. The results show that source-stirring is capable of producing good statistics and is comparable to the standard mechanical-stirring technique that is often employed in reverberation chamber measurements.

Calibration of a reverberation chamber is a time consuming process, involving a number of parameters that must be optimized for the chamber to pass the calibration requirements. One of the major factors for calibration at the low frequencies is the tuner efficiency (size and complexity of the tuner). Modeling of the tuner before building it is a cost effective option. Many tuner designs can be modeled for a chamber of given size and requirements and the best tuner design can be chosen from the simulation. Calibration of the simulated data to obtain the desired performance both in terms of uniformity and maximization of the usable volume over a range of frequencies may be useful. Numerical modeling of the electromagnetic fields within an enclosed space such as a reverberation chamber is a particularly difficult problem due to the resonant modes supported within the space, leading to poor convergence of computational electromagnetic methods. In this paper, the ability of MLFMA to model the fields within a reverberation chamber with lossy walls and a tuner is investigated and a calibration of the simulated chamber is performed for a specific tuner design and operating frequency of the chamber. The inefficiency of the tuner to stir the fields at a lower frequency is also shown using the power spectral density plots.

The comparison of result obtained in both frequency bands and locations reveals a good agreement between mechanical stirring and source stirring. The hallway's CDF plots agree very well with the theoretical value, a Chi-square distribution with 2 degrees of freedom (DOF). The quality factor in the ETS SMART80 RC is much larger compare to the hallway. This is to be expected and is agreed well with the diameter of the scatter plots for hallway which is much smaller compare the RC chamber because the level of reflection is much less due to the floor, walls and ceiling losses. The successful application of source stirring to characterizing indoor propagation channels will permit reverberation chamber methods to assist in developing channel modeling procedures. Additionally, the impact of loss mechanisms such as apertures and lossy human bodies effect the radiation characteristic for the indoor environment can be studied.

MLFMA has been shown to be effective in modeling the fields within reverberation chambers of moderate size and low to moderate Q's when using impedance boundary conditions to represent the chamber losses. The upper limit of the Q that is accurately modeled can be increased by reducing the error of the MLFMA. However, the iteration count needed to converge MLFMA dramatically increases with increasing Q, and ultimately limits the Q that can be efficiently modeled. Addressing this limitation will require the development of a preconditioner that treats the far-field as well as near-field interactions.

In this presentation, computational EMs applied to system level problems are discussed- 2D FEM reverberation chamber simulations for mechanical stirring; 3D numerical analysis methods for normal incidence, frequency stirring; Green's function; empty structure; 3D oblique incidence and arbitrary polarization; moment method; MLFMA.

A proposed approach in this paper presents a potential model for predicting both path loss, RMS delay spread, and decay characteristics of a room propagation power delay profile. Several parameters are needed to construct the model, including the room volume, surface, and the average power reflected. A roompsilas average or total absorption rate is found using the impulse response sounder system based on high speed, high throughput RF detector circuit, a digital oscilloscope and a wireless sensor network. With this approach, a time efficient means for predicting a roompsilas path loss, RMS delay, and decay characteristics is reached. The sensors measure the impulse response and send the data back wirelessly over the network to the main computer. The software then calculates the data received in a matter of seconds and provides an average response of a room, path loss, and the RMS delay spread, which lead to inter symbol interference (ISI) of a certain wireless system being deployed in that particular room. Because the proposed model does not require any knowledge of the environment, not only does the method provide much richer information, which is statistically more accurate about the channel but it also implement a more cost effective way to compiling this information.

In this paper we described the design concept, components, and calibration process in reverberation chamber of the wireless sensor network electric field probe. It also focused on the experimental and theoretical development aspects necessary to produce a highly accurate standard probe. The probe system mimics traditional optical fiber lines by incorporating wireless sensor network technology to enable unique features including high sampling acquisition rate, wireless network interconnecting between each node, and long continuous acquisition time. The highly sensitive and wide dynamic range RF detector circuit allows a detection field strength of approximately 0.5 V/m to 1000 V/m and the frequency range from 1 MHz to 10 GHz. By deploying the probe in the field, we hope to gain significant experience with the system's overall accuracy and performance. Since the ETS probe was used as a base line for the wireless probe calibration, the uncertainty of the wireless will be equal or more of that ETS probe. To achieve higher accuracy measurements, a Transverse Electromagnetic (TEM) cell is needed to provide known accurate isotropic field uniformity.

VECTOR succeeded in the primary goal of increasing the relevance of EM to undergraduate students. Analysis of self-reported learning gains, student artifacts, and reflective statements give a mixed message. Students see EM as more relevant and also report learning more from simulation and measurement tools. While it is not possible to claim students know more EM and are better able to apply it, analysis of examination problems shows no sign they have learned any less, essentially no harm was done.

The energy distribution among the modes in an over-moded reverberation chamber operating at a particular frequency is studied for varying tuner speeds. The understanding of this spread is important in quantifying upsets of equipment in the chamber. The spectral characterization of a time varying electromagnetic field is done using the averaged periodogram approach. The complex insertion loss S21 is the measured quantity and an estimation of the power insertion loss that will be used in the determination of Q factor, is obtained from the sampling data for varying angular positions of the tuner. The same procedure is followed for varying tuner speeds and the Q is reported. The autocovariance for this random process can be found by taking a Fourier transform of the spectral density function. The autocovariance function helps in determining the number of independent samples of the field. The field experienced by a EUT in the usable volume due to continuous rotation of the tuner is analyzed.

This paper discusses the validation of modal/MoM including cases for when the apertures are made as big as the wall of the enclosure (equivalent to having one side of the cavity open). The validation is done using FEKO, a commercially available code. The results show that modal/MoM predicts the results close to the analytical results for single aperture cases and for most double aperture cases. Also for the cases of considering oblique incident plane waves, through validation, it has been found that modal/MoM can predict the shielding effectiveness close to the measured results for smaller angles and not for larger angles of incidence due to the edge effects. In this work the shielding effectiveness is calculated at only one point, the center of the cavity assuming it to be the worst case. This work discovers the limitation of modal/MoM for certain applications

This paper describes a new grouping strategy that was applied to both the modified fast far field approximation (MFAFFA) and the conventional fast far field approximation (FAFFA) methods, comparing each method in terms of solution time and accuracy. The test cases used are a set of infinite conducting cylinders having progressively increasing electric radii under excitation by a unit amplitude TM plane wave at normal incidence

The feature selective validation (FSV) tool is a standalone application that implements the FSV method originally developed by Dr Anthony Martin. The feature selective validation (FSV) algorithm has been developed to compare any two sets of data and put them in an objective and comprehensible form. The FSV theory was conceived as a technique to quantify the comparison of data sets by mirroring the perceptions of engineers. The application of FSV to the validation of data is a key element in a current IEEE Standard under development as a means of describing quality of electromagnetic simulation results. FSV allows automated comparisons of large volumes of complex data whilst reliably categorising the results into a common set of quality bands. The motivation behind this research can be summed up as the need to control variations between visual assessment results, the reduction of cost (a skilled engineer is an expensive commodity), the desire to reduce ambiguities and the inability of humans to process and cache extremely large volumes of data.

Modern societies rely on a steady flow of utilities including water and gas through pipelines. Third party interventions (e.g., sabotage), sediments buildup, effects of abnormal temperatures and sustained dynamic loading adversely affect the flow patterns. They oftentimes lead to blocks, leakage and catastrophic failures in the utility grids. Round-the-clock monitoring of the vast array of pipeline network has therefore become crucial. This paper investigates the application of an ad-hoc wireless network coupled with accelerometer sensors for non-invasive continuous monitoring of flow rate and other flow patterns in large pipeline networks. The sensors rely on tracking flow-induced vibrations to directly estimate the change in the flow rate, and thus provide a means for detection and early warning of integrity loss in pipeline infrastructure.