An enhanced wireless sensor monitoring system to combat underground copper cable theft in South Africa.
Tsoane, Khomotso C.
Tsoane, Khomotso C.
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Abstract
In South Africa, various computer intelligent technologies such as motion sensors, wireless sensors, and surveillance cameras are employed to detect and send alerts to copper cable owners about underground copper cable theft. In the recent past, the use of underground wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to help detect theft of copper and alert the resource owners has been heavily emphasised. Many existing WSNs have poor detection precision, as such, leaving many underground copper cable theft cases unnoticed. Among many other factors, this is due to specific limitations of the traditional WSNs, such as low bandwidth and frequency spread factor caused by weak antennas. Besides, the traditional WSNs have poor attenuation which hinders the quality of the communication link, which should be strong enough to send the signal through the soil. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to design an enhanced low-cost ultra-wideband antenna to optimise the function of the entire underground WSN system. The study proposed an omnidirectional antenna which seeks to enhance frequency spread factor and reduce attenuation to achieve maximum underground copper cable theft detection. The square slotted monopole antenna (SSMA) was used during the design of the proposed omnidirectional antenna. The study used two 3D electromagnetic computers for the simulation of the WSNs with antennas using high-frequency structure simulator software (Ansys HFSS). The proposed omnidirectional antenna was compared with a directional antenna called a circular monopole antenna with slots (CMAS). The simulation results showed that the proposed omnidirectional antenna has high-frequency depth, increased dispersion of the transmitted signals, as well as increased dispersion of their spreading. For a depth of 30 cm, the omnidirectional antenna has shown an average fidelity of 0.9 and a spreading factor of 1.5. The traditional CMAS has shown an average fidelity of 1.7 and a spreading factor of 0.8.
Description
Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Computing in Information Technology in the Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Information and Communication Technology at the Tshwane University of Technology.
Date
2022-04-01
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Tshwane University of Technology.
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Keywords
Copper Cable Theft., Directional Antenna., Frequency Spread Factor., Low Bandwidth., Omnidirectional Antenna., Poor Detection Precision., Underground Wireless Sensor Networks.