Monitoring Design for Source Identification in Water Distribution Systems

Abstract

The design of sensor networks for monitoring contaminants in water distribution systems is currently an active area of research. Much of the effort has been directed at the contamination detection problem and the expression of public health protection objectives. Monitoring networks once they are in place, however, are likely to be used to gather monitoring data for source inversion as well. Thus, the design of these networks with the unique objectives associated with source inversion problems in mind is a necessity. Source inversion problems in water distribution systems are inherently underdetermined and exhibit solution nonuniqueness; and moreover, the structure of the errors associated with a solution are a function of monitoring observations. Optimal inverse experiment design is investigated as an approach for improving solution quality. The approach involves the selection of monitoring locations that are best suited to the generation of a well-conditioned source identification inverse problem. The m...