Semester of Graduation

Spring 2024

Degree

Master of Science in Computer Science (MSCS)

Department

Computer Science

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Submarine pipelines and cables are vital for transmitting physical and digital resources across bodies of water, necessitating regular inspection to assess maintenance needs. The safety of subsea pipelines and cables is paramount for sustaining industries such as telecommunications, power transmission, water supply, waste management, and oil and gas. Incidents like those involving the Nord Stream subsea pipeline and the SEA-ME-WE 4 subsea communications cable exemplify the severe economic and environmental consequences of damage to these critical infrastructures. Existing inspection methods often fail to meet accuracy requirements, emphasizing the need for advancements in inspection technologies. This comprehensive survey covers the sensors and sensing methodologies, emphasizing their role in preventive inspection and monitoring systems. These inspection methods can detect various defects, such as corrosion, leakage, physical damage, freespan, and burial issues. This comprehensive literature identifies the strengths, weaknesses, and current trends of relevant technologies, providing insights into the ongoing efforts to improve subsea pipeline and cable inspections. Among these trends is the optimization of inspection tasks, which often relies on sensor fusion to leverage the strengths of multiple sensing modalities to compensate for individual limitations. Automation, facilitated by static sensors and unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), is shown as a cost-effective solution for early detection and prevention of potential disasters. The presented work is novel due to its comprehensive survey of the sensors and autonomous analytic techniques relevant to the inspection of both subsea pipelines and subsea cables. This literature not only highlights the evolving landscape of subsea structural health monitoring but also identifies future trends in the field, highlighting heterogeneous and multimodal sensor fusion as a potential avenue for future research and enhancement opportunities.

Date

3-28-2024

Committee Chair

Gerald Baumgartner

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