Pipeline condition sensing for protecting against theft of a substance flowing through a pipeline

Abstract

Disclosed herein are embodiments of apparatuses, systems and methods configured to monitor vibrations and other signals in a pipeline to detect activities associated with theft of a substance flowing through the pipeline. To this end, such activities are determined by correlating pipeline sensor signals to anomalistic reference signals characterizing activity(ies) known to be associated with theft of a substance flowing through a pipeline—e.g., formation of a hole within a tubular member of the pipeline, a liquid being pumped into the pipeline through a wall of a tubular member thereof, a metallic article (e.g., drill) coming into contact with a tubular member of the pipeline, and the like. Advantageously, fiber optic sensors are utilized for such monitoring of vibrations and other operating conditions in elongated tubular members making up the pipeline thereby enabling activities associated with theft of a substance from the pipeline to be effectively and inexpensively detected over extended lengths of pipelines.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.