System and method for in-situ integrity and performance monitoring of operating metallic and non-metallic natural gas transmission and delivery pipelines using ultra wideband point-to point and point-to point and point-to-multipoint communication

An operational monitoring system for natural gas pipeline infrastructures, comprising:

• a transmitter located at a first location arranged to transmit a wireless signal through natural gas contained within a pipeline infrastructure;
• and
• a receiver located at a second location structured to receive the wireless signal transmitted through said natural gas contained within said pipeline infrastructure;
• and
• means to analyze said received wireless signal indications of operational changes in said pipeline infrastructure, wherein the transmitter and receiver are disposed in a common location such that wireless transmissions from the transmitter are reflected by the pipeline infrastructure and are received at the receiver.

A method of operational monitoring in a utility pipeline infrastructure, the method comprising:

• transmitting from a transmitter a wireless signal through a contents of a pipeline infrastructure;
• receiving said transmitted wireless signal which has traversed said contents of said pipeline infrastructure;
• and
• analyzing said received traversed signal for indications of operational significance, wherein the transmitter comprises a modulator that is structured to transmit a plurality of wireless signals.

A method of collecting operational, damage, tampering, real-time or historical information regarding gas pipelines, the method comprising:

• broadcasting from a transmitter at least one wireless signal within a gas in a gas utility distribution pipeline infrastructure;
• receiving at least a portion of said wireless signal broadcasted through said gas in the said gas utility distribution pipeline infrastructure;
• and
• subsequently analyzing data or signal errors in the received portion of the wireless signal to determine indications' of operational, damage, tampering, trend and/or temporal significance, wherein the transmitter comprises a modulator that is structured to transmit a plurality of wireless signals.