NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

FACULTY OF INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONIC ENGINEERING

FINAL YEAR PROJECT PROPOSAL

AUTOMATED MONITORING SYSTEM FOR MANHOLE

BY DARLINGTON CHAMBE (N01415658D)

SUPERVISOR: ENGINEER MAGRIPA NLEYA
October 2018
1.1 INTRODUCTION
Manholes leading to underground supply systems are essential for their maintenance, it
concerns telecommunication networks, water supply networks, gas supply networks and
electricity networks. Although it is very crucial to a city’s operations, the manhole can be one
of the least protected and most vulnerable assets.

1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT

The main problems in the management of manholes are:
 The monitoring is generally done by physically visiting when faults are reported in the
same area.
 Difficult management because of the large number of manholes with different purposes.
 Complicated and wide ownership
 Only given attention when there is a fault
A poorly managed manhole network is a danger to the society and a liability to the company.
Some of the dangers arising from this include:
 Accidents due to open manholes
 Overflowing manholes with waste material and water creating damages and faults.
 Property damage due to unauthorised access

1.3 AIM OF PROJECT

To design a real time remote manhole monitoring system, which is able to detect the current
condition of the manholes and alerts concerned personnel.

1.4 OBJECTIVES
 Check the status of the manhole cover (open/closed)
 Sense the temperature and presence of gas
 Detection of water level in the manhole
 Detect the location and alert personnel
2.0 LITERETURE REVIEW
This chapter focuses on the previous research work that has been done on manhole monitoring
systems. It is on the limitations of some of these previous works that this project foundation is
built on.

Monitoring smart city applications using raspberry pi based on IOT by Shaikh, Suvarna and.
Sonawane consists of raspberry pi 3 controller , LCD display, proximity sensor, DTH11
sensor, float drainage , water level sensor, IR sensor , phase detection circuit, relays,
solenoid valve, and pump. Sensors sense information and give this information to the
Raspberry Pi3 module which processes on further and display output values on LCD display.
The acquired output from the controller is sent to the control room through the E - mail and
also display on the personal computer [1].
The system uses two float sensors for reliability and redundancy purposes and also includes
solenoid valves to act as actuators and control water flow. The heavily reliance on the Internet
due to unavailability of an offline mechanism is a concern. The study was centred mostly on
water level and neglected other parameters like gas.

Automated Internet of Things for Underground Drainage and Manhole Monitoring System for
Metropolitan Cities designed by Muragesh and Santhosha Rao consists of the transmitter
which is connected to sensors which sense all the parameters and convert it into electrical
quantity. The receiver collects the serial data from the serial port and displays it on the monitor
using terminal emulator program [2].
The system is wireless, has a long life time and low cost. An offline mechanism for alerts with
the use of GSM wasn’t included in the study. The study didn’t cover also remote manhole
location with the use of either GPS or RFID tags.
Therefore the proposed automated manhole monitoring system will monitor real-time
condition of the manhole such as the door openings, sense the amount of gases, the water
level. If these occur the alarm will be triggered to notify the personnel concerned indicating
the location.
3.0 METHODOLOGY.

The system will consist of the hardware and software parts.

The block diagram of the system is shown in figure 3.1.

The various sensors are integrated to monitor the mentioned parameters. Any stimulation such
as manhole opening will result in the sensor feeding the information to the microcontroller.
The microcontroller sends data to a remote server. A message is also sent to the responsible
personnel.

Fig 3.1: Automated manhole monitoring system

HARDWARE DESIGN

GPS sensor: locates the position of the concerned manhole

Tilt Sensor: checks the angle inclination of the manhole cover to the basement. It is
used to check if the manhole is open or closed. If it’s opened a message is sent.
Gas Sensor: senses the gases and indicates the authority about the leakage of gases
Water level sensor: senses the level of water inside the manhole and indicate through IoT.
If the level increases above a defined level then the message is sent through.
Wi-Fi module: provides Wi-Fi connectivity to the system by connecting to the nearest SSID
for event logging
GSM module: sends text messages to responsible personnel

SOFTWARE DESIGN

The software design will maintain data in a secure internal digital store after the data is
transmitted in real-time to a central location, as well as distributed to authorized personnel as
needed and present an easy-to-use interface where utility personnel can readily gain a
comprehensive view of all manhole statuses (such as on a network map).

Frontend will be designed using web framework angular and HTML. Angular has been chosen
because it turns HTML-based documents into dynamic content and reduces development effort
aimed at creating dynamic content.

Backend will be designed using java and PHP which have been chosen based on cross-platform,
ease of use, speed and stability attributes. MySQL database will be used in this project since its
It's easy to use, secure, inexpensive and fast
1.7 BUDGET

TABLE 1.1 PROJECT ESTIMATED COST

COMPONENT QUANTITY COST

MICROCONTROLLER(ARDUINO MEGA) 2 20
WATER LEVEL SENSOR 2 10
GAS SENSOR (MQ-4) 2 4
GPS 2 20
TILT SENSOR(Accelerometer/ 2 20
2 10
WIFI MODULE(ESP8266)
CRACK SENSOSR 2 20
GSM MODULE 2 20
ESTIMATED TOTAL COST $124-00

The above values were quoted from aliexpress.com.

1.8 CONCLUSION.

The system will help various companies’ telecommunication networks, water supply networks,
gas supply networks, electricity networks and so on. The system can be used to monitor vast
ZINWA manhole network and can detect sewage overflow. Internet service providers will be
quickly alerted of any removed manhole covers.
Through all of these capabilities, utilities can gain efficiency in their operations and potentially
save lives. Long-term active monitoring of manholes facilitates development of preventative
maintenance programs that provide for planned infrastructure refurbishment and replacement,
while still being able to react quickly to unplanned issues prior to events occurring. The
capabilities of active monitoring continue to evolve, and will increase safety and productivity
for utility field technicians by eliminating the increased chance of manhole events and handling
issues before they occur [3].
References

[1] S. A. Sonawane, "Monitoring Smart City Applications using Raspberry PI Based on IOT,"
International Journal for Research in Applied Science & Engineering Technology (IJRASET), vol. 5 ,
no. VII, pp. 925-926, 2017.

[2] S. R. Muragesh SK, "Automated Internet of Things for Underground Drainage and Manhole
Monitoring System for Metropolitan Cities," International Journal of Information & Computation
Technology., vol. 4, pp. 1211-1220, 2014.

[3] M. Newton, "Manhole Monitoring Solutions: Safer, Smarter for Aging Infrastructures," [Online].
Available: https://www.utilityproducts.com/articles/print/volume-21/issue-4/product-
focus/test-measurement/manhole-monitoring-solutions-safer-smarter-for-aging-
infrastructures.html. [Accessed 2018 10 8].