Wireless Sensing and Communication Capability from In-Core to a Monitoring Center

Abstract

Although the great challenge is to take in-place and real time measurements inside fuel rods within an NPP, the goal of the implementation plan is to develop a fully integrated wireless sensing and communication system to TRL-4. This system will be installed at HTTL, and the signal relay will be connected to INL's wireless link. The measurement data will then be transmitted to a cloud database housed in another building several blocks away. As part of the system testing, end-to-end performance, network delay, and the quality of the received data will be analyzed using INL's distributed antenna system test bed located in the Human System Simulation Laboratory. The RFID sensors will also be benchmarked against traditional wired sensors. v

Development of a Cloud-based Application to Enable a Scalable Risk-informed Predictive Maintenance Strategy at Nuclear Power Plants

“…This report is an extension of prior documents regarding the implementation of digital monitoring at NPPs. These preceding documents evaluated prospective wireless distributed antenna systems (DASs) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) communication networks that would be feasible for NPP digital sensors with wireless technologies [2]. ML capabilities, predictive maintenance (PdM) optimization, and data visualization techniques were also reviewed [3].…”

“…The RFID inventory management system would track and manage the sensor data inventory (e.g., status and location), with real-time updates to cost-effectively automate and improve the accuracy of inventory counts. Again, the RFID batteryless technology provides numerous benefits, including large-scale integration, reduced complexity, and flexible mobility [2]. The digitally processed signals stored on the sever would be transmitted over a transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP/IP) network.…”

“…The digitally processed signals stored on the sever would be transmitted over a transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP/IP) network. In addition, the RFID backhaul server receives the filtered signals for various frequency bands by employing a modulation scheme (e.g., the quadrature amplitude or the spread spectrum for the WLAN/LTE and LoRaWAN communication protocols, respectively) [2]. The modulated signal is then transmitted over to the cloud for storage, analytics, and monitoring.…”

Experimental Evaluation of Interference in 2.4 GHz Wireless Network

“…Most of the wireless communication deployment in nuclear power plants (NPPs) are on the secondary side of the plant. Smith et al [3] proposed three-tier communication strategy to support wireless transmission in NPPs.…”

Temperature and Pressure Wireless Ceramic Sensor (Distance = 0.5 Meter) for Extreme Environment Applications

“…Wireless passive sensors for ultra-harsh conditions are greatly needed to help with structural integrity, health monitoring, and proximate environment monitoring. Compared to physical wires, wireless devices are relatively inexpensive to maintain in a high-temperature environment and are less susceptible to failure [ 1 ]. Existing methods for remote sensing (i.e., passive inductor and capacitor resonant telemetry scenes, accelerometer, surface acoustic wave sensor, chemical resistor, etc.)…”