Tracking and monitoring model for pipeline pigging / by Rozaidah Saat

Abstract

Mechanical method, Radioactive sources, magnetic transmission, and acoustics system have been used to detect the movement of pigs through pipelines over the years while, multiple proprietary and commercial software has been used to analyze various data format to assess the pipeline conditions. With varying degree of success these systems can be made to do the job for which they were created, however in terms of data collection and input the tracking of pigs still involved loads of manual data collection. This often led to inaccurate analysis. Considering the large amount of data and the critical timescales of pigging operations, it is suggested that data input take place automatically and integrated with the software analysis tool. Thus, tracking and monitoring model for pipeline pigging has been proposed to be implemented in petroleum and oil gas pipeline to enable the operator to track and monitor pigging operation and perform analysis on specific location based on the spatial information in the GIS database with minimum human intervention. Adapting a hybrid of vehicles and animal tracking system model, this thesis presents the Tracking and Monitoring Model for Pipeline Pigging to meet the requirements and constraints posed within the oil and gas pipeline environmental settings. This thesis also conduct feasibility study to address the constraint and requirements in developing this system through experimentations at Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd Miri and propose and validates the data transmission design through simulation and analysis via Satellite Tool Kit (STK) and finally demonstrates how tracking will be visualized at the presentation layer by developing a system prototype using ArcGIS Tracking Analyst. This thesis also presents a sample analysis for pipeline model by using multiple data using a single application. Recommendation and findings from the experiments, STK simulation analysis and software development are intended to provide guidance in developing and implementing the system in real environment.