Abstract:
This study presents a multiobjective solution approach to the Battle of the Water Sensor Networks (BWSN) initiative (Ostfeld et al., 2006). The developed methodology tailors the algorithm of Ostfeld and Salomons (2005) for optimally placing sensors in a water distribution system with the NSGA-II multiobjective genetic algorithm of Deb et al. (2002). Pareto optimal fronts are shown and discussed for the two BWSN Networks, for selected BWSN cases. Introduction During the last decade there has been an increasing interest in development of sensor networks to cope with both deliberate and accidental hazards intrusions into water distribution systems. Optimization models and solution algorithms have been developed for sensors locations using various algorithms and objectives. These optimization models have made simplifying assumptions about design objectives, network contaminant transport, sensor response, event detection, emergency response, installation and maintenance costs, etc. Little is known about how these design algorithms compare to the efforts of human designers, and thus what advantages they propose for practical design of sensor networks. To explore these issues the Battle of the Water Sensor Networks (BWSN) initiative was called upon (Ostfeld et al., 2006) with the purpose of objectively comparing the performance of contributed sensor network designs of different teams, as applied on two water distribution system examples. This manuscript summarizes such an effort.
