Reliability and availability evaluation of linear lorawan sensor network architectures for pipeline monitoring

In this paper, the authors present a study comparing the reliability and the availability of several architectures based on LoRaWAN Linear Sensor Networks, to be employed for the detection of Black Powder in pipelines. The paper describes how to maximize the network reliability and availability once the constraints related both to the number of nodes and to the number of gateways have been established. In particular, the paper presents a general approach based on the introduction of redundancies in the linear communication network infrastructure, aiming to provide a general methodology to overcome the risk of network failure in case on sensor nodes malfunctioning. A comprehensive set of six possible scenarios has been described and commented in order to identify the most efficient strategy depending on the desired reliability degree.