The Problem

"LEAKING" (GRD1-2001-40284) is an EU co-funded project, aiming at the development of an innovative platform for the detection of leakages in underground water pipes. LEAKING seeks the solution to this severe financial and public health issue with efficient, non-destructive testing techniques. The platform under development integrates microwave radiometry and ground penetration radar equipment with advanced Digital Signal Processing algorithms.

Global warming may lead to a significant shrinkage of the groundwater reserves. At the same time, about one third of water provided by EU companies is lost due to leakage.
Furthermore, the detection of leakage spots with current methods proved both inaccurate and extremely time-consuming.

The above facts raise sustainability, health, safety and economic concerns, leading water supply industries to research for faster and accurate underground pipeline fault detection techniques.

Additionally, most of the techniques used today for leakage detection provide poor performance results especially when applied to the new plastic pipeline networks, which will gradually replace metallic pipes in the majority of EU water supply networks during the next few years.