UNDERGROUND CABLE FAULT DETECTION USING IoT

Kushal Patel, Mayank Kumar, Pankaj Kr Kushwaha, Shashi Kr Sharma

Students, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad, India

Abstract - The main aim of this paper is to deal with The objective of this paper is to find the distance of line fault
fabrication of an IoT device that detects the distance of fault from the station in unit distance using Arduino board. In
in cable lines common, urban region practices the underground cable
using an Arduino microcontroller kit, the result is shown on a system while a fault occurs it becomes difficult to find the
web page and also the message is being sent on the mobile exact location of the fault and the process takes a lot of time.
phone with the help of GSM. In the urban region, the
electrical cable is operated in underground instead of The method used by underground cable fault detection is an
overhead lines. When the fault occurs in the underground advanced method for locating the fault. The main aim of this
cable it is hard to detect the exact location of the fault for paper is to find the exact fault location and avoid the process
repairing the cable. This system finds the specific location of of digging the whole line. This will save time and reduce
the fault in the cable. The underground cables are inclined to a human efforts.
large variety of faults due to underground conditions, wear
and tear, rodents etc. Fault source is difficult to detect and the 2. SYSTEM ANALYSIS
whole cable is to be dug for the invigilation and for the fault
fixing. Our propose is to detect the exact location of the fault 2.1 EXISTING SYSTEM
that is to be fixed for the ease in the process of repairing. The
potential divider network system is used to detect the fault The electrical energy is distributed to the different loads
that laid across the cable. When lines are short together then a which are generated in the stations and consumed by villages,
fault is created at that point, a particular voltage is generated towns and cities then. The voltage is stepped up in this
as per the network combination of the resistors. The process to minimize the loss of energy in the form of heat.
microcontroller sensed the voltage change and send a signal The grid station contains the voltages in the distributed form
to the user. The information about the distance to which that where it is stepped down for distribution to the regional
voltage corresponds is sent to the user. transformers where it is finally stepped down and distributed
to the consumers. The physically cutting and splicing the
The data of the fault line is displays over LCD display with cable is the basic method of locating a cable fault. Dividing
the help of microcontrollers also this data is transferred over a the cable into successively tiny sections will enable you to
network to show in a web browser. narrow down the search for a fault. For example, on a 1000-ft
Key Words: Arduino, Cable fault, IoT, Web page, the resistor length, you would cut the cable into two 500-Ft Sections and
network measure both ways with an ohmmeter or high-voltage
insulation resistance (IR) tester. The lower IR is shown by the
defective section than the good section. You would repeat this
1. INTRODUCTION divide and conquer method until you reach a short enough
section of cable that allows repairing of the fault. This process
1.1 BACKGROUND becomes very hectic and involves repetition in cable
evacuation.
The function of the electrical transmission and distribution
system is to send the electrical energy from the generation 2.1.1 LIMITATIONS OF EXISTING SYSTEM
unit to the customers. When a fault occurs in a line, it is
necessary to detect fault for the power system and to clear it There are many disadvantages to the present system. The
before the damage of the power system is increased. The entire cable has to be checked to find the fault location
underground cable system has an edge over the overhead line whenever a fault occurs in a cable. It is time-consuming and
system but it is difficult to find out the fault location. The requires a lot of human efforts. It is practical only in the case
development of locating fault techniques are on demand for of short distances. During the repair work the probability of
reliable service. The resistance in the cables gets affected by mishappening increases. The interruption is caused due to
the cable faults. If allowed to continue, a voltage breakdown striking of light on overhead cables as they are vulnerable to
can happen. As the line fault detection is the method of it. The bare conductors are used which causes damage if they
locating a fault that occur periodically, a programmed break. The voltage drop is high and the maintenance cost is
Arduino microcontroller will display the accurate and specific also high.
digital value of series resistance voltage drop that is converted
by ADC in unit distance from the base. This paper deals with 2.2 PROPOSED SYSTEM
Arduino, LCD and web. The system time is reduced and
operates constructively. Our paper points in finding the specific area of the fault. The
paper utilizes the standard idea of Ohm's law at the point
1.2 OBJECTIVE when
 UNDERGROUND CABLE FAULT DETECTION USING IoT
Kushal Patel, Mayank Kumar, Pankaj Kr Kushwaha, Shashi Kr Sharma
Students, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad, India

using electromagnet in order to mechanically operate a

switch,
a low DC voltage is applied at the feeder end through an
arrangement of resistor (Cable lines), the current may vary but other principles of operation are also used, like solid-state
relays. They are used where it is required to control a circuit
based on point of defect in the wire. When there is a short in by
the circuit (Line to Ground), voltage across the series resistors a distinct low-power signal, or where different circuits must
change accordingly, which is now fed to the ADC of Arduino be controlled by one signal.
development board to develop a precise digital data for
display in unit distance. Cable defect detector focus on Transformer: Electrical transformer is a steady device that
finding the exact range of fault location from the base station. transforms electrical energy from one circuit to another with
It also alarms when defect in wire occurs. It may also be used the help of mutual induction between two windings.
for underground transmission. Cables have some resistance; Transformer transforms power from one circuit to another
we are mainly concerning that resistance may vary with in without altering frequency but in different voltage level. It is a
accordance with the length of the wire. device that can either raise or lower voltage levels and current
In case, the length of cable is increased, the value of the levels in an electrical circuit. In current scenario electrical
resistance increases accordingly. If any fluctuation occurs in distribution systems, most of the transformers enhance voltage
the value of resistance, we call this point as defect (or fault) levels so as to decrease loss of line during transmission. It is
point and identify this place with the help of Arduino. This basically used to control the voltage. Depending upon the
fault point is shown as unit distance measuring from the base behaviour, there are step up and step-down transformers
station and its value is represented on the display. available.

2.21 Advantages of Proposed System Diodes: The common functionality of diode is to allow
electric current to pass electric current in one direction and
blocking the current in the opposite direction. Thus, it can be
 Detects exact range of fault location.
viewed as an electronic version of a check valve. Its
 Saves human effort.
unidirectional behaviour is called rectification and is generally
 Time saving and faster maintenance. operated under a rated voltage level. A diode blocks current in
 This can be used for both overhead and underground the reverse direction and the reverse voltage must within a
cables. limited range otherwise reverse barrier breakdown occur due
to reverse breakdown voltage.
2.3 SOFTWARE AND HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
Voltage Regulator: A voltage regulator is designed to
2.3.1 HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS maintain a constant voltage level itself. This generates a fixed
output voltage of a predefined magnitude that remains fixed
Hardware i.e. all the physical components, are essential to irrespective of changes to its input voltage or load conditions.
govern the flow of process by sensing the values and send it
to Arduino. Following hardware, we are going to use: Resistors: A resistor is a two-terminal passive electrical
component that implements electrical resistance as a circuit
LCD DISPLAY: LCD refers to Liquid Crystal Display, used element in this paper a series of resistors represent the cables.
for displays in notebook and other devices. Similar to gas- 10 kilo ohm resistors are used.
plasma technologies and light-emitting diode (LED), LCDS
allow displays to be much thinner than cathode ray tube Capacitors: A capacitor is a two-terminal passive electrical
(CRT) technology. component that stores electrical energy in an electric field. It
LCDs consume very low power as compared to LED and gas is a device that stores an electric charge, consisting of one or
displays because it works on the fact of blocking the light in more pairs of conductors separated by an insulator. At mega
spite of emitting it. LCD is an alphabet-numeric Display. This AVR series Microcontroller: AVR was one of the first
means that it is able to show alphabets, Numbers and special microcontroller families to use on-chip flash memory for
symbols as well. Thus, LCD may be considered as a user- program storage.
friendly device which can be display various messages.
LEDs. It represents which line is active. Slide switches Create
Relays: A relay is a simple electromechanical device use as fault manually
switch which is made up of an electromagnet and set of
contacts. They are found invisible in all sorts of devices It can Arduino board: Arduino is an open-source gadgets stage
be assumed as electrically operated switch. Most of relays dependent on simple to-utilize equipment and programming.
 UNDERGROUND CABLE FAULT DETECTION USING IoT
Kushal Patel, Mayank Kumar, Pankaj Kr Kushwaha, Shashi Kr Sharma
Students, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad, India

Arduino boards can understand inputs - light on a sensor, a Arduino programming language
finger on a catch, or a Twitter message – and transform it into
a yield - initiating an engine, turning on a LED, distributing

something on the web. The Arduino Uno microcontroller is a Arduino Software (IDE): The publicly available Arduino
board that dependent on the ATmega328 (datasheet). It has 6 Software (IDE) makes it simple to write code and send it to
the board. It works on Linux, Mac OS X and also on
simple data sources and 14 computerized input/yield pins (of Windows. The domain is written in Java and based on
which 6 can be utilized as PWM yields). Processing and other open-source software.

A 16 MHz fired resonator, a USB association, a force jack, an HTML is the ideal mark-up language for generating Web
ICSP header, and a reset catch it contains everything expected pages. HTML stands for Hyper Text Mark-up Language
to help the microcontroller: basically, interface it to a PC with HTML define the structure of webpages using markup.HTML
a USB link or force it with a battery to begin or an AC-to-DC elements are basic blocks of HTML pages HTML elements
connector. are defined using tags.

A USB connection, a 16 MHz ceramic resonator, an ICSP 3. GENERAL DESCRIPTION

header, a power jack, and a reset button it contains everything
needed to support the microcontroller: simply connect it to a 3.1 Product Perspective
computer with a USB cable or power it with an AC-to-DC
adapter or battery to get started. Today underground cable system is quite familiar in many
urban areas where it becomes very problematic to repair in
GSS Module (SIM800): case
of any faults because locating the exact location of the fault in
SIM800 is a GSM/GPRS quad-band module developed for such cable system is really difficult. With this system, exact
the global market. It works on frequencies with the different location of the fault is available. The system consists of two
range of GSM 850MHz, EGSM 900MHz, DCS 1800MHz parts. An LCD display and a web page. This system uses a
and PCS 1900MHz. Its unique features GPRS multi-slot class concept of Ohms law i.e, when a low DC voltage is given at
12/ class 10 and supports the GPRS coding schemes. With a the feeder end through series resistor, then current would vary
small configuration of SIM800 can provide all the space depending upon the location of the fault in the cable. In case
requirements in users’ applications, such as M2M, smart of a short Circuit, the voltage across the series resistors
phone. SIM800 consist of 68 SMT pads, and they provide all changes which is then give to an ADC, to generate accurate
hardware interfaces. SIM800 combine TCP/IP protocol and digital data that gets displayed on the LCD, The paper is
spread TCP/IP AT commands which are important for data assembled with a set of resistors showing cable length in km
transfer. and fault generation is made by a set of switches at each
known km to cross check the accuracy of the system. The
Wi-fi ESP8266: fault that occurs at a specific distance is displayed on the LCD
We will be using ESP8266, a Wi-Fi module and send data to interfaced to the Arduino Uno.
cloud. As the first step we have to setup an account on Ask When the switches are open, a change in resistance occurs and
Sensors IoT platform. Ask Sensors is an IoT platform the distance is calculated. The distance is displayed in the
providing communication between internet connected devices LCD in unit distance. The web page will show the faults.
and the cloud. It offers a free trial account so you don’t even
have to open your wallet to get started! 3.2 Product Functionality
Arduino:
2.3.2 Software Requirements
Arduino is a single-board microcontrollerr to make the
application more reachable which are very interactive objects
Software Requirements deal with explaining software
and its surroundings. In cable fault detector the Arduino board
resource requirements and precondition that need to be
perform as a server.
installed on a computer to give perfect functioning of an
application. These requirements or preconditioning are
basically, not included in the software installation package In this paper there is a series of resistors. These resistors are
used to show the cables which is the current carrying
and need to be installed independently before the software is
installed. The software requirements that are needed for this conductors. Options are provided on the web page to select
the cable that we want to check right now. Once we select any
paper is:
specific cable the LED analogous to that cable glows showing
 UNDERGROUND CABLE FAULT DETECTION USING IoT
Kushal Patel, Mayank Kumar, Pankaj Kr Kushwaha, Shashi Kr Sharma
Students, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad, India

the active line. Fault generation is made by a set of switches. enhance the remote monitoring capability of existing
When the switch is open it means that there is a fault. Arduino industrial system we have proposed a low-cost solution. Thus,
read the resistance value and the distance is calculated. The the paper on Underground cable fault detection with working
Arduino was done and the distance of the fault in km from the
base station
distance which is calculated is displayed on the LCD display
and the web page.

Wi-fi Module: Will be shown on the LCD screen and webpage. In this paper
faults up to a distance of four km can be easily detected.
The ESP8266 is a Wi-Fi microchip. It has microcontroller When the fault condition occurs then the phase corresponding
Capability having full TCP/IP stack. ESP8266 is 32-bit to that particular switch is
microcontroller. It has 16 input GPIO pins. It consists of
32kiB instruction and 80 kiB user data, a power jack, a RJ45 recognized as the faulty phase to which fault switches are
connection, an ICSP header, and button to reset is used. operated. So, the faulty sector can be easily located.

This small module permit the microcontrollers to connect to a It is durable, secure and low-power consuming. It can operate
Wi-Fi network and make simple TCP connections using on multiple channels to avoid interference with equipment or
different types commands. The ESP8266 with 1MiB of built- another wireless device in the industry.
in By using Arduino controller, we can detect our fault location.
flash allowing the building of single-chip devices capable of accurately. As faults occur in the cable, the fault location is
connecting to Wi-Fi. The replacement to these microcontroller displayed on the LCD display. This display will show at what
chips is the ESP32 released in 2016. It has WEP or distance the fault occurred.
WPA/WPA2 authentication, or open network. It consists of
UART with dedicated pins, plus a transmit-only UART can be 5. FUTURE SCOPE
enabled on GPIO2 and 10-bit ADC.
By using SD card we can further develop a better user
The ESP8266 module can introduce an application or interface which can be used to find the error in open circuit
unloading all Wi-Fi networking functions from another faults in near future. To detect an open circuit fault in ac
application processor. Each ESP826 is a pre-programmed circuits, capacitor is used which measures the change in
module with an AT command set firmware. It can easily impedance and calculate the distance of the fault.
connect with Arduino device and get about as much Wi-Fi
ability as a Wi-Fi Shield offers. 6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

It has powerful storage capability that allows it to be Throughout our undertaking, there were numerous committed
integrated with the sensors and other application specific and profoundly qualified people to support us. We benefit this
devices through GPIO Optionally, it can also specify using a chance to offer our thanks and obligation to all who,
network gateway and Subnet. straightforwardly or by implication had a sway on us for the
accomplishment of our final year project.
4. CONCLUSION As a matter of first importance, with petitions to GOD for His
elegance and gifts, for without which his unforeseen direction,
Electrical Cables help in distribution of electrical energy. this the venture would have stayed uniquely in dreams. We
These cables face so many failures. Which is very complicate pass on our genuine gratitude to our Head of Department prof.
task to detect the faults in these cables. This system will S. K. Singh of Electronics and Communication, ABES
detect the location of fault in cable lines from the base station Engineering College.
to exact location in Kilometres using Arduino.Nowadays in We express our sincere thanks to our mentor Asst. Prof Vivek
many non rural areas, the electrical wires runs in Verma for his support and guidance.
undergrounds rather than overhead lines. Whenever the fault We also express our thanks to overall project guide Asst. Prof.
occurs in underground cable it is very tough to locate the Dheeraj Singh of Electronics and Communication Department
correct location of the fault for the repairing of that particular for his constant support.
cable. The proposed system will work effectively for
underground as well as overhead cables. An Arduino uno We are exceptionally obliged to the faculties of the
board used in this system . Here the Arduino is interfaced by department for their significant direction and occurrence help
the the current sensing circuits made with a combination of and furthermore for being with us. Last, however not the least
resistors. The fault is shown by the set of switches. To we
 UNDERGROUND CABLE FAULT DETECTION USING IoT
Kushal Patel, Mayank Kumar, Pankaj Kr Kushwaha, Shashi Kr Sharma
Students, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, ABES Engineering College, Ghaziabad, India

stretch out our most profound appreciation to our friends and

companions without whose help, this task wouldn't have
become a reality.

7. REFERENCES

1 http://www.circuitstoday.com/arduino-and-7
segment-display

2. McRoberts, Michael, Brad Levy, and Cliff Wootton.

Beginning Arduino. New York. A press, 2010.

3.Margolis, Michael. Arduino cookbook. " O'Reilly

Media, Inc.", 2011.

4.Monk, Simon. 30 Arduino projects for the evil

genius. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2013

5. Monk,
Electronics, (2012).
Simon. "Programming Arduino." Tab

6.Banzi, Massimo, and Michael Shiloh. Getting Started

with Arduino: The Open Source Electronics
Prototyping Platform. Maker Media, Inc., 2014.