The pipeline industry has long attempted to detect gas and oil pipeline leaks in a reliable and credible way. Frequently these attempts went awry, as many systems claimed to have identified a leak where none existed. Indeed, there were so many false leak alarms that the operator lost confidence in the systems. And pipeline operators, without this critical criterion, were slow to shut down the damaged pipeline and bring out the emergency response crews.

Moreover operators did not regularly monitor pipeline systems and were ill-prepared to deal with technical problems once they arose.

Against this backdrop regulatory agencies worldwide have begun to apply a stricter set of rules governing the maintenance and operation of pipeline systems transporting hazardous materials and their potential leaking into the environment. Conventional technologies have been often not been up to this task.

In response to these needs Atmos International (Atmos) of Manchester, UK has launched what it calls the Pipeline Guardian, a line of software and hardware specifically designed to fill the gaps in leak detection, and detect pipeline leaks faster than conventional leak detection systems. The hardware options are ideal for pipelines where the absence of sufficient instrumentation, lack of power, or poor telecommunications have previously complicated the work of leak detection. The Pipeline Guardian hardware is ideal for adding sensitive, reliable, and accurate leak detection on high consequence areas such as river crossings and environmentally sensitive ecosystems.

In particular this intelligent system collects, analyzes, and transmits leak detection data. It contains an onboard data storage back up to prevent data loss during communication outages, and solar panels are available for sites that lack power. Data can be processed locally, or sent back to the pipeline control center for further handling. Communication options include TCP/IP, line-of-sight radio, GSM, and satellite.

The addition of Pipeline Guardian hardware and software modules such as intelligent flow balance, negative pressure wave, dynamic pressure and flow rate modeling and acoustic noise correlation can improve leak detection sensitivity by as much as 50 percent on pipelines and reduce the all - important detection time to minutes.