Patent ID: 8823509

Claim:
An infrastructure monitoring system comprising: an operations center; and a plurality of communications devices communicatively coupled to the operations center; wherein at least one communications device of the plurality of communications devices is coupled to a fire hydrant and comprises a repeater, and wherein at least one communications device of the plurality of communications devices comprises a monitoring device, the monitoring device comprising at least one sensor sensing at least one condition within a water distribution system, a data storage device storing data sensed by the at least one sensor, a transceiver device adapted to transmit and receive data, and a processor communicatively coupled to the at least one sensor, the data storage device, and the transceiver device, the processor configured to: receive the data sensed by the at least one sensor, determine, based on the data sensed by the at least one sensor, if there is a problem with the at least one condition within the water distribution system that the at least one sensor is sensing, upon determining that there is a problem with the at least one condition within the water distribution system that the at least one sensor is sensing, transmitting a message to the operations center via the transceiver device, and periodically compiling sensing data stored in the data storage device and transmitting the compiled sensing data to the operations center via the transceiver device, the monitoring device being positioned remotely from the at least one communications device coupled to the fire hydrant; wherein the monitoring device moves with a flow of water within the water distribution system and transmits the compiled sensing data to the operations center via the repeater.