Report

Teaser, summary, work performed and final results

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CSAR (Ensuring pipeline integrity using Earth Observation Data)

Teaser

The work investigates the results of investigating the possibilities of combining multiple Earth Observation (EO) satellite radar sensors to improve the PIMS in Space (PIMSIS) surveillance system in the area of:• Improved performance (in particular the Probability of...

Summary

The work investigates the results of investigating the possibilities of combining multiple Earth Observation (EO) satellite radar sensors to improve the PIMS in Space (PIMSIS) surveillance system in the area of:
• Improved performance (in particular the Probability of Detection, or ab-breviated PoD) by improving the patrolling frequency.
• More resilient service by avoiding single source dependency on a data provider.
• Cost-reduction by not relying only on commercial satellites but also sat-ellites providing open source data products of which the European Co-pernicus satellite program is a prime example.
• Better classification capabilities.

Work performed

Combining different SAR images using the concept of interleaving is very well possible. Leading to:
• Improved PoD as the patrolling frequency is improved.
• More resilient service
• Potential for cost-reduction (not relying only on commercial satellites but also satellites providing open source data products).

Our current interleaving architecture is capable of handling: TerraSAR-X, Radarsat-2, and Sentinel-1 (using the TOPS mode of acquisition).

Also, we have investigated how a better classification system of TPI-warnings can be devised. This classification system is needed to better classify the TPI-warnings for the end-user so that the required actions can better be devised.

Besides a better graphical presentation of the TPI-warnings so that end-users have an intuitive idea about the change, we also have implemented a number of automatic image processing algorithms to:
• Classify land-use to ease the distinction between agricultural and urban changes.
• Classify changes as “normal” to ease the distinction between normal and abnormal operations in a parking place or storage area.

All these technical developments will lead to a better and more reliable surveillance system that will greatly benefit from the free open source data that will be provided by the European Copernicus Infrastructure in general, and the Sentinel-1 Infrastructure in particular.

Final results

We have created a more reliable and accurate monitoring system for the pipeline industry.
After a commercial sale of the service, we are confident that more sales will come, and we will need more employees:
- Technical personnel
- Marketing and Sales
- Support

Website & more info

More info: http://www.orbitaleye.nl.