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Projects: Projects for Investigator
Reference Number	NIA2_SGN0035
Title	Orbital Eye
Status	Completed
Energy Categories	Fossil Fuels: Oil Gas and Coal(Oil and Gas, Refining, transport and storage of oil and gas) 100%;
Research Types	Applied Research and Development 100%
Science and Technology Fields	ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY (Mechanical, Aeronautical and Manufacturing Engineering) 100%
UKERC Cross Cutting Characterisation	Not Cross-cutting 100%
Principal Investigator	Project Contact No email address given SGN
Award Type	Network Innovation Allowance
Funding Source	Ofgem
Start Date	01 April 2023
End Date	31 October 2023
Duration	ENA months
Total Grant Value	£197,645
Industrial Sectors	Energy
Region	South East
Programme	Network Innovation Allowance
Investigators	Principal Investigator	Project Contact , SGN (99.998%)
	Other Investigator	Project Contact , National Grid Gas Transmission (0.001%) Project Contact , SGN - Southern England (0.001%)
	Industrial Collaborator	Project Contact , SGN (0.000%)
Web Site	https://smarter.energynetworks.org/projects/NIA2_SGN0035
Objectives	"Unlike our current helicopter process, SIMs is not subject to weather and would be able to analyse gradual encroachments like ground movement using artificial intelligence. This offers new opportunities for earlier indication of potential landslides permitting SGN and NGGT to proactively divert high risk pipeline protecting our assets and our customers supply.    CoSMiC-EYE technology is a modified SAR Coherent Change Detection algorithm that compares a stack of co-registered radar images at different capture times. Overview of the three main steps that define the change detection algorithm: stack of SAR images, the detected changes and the filtered change maps eliminating all non-threatening events. The system acquires radar satellite images along the pipeline routes, and automatically processes and analyses these images to detect anomalies and filter irrelevant changes. For this, both classical image processing and filtering techniques are used, as well as Artificial Intelligence (AI) based filtering and classification techniques. Orbital Eye will provide the CoSMiC-EYE platform, available for both desktop and mobile devices, on which the detected activities can be analysed and classified, and on which additional information such as pictures and documents can be added. Besides, Customer can manually create events and points of interest on the platform. If the concept above is proved successful, other commercial opportunities exist where SIMs could monitor other assets or even another pipeline owned by a different utility companies.   The project centres on an experimental concept and uses trusted technologies. This demonstrator project will help to ensure the future safety and resilience of our network as it is today, by investing in our infrastructure to keep our assets safe, whilst maintaining supply of gas and reducing consumer vulnerability across the network. For the data that we aim to use (SAR/Multispectral/Optical), we will have automated mechanisms in place to acquire and process this data. As soon this data is not delivered to us in the way expected, or steps in the processing are deviating from standard procedures, our system sends alerts to data analysts who then verify why the data is deviating from its normal quality/availability/processing. For Optical data, Orbital Eye will only provide optical data of 50cm resolution to SGN. Data of lower quality will simply not be acquired in this project and therefore the quality of this data is ensured. Data delivered to SGN and NGGT (activities that can pose a threat to the pipeline + optical data for the locations of these activities) is always checked by one of Orbital Eyes data analysts as part of our Quality Control processes." "As the existing policy contemplates multi-modal surveying techniques, the status quo of our current practices around LTS and NTS monitoring may be enhanced in two ways, both of which would reduce the overall risk to the high-pressure pipeline infrastructure and so deliver enhanced value to network customers:  The project will look to carry out extensive testing on the effectiveness on the following. The nature of threat detections. It may be possible using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and/or Visible Near Infrared (VNIR) and/or Short-Wave Infrared (SWIR) satellites for remote monitoring to improve the overall detection process across the complex asset network. Orbital Eye will monitor several segments of the pipeline network of Customer, to detect activities that could potentially be a threat to the pipeline. Activities that take place within a corridor width of 30 meter (15 meter either side of the pipeline centre-line), will be reported to Customer. For locations where an activity has been detected, Orbital Eye will provide a high-resolution optical image (if available) of before and after the event was detected, to enable Customer to assess activities from the office and decide whether on-site follow-up is required. The timeliness of threat detections. The satellite sensors have improved revisit rates over what was achievable just a few years ago. This coupled with; wide-area acquisition in a single overpass; cloud penetrating properties of SAR imaging; and sophisticated change detection algorithms and high-performance automated processing environments translates to an improved temporal window between threat initiation and threat detection. The reporting interval of the CoSMiC-EYE service during the demonstration can be weekly or biweekly. This means that all collected satellite data covering the monitoring area during the chosen interval is used to detect activities, and that Customer will receive an overview of all detected activities once per chosen reporting interval." "3.1 CoSMiC-EYE monitoring service Orbital Eye will monitor several segments of the pipeline network of Customer, to detect activities that could potentially be a threat to the pipeline. Activities that take place within a corridor width of 30 meter (15 meter either side of the pipeline centre-line), will be reported to Customer. For locations where an activity has been detected, Orbital Eye will provide a high-resolution optical image (if available) of before and after the event was detected, to enable Customer to assess activities from the office and decide whether on-site follow-up is required. 3.2 Pipeline network to be monitored Within the scope of this demonstration, 150km of SGN LTS and 150km of NTS network has been selected for monitoring 3.3 CoSMiC-EYE platform Orbital Eye will provide the CoSMiC-EYE platform, available for both desktop and mobile devices, on which the detected activities can be analysed and classified, and on which additional information such as pictures and documents can be added. 3.4 Reporting Interval The reporting interval of the CoSMiC-EYE service during the demonstration will be weekly, an improvement on existing biweekly reports. This means that all collected satellite data covering the monitoring area during the chosen interval is used to detect activities, and that SGN will receive an overview of all detected activities once per chosen reporting interval. 3.5 Reporting format Orbital Eye will provide an overview of detected activities in the CoSMiC-EYE application. Besides, all detected activities will be reported by email to Customer. Attached to this email, an overview of all detected activities is also provided in a PDF and CSV format.  Under this task, Optical Eye will analyse the acquired data and evaluate their characteristics such as resolution, data collection frequency, and pricing. The software team at Optical Eye will also analyse the possibility to identify SGNs SRP requirements in data sets procured from different vendors. At the end of this task, a comprehensive report will be generated to guide all the future development in this project.  A comprehensive report after evaluation of the purchased data will cover the strength and weaknesses of the data provided by different vendors, the possibilities to identify different objects in the SAR data and the potential to identify changes in the environment."
Abstract	Orbital Eye technology has the potential to produce a cleaner, more effective, and reliable monitoring package with the use of satellite imagery. This system compared to the conventional process which uses a helicopter to fly the line as well as foot patrols, would offer SGN and National Grid a higher frequency of monitoring (weekly) and have a less environmental impact where the helicopter releases approx. 173 tonnes per CO2 a year. Unlike our helicopter process, Orbital Eye is not subject to weather and would be able to analyse gradual encroachments like ground movement using artificial intelligence. This offers new opportunities for earlier indication of potential landslides permitting SGN and National Grid to proactively divert high risk pipeline protecting our assets and our customers supply.
Publications	(none)
Final Report	(none)
Added to Database	01/11/23