Background The earth observation revolution

is here with constellations of small and large optical

imaging satellites promising to deliver valuable

information using photos taken from their low

earth orbits. Dozens of applications have emerged

from the stunning maps

on Google earth to land

use analysis and

agricultural production

monitoring.

Earth imaging from space

also has considerable potential for the oil & natural

gas industry across a spectrum of applications from

pipeline mapping/planning to monitoring for

incidents causing pipe leakage. The goal of this

paper is to envision a business intelligence product,

tailored to the oil & natural gas pipeline industry,

which delivers compelling operational advantages

and substantial financial returns to aid in the safe

pipeline transportation of energy resources.

Challenge There are currently over 2 million

miles of pipeline in the United States alone with

more than half of these >50 years old. These

systems carry oil, natural gas, and hazardous liquids

in both congested areas

and through remote

areas around the

country. A major

concern of the public

and the industry is for the safe and reliable

transportation of these energy resources. In the

last 30 years, pipeline accidents have killed more

than 500 people, injured over 4,000, and cost nearly

$7 billion in property damages. Current monitoring

of these pipelines is done manually via vehicle patrol

or aerially using helicopters, aircraft or drones.

Studies have shown that more frequent monitoring,

such as satellite imaging, is much more effective in

preventing incidents than by other means.

Three key factors limit the usefulness of optical

space imaging in applications related to pipeline

security: (1) clouds can persist for days limiting

timely optical space imaging, (2) space imagery at

useful levels of detail (i.e., 1-meter resolution or

better) can be very expensive, and (3) analyzing

hundreds (or thousands) of images represents a

considerable burden and cost.

Opportunity In the Summer of 2018 Trident

Space will launch the first affordable space-based

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) imaging smallsat

with the ability to monitor nearly any location on

earth day or night and in all weather conditions

using radio waves instead of sunlight to obtain

images from space. We are also creating a new

generation of SAR image

processing and analytics

capabilities which can

automatically extract

information from both

individual SAR images and

periodic series of images.

Trident Space also seeks to create a tailored

business intelligence product in collaboration with

the oil & natural gas pipeline industry which offers

compelling operational advantages and substantial

financial returns to the early adopters.

Vision The vision for this product would be for a

company to determine high risk pipeline routes and

the periodicity (e.g., weekly) that they desire to

have the area monitored. A report would be

generated that provides any changes that are

detected by the imagery. Items such as slope

motion, ground movement, leak detection and

unauthorized intrusion are the type of changes that

can be reported. In the event of a known issue (e.g.,

leak or a security issue), more frequent passes can

be performed to provide information needed to

deploy resources to correct the situation. In

addition, areas can be mapped to assist in the

routing of new pipelines or the determination of

existing lines can be made for planning and decision-

making purposes.

Please contact Nick Karangelen at

nick@tridsys.com to express your interest in this

new technology and in discussing its potential

application to the oil & natural gas industry.