EO-SCANS - Earth Observation for the Surveillance of Critical Assets for National Security

Many national assets, such as reservoir embankments, flood defences and the rail network, are dispersed around the nation and require routine monitoring as failure can result in severe human, environmental and economic consequences. Although the structure of these assets are complex, small deformations such as a localised slip, slump or differential motion in an embankment, can provide clues that there are issues requiring immediate investigation. In this project, we propose a monitoring system that will help identify these changes and provide an early warning of potentially serious threats, enabling asset managers to more precisely focus maintenance resources on those locations at greater risk. The solution is based upon an innovative satellite remote sensing method capable of measuring local trends in land movement over all land cover classes to millimetric accuracy. The system will combine Earth Observation data with a novel data processing technique and will provide regional measurements of ground stability at regular temporal intervals which will enable asset managers to identify potential threats. We will show that cost-effective routine asset monitoring can be achieved at a national scale using readily available, non-invasive, satellite imagery.