Pipeline encroachment monitoring using polarimetric SAR imagery

Mechanical damage incurred from unauthorized third party activities remains a leading cause of onshore oil and gas pipeline failure, indicating the need for effective strategies to monitor encroachment over extensive sections of pipeline right-of-way (ROW). In this paper, the use of polarimetric SAR imagery (as will be available from RADARSAT-2) for pipeline monitoring of encroachment activities is explored. Experimental data were acquired of a test area near the shores of Lake Simcoe (north of Toronto, Ontario) in September 2001 by the C-SAR on board the Convair-580. The vehicle deployments and ground truthing were conducted by C-CORE with processing from signal data (including calibration) and analysis performed at the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing