Success story
COSMO-SkyMed based monitoring service for Russian Railway Line
Intro
e-GEOS, an ASI/ Telespazio company, has developed an advanced persistent scatterer interferometry approach, named Persistent Scatterer Pairs (PSP) – IFSAR, an original solution to the main limitations of classical techniques in the accurate determination of terrain displacement. The e-GEOS PSPIFSAR high-performance processing chain provides PS measurements over large areas.
Background project
The project is a collaboration of e-GEOS and JSC NIIAS on behalf of JSC RZD. It started with COSMO-SkyMed based Monitoring service over Tuapse-Adler railway line between December 2008 and May 2014. Operational services were provided on monthly basis which brought to the detection of known and new deformations within areas adjucent to the railway.
Issue and needs
The e-GEOS Advanced technologies can significantly contribute to the quality of control and supervision of the hard terrain on which Russian railways grow, moreover, in the nearest future, Russia is planning to build a number of high-speed lines to connect Moscow with Kazan, Yekaterinburg and Nizhny Novgorod. Those are cities with multi-million populations surrounded by densely populated small towns and communities. The adjacent territories have well-developed motorway systems which calls for a operational approach to the passenger traffic safety. Another strategically important matter for the Russian Railways is the infrastructure development of the Baykal Amur and Transsiberian mainlines affected by various negative natural effects, namely related to cryogenic processes in permafrost areas.
Proposed solution
e-GEOS provided the retrospective analysis of terrain displacement (PSP-IFSAR processing) granting the monthly monitoring of terrain anomalous behaviour, monitoring of terrain displacement based on the acquisition of a COSMO-SkyMed image over the area of interest updating of terrain displacement measurements starting from the previous analysis.
Industry perspective
E-GEOS provided the analysis of displacement information related to the acquired image, comparing with the expected displacement trend for the identification of possibly critical deformations. The processing of SAR imagery using the PSP method allowed generating highly accurate displacement maps with a large number of persistent scatterers and identification of their displacement in time. SAR interferometry has shown its efficiency as a component of a comprehensive geotechnical monitoring that complements the conventional on-site inspections of infrastructure facilities with Earth remote sensing of adjacent territories.