SBIR Phase I: Operational Monitoring of Large-Area Critical Infrastructure

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to lower the geohazard risks for assets within critical infrastructure sectors such as energy, transportation, and utilities. More specifically, the proposed technology will make measuring and detecting ground motion with satellite radar more practical in applications where the observed areas cover very long distances and traverse varying terrain and land types. The innovation seeks to demonstrate that the combined processing of multiple imaging frequencies and polarizations can improve the information collected and that the fusion of global navigation satellite system (GNSS) data can be used to aid insight. The efficacy of space-based satellite radar interferometry in measuring shifts in spatially-sensitive structures such as buried pipelines, foundations, and rail track ballast will be demonstrated over very large areas and linear distances. The technology developed in this project may have a positive impact on the aforementioned sectors by enabling monitoring capabilities that are timelier and more cost-effective than traditional approaches. The geospatial technology may also enable asset operators to be more proactive when it comes to geohazard threats, lowering the frequency of fatal and environmentally-damaging failures.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to address the key shortcomings of space-based satellite radar interferometry as a means to monitor surface motion threats to critical infrastructure assets. While interferometric approaches for specific types of terrain have been well documented and validated, approaches that produce coherent ground motion results over very large areas with varying terrain and radar scattering mechanisms have not been successfully deployed. Furthermore, combining multiple interferometric observations together to decompose ground motion has received little research attention despite being an important step in translating the relative line-of-sight satellite observations into ground motion components relevant to asset monitoring. This research effort seeks to demonstrate the efficacy of using multiple imaging frequencies and polarizations and combining their interferometric results to create a more continuous view of ground motion over areas with varying degrees of vegetation. This project may also demonstrate that combining both small baseline subset and persistent scatter interferometric approaches can improve the density of resolved scatterers over areas where land type variations create a diverse range of scattering mechanisms. The team also seeks todemonstrate the use and accuracy of GNSS data in the reference setting process as insights are translated into absolute motion components about the geodetic reference.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.