NPA
maintains its world-leading position in operational interferometry
through a continuing programme of research and development. NPA
is regarded as a pragmatic and reliable partner in the collaborative
opportunities arising from government, the European Commission
and various space agencies. The following list of InSAR-related
project work reveals an impressive range of project partners, expertise
and product development.
Please click on the following project titles for more information:
Terrafirma:
Pan-European ground motion hazard information service in support
of relevant policies aimed at protecting the citizen
Period:
February
2003 - ongoing
Partners:
Numerous
participants
Sponsor:
ESA
Terrafirma,
one of ten projects being supported by ESA's GMES Service
Element Programme, aims to provide a Pan-European ground motion
hazard information service, to be distributed throughout Europe
via the national geological surveys. The project is based
upon three synergistic InSAR technologies: conventional 2-pass
differential InSAR, Permanent Scatterer InSAR (PSInSAR) and
Site-Specific InSAR (corner reflectors or under development,
compact active transponders). These technologies can be applied
to detect and monitor ground movements in relation to subsidence
(and associated flood risk), building stability, landslides
and seismicity. See www.terrafirma.eu.com
Releasing
funds for a PSInSAR-integrated National Ground Movement Information
Service
Period:
August
2002 - April 2003
Partners:
British
Geological Survey
Sponsor:
BNSC
This
9-month Market Entry Programme aimed at persuading fund-holders
to take a stake in the initiation of assembling a ground
movement information service for the UK, using integrated
PSInSAR results and expert geological interpretation.
Developing
markets for EO-derived land motion measurement products
Period:
May
2001 - ongoing
Partners:
TeleRilevamento
Europa, Geographic Survey Institute, OYO Corporation, ImageONE,
Fugro, British Geological Survey, Imperial College of Science,
Technology and Medicine, Dept of Civil Engineering and SARCOM
Sponsor:
ESA
This
3-year market development activity has two main objectives:
a) demonstrating the utility of Permanent Scatterer Interferometry
(PSInSAR) as a 'virtual GPS network' for earthquake risk
assessment, and b) gaining acceptance of PSInSAR by the earthquake
risk assessment market for more widespread and routine use.
Testing the implementation of PSInSAR as a commercially
operational tool for urban building motion mapping in the UK
Period:
June 2001 - December 2001
Partners:
British Geological Survey
Sponsor:
BNSC
In this 6-month Customer Partnership Project NPA partnered
the BGS to develop new commercial opportunities through the
application of the Permanent Scatterer InSAR (PSInSAR) technique.
This space-based technique, which is highly sensitive to sub-millimetre
ground and building motions, was applied to two major UK conurbations
nominated by the BGS: Newcastle and Glasgow.
Developing
the water utilities market for acceptance and routine use
of InSAR products for ground displacement detection and
monitoring
Period:
Aug
2000 - Aug 2001
Partners:
Thames
Water, TRE
Sponsor:
ESA
This
1-year project involved a) siting corner reflectors around
Thames Water's Wraysbury reservoir to monitor displacements
of the perimeter in response to the loading of the reservoir
and b) the use of PSInSAR for measuring displacements
of Thames Water's assets in central London over the past
5 years.
Earth
observation for earthquake disaster management
Period:
March
1998 - ongoing
Partners:
NOAA,
NASA, BNSC, USGS, RSI, CNES, ESA, ISRO, NASDA
Sponsor:
Committee
for Earth Observing Satellites, Integrated Global Observing
Strategy, Disaster Management Support Project
This
international programme is aimed at developing synergisms
and many efforts are being made around the world by various
agencies in the application of Earth observation to disaster
management. With input from the earthquake team members, NPA
has been largely responsible for authoring the project's Interim
Report 'Earth observation for earthquake disaster management'.
Explore
and compare the diversity of incidence angles, polarisations
and modes of operation offered by Envisat's ASAR instrument
for InSAR applications
Period:
2002
(project accepted but dependent upon successful launch)
Partners:
N/A
Sponsor:
European
Space Agency, Envisat 1st Announcement of Opportunity
The
European Space Agency's Envisat (launched in early 2002) will
ensure continuity to the ERS SAR data archive and offer new
technical features that should enhance the InSAR capability
further. With a committed data allowance to be acquired during
Envisat's commissioning phase, NPA will set about evaluating
the new opportunities.
Demonstrating
the utility of SAR differential interferometry for the
assessment of earthquake risk
Period:
October
1998 - March 2001
Partners:
Earthquake
Planning & Protection Organisation, Oxford University
Department of Earth Sciences, National Technical University
of Athens
Sponsor:
EC
Centre for Earth Observation, Framework IV Environment & Climate
Programme
NPA
lead a two year project aimed at detecting and measuring
the tectonic, inter-seismic and seismic ground displacement
events that might be occurring around two seismically-active
areas of Greece: across the Gulf of Corinth, and around
the western end of Crete. A feature of the project was
the custom-manufacture and deployment of GPS-controlled
corner reflector arrays across the two test-sites against
which InSAR measurements were validated. The secondary
objectives of the project was to implement an earthquake
disaster management GIS in Greece and associated web
service aimed at insurance and tourism.
End-to-end
Performance Evaluation of SAR Subsidence Monitoring System
Period:
January
1998 - December 1998
Partners:
Numerous
participants
Sponsor:
European
Space Agency
The
project aimed at an overall evaluation of ERS InSAR for
subsidence mapping by establishing as many test-sites
and information-sharing participants around the world
as resources and an 80-scene SAR data allocation would
allow. The work led to a focusing on the subsidence issues
of the US southwest where subsidence caused by water
abstraction is an expensive problem.
EC
Centre for Earth Observation: EO Product Development & Marketing
The
project took the 'raw' InSAR results generated over 5 of the
US subsidence areas and assembled GIS case-studies that were
to be used both as quantitative data for the monitoring and
analysis of subsidence, and as a portfolio for promotion of
the technique's capability and reliability.
Because
of NPA's acknowledged expertise in SAR interferometry
and general radar processing, the Group were invited
to contribute towards a study aimed at defining potential
markets for the European Space Agency's forthcoming Envisat
mission.
EC
Centre for Earth Observation: Earth Observation Data Utilisation
Programme
The
project drew together a pan-European selection of civil
engineering consultants to determine the utility of Earth
observation in their work. After a number of iterative
sessions and reviews a document, 'Practical Uses of Earth
Observation in Civil Engineering', was published which
was distributed to all know European civil engineering
practices. NPA was engaged to provide the Earth observation
consultancy expertise and to generate all case-study
graphics which included examples of urban subsidence
detected by ERS InSAR.
CivInSAR:
Satellite SAR interferometry for environmental, civil engineering
and hazard monitoring applications
Period:
October
1995 - March 1997
Partners:
Defence
Evaluation Research Agency, University College London, TREICoL,
Phoenix Systems Ltd
Sponsor:
British
National Space Centre: Application Demonstration Programme
2
This
nationally-sponsored 18-month project led by NPA allowed the
Group to make its first investigations into the field of InSAR
by studying its use in the detection of five types of ground
displacement phenomena: earthquakes, volcanoes, subsidence,
landslip and erosion. The project also saw the initial development
of NPA's InSAR processing chain.
