Autonomous Surveillance and Inspection using Drone for Oil and Gas Pipelines

Using drones and sensors to conduct autonomous monitoring has shown benefits in many applications, including urban infrastructure planning and maintenance. In this research, we focus on a less studied problem of detecting hazardous and illegal events along oil and gas pipelines. We aim to deliver a real-time Internet of Drones (IoD) system, which integrates the latest computer vision techniques, including the learning-based approaches, and cloud networks, in collaboration with companies like TELUS and TC Energy Canada. Differing from vehicles and humans, that can already be detected robustly by a number of current tools, our objects or events of interest, e.g., leakages and oil splits along a pipeline corridor, are not frequently seen, such as leakage or oil spills. The system can be applied not only to the oil and gas industry across Canada, but also on other applications, which analyze aerial sensor data.

Faculty Supervisor:

Irene Cheng

Student:

Partner:

AirMarket

Discipline:

Computer science

Sector:

Manufacturing; Professional, scientific and technical services; Transportation and warehousing

University:

University of Alberta

Program: