INFRARED IMAGE BASED EARLY DETECTION OF OIL SPILLS IN WATER

• US 20150213299A1
• Filed: 07/04/2012
• Published: 07/30/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/04/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Indra Sistemas SA, Repsol Butano SA (Repsol Customer Centric SL)
• Original Assignee: Ignacio Minambres Chamorro, Javier Rodriguez Martin De Los Santos, Jose Vicente Solano Ferrandez, Juan Pablo Gomez Gonzalez, Marcos Garcia Caravantes
• Inventors: Solano Ferrndez, Jos Vicente, Esposita Cassiba, Ivana Daniela, Garca Caravantes, Marcos, Gmez Gonzlez, Juan Pablo, Rodriguez Martn De Los Santos, Javier, Miambres Chamorro, Ignacio
• Granted Patent: US 9,881,212 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/1826 Organic contamination in water
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10016 Video; Image sequence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10032 Satellite or aerial image; Remote sensing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/10048 Infrared image
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20021 Dividing image into blocks, subimages or windows
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/20076 Probabilistic image processing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 2207/30181 Earth observation
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/70 Denoising; Smoothing
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 5/92 based on global image properties
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0002 Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/0008 checking presence/absence
• CPC Class Codes: G06T 7/11 Region-based segmentation
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 10/54 relating to texture
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/194 using hyperspectral data, i.e. more or other wavelengths than RGB
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 23/20 for generating image signals from infrared radiation only
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 5/33 Transforming infrared radiation cameras or camera modules for generating image signals from infrared radiation H04N23/20; circuitry of SSIS for transforming infrared radiation into image signals H04N25/20
• CPC Class Codes: Y02A 20/20 Controlling water pollution; Waste water treatment

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for detecting hydrocarbon spill in an aqueous medium from a plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium obtained by an infrared camera comprising analysing an image of the plurality of images; checking whether at least one region that could be identified as spill is displayed in the image, in case of positive result, assessing whether the point representing a multidimensional vector of characteristics associated with the region is within a reference zone defined in a multidimensional space, this reference zone being representative of multidimensional vectors of characteristics of regions corresponding to real spills; if it is determined that the point representing the multidimensional vector of characteristics is within the multidimensional reference zone, generating a warning signal of spill.

Claims

1. A method for detecting hydrocarbon spill in an aqueous medium from a plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium obtained by an infrared camera, comprising:

Analysing one image of the plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium;

Checking whether at least one region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill is displayed in the analysed image of the surface of the aqueous medium;

In case of a positive result in the checking,

Assessing whether a point representing a multidimensional vector of characteristics associated with the region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill is within a reference zone defined in a multidimensional space, this reference zone being representative of multidimensional vectors of characteristics of regions corresponding to actual hydrocarbon spills in the aqueous medium; and

If it is determined that the point representing the multidimensional vector of characteristics associated with the region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill is within the zone, generating a warning signal of hydrocarbon spill in the aqueous medium.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein analysing one image of the plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium comprises:

Segmenting the image of the surface of the aqueous medium in order to split the image into regions;

Obtaining a multidimensional vector of characteristics representative of a static region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein analysing one image of the plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium further comprises

Conditioning the image of the surface of the aqueous medium;

and wherein segmenting the image of the surface of the aqueous medium comprises;

Segmenting the conditioned image.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein conditioning the image of the surface of the aqueous medium comprises

Reducing noise of the image of the surface of the aqueous medium;

Correcting variations in the image intensity due to differences in an angle of an infrared camera relative to the surface of the aqueous medium.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein conditioning the image of the surface of the aqueous medium further comprises:

Detecting the aqueous medium in the image.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein the multidimensional vector of characteristics associated with the region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill is the multidimensional vector of characteristics representative of the static region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill.

7. The method of claim 2, wherein, in case of positive result in checking of whether at least one region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill is displayed in the analysed image of the surface of the aqueous medium, it comprises:

Checking whether the region has been previously entered into a data repository relating to areas that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill in the aqueous medium, this repository comprising an identifier of each region and a multidimensional vector of characteristics for each image analysed region;

In case of a negative result in the checking,

Entering an identifier of the region and the multidimensional vector of characteristics obtained from the region into the data repository, for the analysed image;

In case of the positive result in the checking,

Entering the multidimensional vector of characteristics obtained from the region for the analysed image into the data repository associated with the identifier of the region; and

Generating a multidimensional vector of characteristics representative of the dynamics of the region from the multidimensional vector of characteristics associated with the identifier of the region;

wherein the multidimensional vector of characteristics associated with the region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill is the generated multidimensional vector of characteristics representative of the dynamics of the region.

8. A computer program comprising program instructions for causing a computer system to execute the method for detecting hydrocarbon spill in an aqueous medium from a plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium obtained by an infrared camera as claimed in claim 1.

9. The computer program of claim 8, wherein it is stored in a recording medium.

10. The computer program of claim 8, wherein it is carried by a carrier signal.

13. A method for detecting hydrocarbon spill on the surface of an aqueous medium, comprising:

Receiving a warning signal of detection of hydrocarbon spill in the aqueous medium generated from at least one image obtained by a radar;

Checking whether there is an infrared camera capable of monitoring the spill;

In case of a negative result,

Generating a warning signal of detection of hydrocarbon spill in the aqueous medium from the warning signal of detection generated from the at least one image obtained by a radar;

In case of a positive result,

Executing the method for detecting hydrocarbon spill in the aqueous medium from a plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium obtained by an infrared camera as claimed in claim 1.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein in case of the positive result in checking whether there is an infrared camera capable of monitoring the spill, it comprises:

Positioning the infrared camera.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein it comprises:

Receiving a geographical position of the spill in the aqueous medium;

and wherein checking whether there is an infrared camera capable of monitoring the spill comprises checking whether there is an infrared camera capable of monitoring the surface of the aqueous medium that is in the received geographical position.

16. A computer program comprising program instructions for causing a computer system to execute the method for detecting hydrocarbon spill in an aqueous medium as claimed in claim 13.

17. The computer program of claim 16, wherein it is stored in a recording media.

18. The computer program of claim 16, wherein it is carried by a carrier signal.

19. An electronic system for detecting hydrocarbon spill on the surface of an aqueous medium, comprising:

Electronic means for receiving a warning signal of detection of hydrocarbon spill in the aqueous medium from the warning signal of detection generated from the at least one image obtained by a radar;

Electronic means for checking whether there is an infrared camera capable of monitoring the spill;

In case of a negative result,

Electronic means for generating a warning signal of hydrocarbon spill in the aqueous medium;

In case of a positive result,

Electronic means for executing the method for detecting hydrocarbon spill in an aqueous medium from a plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium obtained by an infrared camera as claimed in claim 1.

20. A computer system for detecting hydrocarbon spill in the surface of an aqueous medium, comprising:

At least one radar;

At least one infrared camera;

A memory and a processor containing instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, the instructions comprising functionality for;

Receiving a warning signal of detection of hydrocarbon spill in the aqueous medium generated from at least one image obtained by the radar;

Checking whether there is an infrared camera capable of monitoring the spill;

In case of a negative result,

Generating a warning signal of hydrocarbon spill in the aqueous medium;

In case of a positive result,

Executing the method for detecting hydrocarbon spill in an aqueous medium from a plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium obtained by an infrared camera as claimed in claim 1.

11. An electronic system for detecting hydrocarbon spill in an aqueous medium from a plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium obtained by an infrared camera, comprising:

Electronic means for analysing an image of the plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium;

Electronic means for checking whether at least one region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill is displayed in the analysed image of the surface of the aqueous medium;

In case of a positive result in the checking,

Electronic means for providing a multidimensional vector of characteristics associated with the region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill;

Electronic means for assessing whether a point representing the multidimensional vector of characteristics associated with the region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill is within a reference zone defined in a multidimensional space, this reference zone being representative of multidimensional vectors of characteristics of regions corresponding to actual hydrocarbon spills in an aqueous medium; and

Electronic means for generating a warning signal of hydrocarbon spill in the aqueous medium, if it is determined that the point representing the multidimensional vector of characteristics associated with the region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill is within the reference zone.

12. A computer system for detecting hydrocarbon spill in an aqueous medium, comprising:

An infrared camera adapted for obtaining a plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium;

A memory and a processor containing instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, the instructions comprising functionality for;

Analysing one image of the plurality of images of the surface of the aqueous medium obtained by the infrared camera;

Checking whether at least one region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill is displayed in the analysed image in the surface of the aqueous medium;

In case of a positive result in the checking,

Providing a multidimensional vector of characteristics associated with the region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill;

Assessing whether a point representing the multidimensional vector of characteristics associated with the region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill is within a reference zone defined in a multidimensional space, this reference zone being representative of multidimensional vectors of characteristics of regions corresponding to actual hydrocarbon spills in an aqueous medium; and

If it is determined that the point representing the multidimensional vector of characteristics associated with the region that could be identified as hydrocarbon spill is within the reference zone, generating a warning signal of hydrocarbon spill in the aqueous medium.