Method and apparatus for oil spill detection
First Claim
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1. A method for detecting presence of hydrocarbons on a surface, comprising:
- monitoring surface emission from the surface in an infrared band;
obtaining a model for modeling emissivity contrast of the surface emission, wherein the emissivity contrast is induced by the presence of hydrocarbons on the surface, and wherein the model comprises a monotonic emissivity/wavelength dependency and a non-monotonic emissivity/wavelength dependency;
identifying the non-monotonic emissivity/wavelength dependency from the surface emission;
detecting, in response to identifying the non-monotonic emissivity/wavelength dependency, the presence of hydrocarbons from the surface emission based on the model; and
generating an alert based on the presence of hydrocarbons.
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Abstract
The invention relates to a method for detecting the presence of hydrocarbons near an unmanned offshore oil platform. The method steps include monitoring reflected atmospheric and thermal radiation, detecting the presence of hydrocarbons, and generating an alert based on the presence of hydrocarbons.
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Citations
13 Claims
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1. A method for detecting presence of hydrocarbons on a surface, comprising:
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monitoring surface emission from the surface in an infrared band; obtaining a model for modeling emissivity contrast of the surface emission, wherein the emissivity contrast is induced by the presence of hydrocarbons on the surface, and wherein the model comprises a monotonic emissivity/wavelength dependency and a non-monotonic emissivity/wavelength dependency; identifying the non-monotonic emissivity/wavelength dependency from the surface emission; detecting, in response to identifying the non-monotonic emissivity/wavelength dependency, the presence of hydrocarbons from the surface emission based on the model; and generating an alert based on the presence of hydrocarbons. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
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8. A system for detecting presence of hydrocarbons on a surface, comprising:
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a plurality of sensors for monitoring surface emission from the surface in an infrared band; and a memory and a processor, embodying instructions stored in the memory and executable by the processor, the instructions comprising functionality to; obtain a model for modeling emissivity contrast of the surface emission, wherein the emissivity contrast is induced by the presence of hydrocarbons on the surface and comprises at least one selected from a group consisting of temperature contrast, spectral contrast and thickness contrast, and wherein the model comprises a monotonic emissivity/wavelength dependency and a non-monotonic emissivity/wavelength dependency; identify the non-monotonic emissivity/wavelength dependency from the surface emission; detect, in response to identifying the non-monotonic emissivity/wavelength dependency, the presence of hydrocarbons from the surface emission based on the model; and generate an alert based on the presence of hydrocarbons. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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Specification