Using in-house aerospace monitoring facilities and borrowed technical means of other organizations, Gazprom Space Systems provides the following services of aerospace monitoring:

• unmanned aircraft patrol of main pipeline routes of JSC Gazprom;
• unmanned aircraft inspection of along-route power lines;
• aerospace inspection of line pipes of gas mains driven by UAV and space-based data;
• mapping of objects under construction and renovation upon the results of the aerial unmanned and space shooting;
• updating and renewal of maps and plans of 1:200000 to 1:2000 scales upon the results of the aerial unmanned and space shooting;
• control of works performed at the constructed and renovated facilities of JSC Gazprom and its subsidiaries by UAV and space-based data; information support of cadastral activities based on UAV and space shooting data;
• information support of real estate registration on UAV and space-based data; monitoring of deformations of the ground surface and objects within the perimeters of oil & gas condensate fields and underground gas storage facilities on the basis of the space radar survey;
• development of subject maps and plans of objects and territories based on the data of aerial unmanned and space shooting for the performance management of Gazprom and its subsidiaries production activities.

Primary Products

Photos of objects and territories taken from Earth observation satellites is one of the most efficient sources of data.

Solution of aerospace monitoring tasks may involve space-based images taken from different EOSs in various spectral ranges and resolutions. The choice of the required images depends on the specific tasks to be solved.

UAV application ensures getting annotated raw digital photos of objects and territories in the optic range with resolution from 7 to 10 sm/px together with the data on the camera point of sight spatial positioning with the accuracy up to 15 m (geographic coordinates of the shooted site, UAV flight altitude versus the start point, UAV flight absolute altitude, roll and pitch values of UAV and the relative time of shooting).

Images of sites and areas are a source of high detail current information for further interpretation as well as the basis for the secondary products of the aerospace monitoring.

Spatial Data of High-Precision Geodetic Measurements and Field Compilation Survey

The spatial data of high-precision geodetic measurements and field compilation survey are used for ensuring the required precision of the raw spatial data processing results.

Thermal Vision Images of Objects and Territories from UAVs

UAVs equipped with thermal vision video camera of far infra-red band provide video data about the monitored objects, which further is transformed into a sequence of monoshots of the video images. Still pictures are supplied with the data on their spatial positioning, which allows their compilation into a single thermal vision image of objects and areas.

Secondary products

Using the technical complexes and aerospace monitoring means, Gazprom Space Systems provides the following secondary products of aerospace monitoring:

Non-Metric Photomaps and Photo Sketches (stitching)

Non-metric photomaps and photo sketches are made on the basis of primary results of unmanned aerial and space shooting by combining and joining separate adjacent overlapping images (photographs) of objects and areas without using reference points or field compilation survey. To improve the precision of the resulting images it is possible to stitch the UAV images (photographs) using space images as a topographic base.

Stereo Images of Objects and Areas

Based on the stereo images made by processing the adjacent images from UAV it is possible to get 3D models of objects for measuring distances along the vertical (heights of objects, depths of pits, cavities and ground workings). In this case the parameters of images exterior orientation and calibration data of the camera are used together with a couple of photo images. The stereo pair is processed with special software tools.

Metric Photomaps and Photo Sketches

Metric photomaps and photo sketches are made for relatively small objects and areas for their further vectorization with the purpose to get digital plans of objects and areas.

Metric photomaps and photo sketches are made based on the primary results of unmanned aerial and space shooting by combining and joining separate adjacent overlapping images (photographs) of objects and areas with use of the reference points and field compilation survey but without taking into account the earth surface relief.

Orthophotomaps

Orthophotomaps are the main output materials used in geographical information systems and serve as a basis for developing metric output (topographical maps, high-detail maps, enhanced information content plans, etc.).

Orthophotomaps are made on the basis of primary results of unmanned aerial and space shooting by combining and joining separate adjacent overlapping images (photographs) of objects and areas using reference points and field compilation survey and taking into account the earth surface relief.

Area Digital Models and 3D Images

Area digital models provide full information on the Earth surface. Each pixel contains the related data on all three geographic coordinates and on the optical density. The area digital models creation includes the following stages:

• development of the area relief digital model;
• making an orthophotomap for the same area plot;
• combining the relief digital model with the orthophotomap.

The accuracy of area digital model is determined by the development accuracy of the relief digital model and the orthophotomap. The accuracy can be improved by using reference points or GPS points during the area digital models development.