An Innovative and Reliable Water Leak Detection Service Supported by Data-Intensive Remote Sensing Processing

摘要

The WADI project (Water-tightness Airborne Detection Implementation), integrated within the H2020 initiative, is developing an airborne water leak detection surveillance service, based on manned and unmanned aerial vehicles. This service aims to provide water utilities with adequate information on leaks in large water distribution infrastructures outside urban areas. Given the high cost associated with water infrastructure networks repairs, a reliability layer is necessary to improve the trustworthiness of the WADI leak identification procedure, based on complementary technologies for leak detection. Herein, a methodology based on the combined use of Sentinel remote sensing data and a water leak pathways model is presented, based on data-intensive computing. The resulting water leak detection reliability service, provided to the users through a web interface, targets prompt and cost-effective infrastructure repairs with the required degree of confidence on the detected leaks. The web platform allows for both data analysis and visualization of Sentinel images and relevant leak indicators at the sites selected by the user. The user can also provide aerial imagery inputs, to be processed together with Sentinel remote sensing data at the satellite acquisition dates identified by the user. The platform provides information about the detected leaks location and time evolution, and will be linked in the future with the outputs from water pathway models.