Aptomar multi-sensor Oil Spill Detection tracker (AOSD) for TCMS

AOSD (Automatic Oil Spill Detection) from NORBIT Aptomar is a new software solution for automatic detection and multi-sensor verification of unintended oil spills to the sea. Today`s solution utilized for this purpose is based on the X-band navigation radar on the platform, installation or vessel, where oil spill is detected indirectly by OSD (oil spill detection) software as damping of capillary waves on the sea surface. This creates a dark area in the otherwise light radar-image, and based on detection of this dark area, an alarm is generated. The problem with Today`s OSD solution, is that there are several other phenomena besides oil that dampens capillary sea-waves. Rain, snow, algal blooms, or appositely, absence of waves during wind-still weather and on the lee-side of ships, might all cause false positive detections and generate an alarm. As a consequence of this, today`s radar OSD solution delivers a high number of false alarms per day, upon which the platform, drilling rig, FPSO or ERRV vessel must be called up on each individual occasion to verify or discard an oil spill. This is not manageable for a surveillance central with several tens of installations in the portfolio. The sensitivity of the OSD tracker is consequently tuned down low enough to avoid the false alarms, but the chance that a real oil spill is detected if there is one, is unfortunately also reduced. Since the different sensors used for environmental monitoring (including X-band radar) have very different operational windows, the only way to obtain a robust oil spill detection, is to overlap several sensors in the same OSD system. And this is the goal of the AOSD from NORBIT Aptomar. If the X-band radar meets restrictions detecting oil under given weather conditions, another sensor, like IR camera or satellite, might be less affected and detect the oil. In the opposite case, if the X-band radar detects rain on the sea surface as oil, an IR camera or satellite can discard the detection, and thereby prevent a false alarm. By further integrating and analyzing data like wind, wave-height and AIS (transmitter for exchange of information about a vessel's identity, position, speed, course, etc.), a further exclusion of false detections caused by dead calm sea, wind shadows and wakes from ships. By doing this, the high number of false alarms experienced today, might be reduced to a minimum.

1) Test of AOSD prototype on-/based on- live data from NOFO ans NCA's Oil-on-Water exercise 2018 2) Demo of first basic AOSD prototype on our stand on ONS in Stavanger 2018. Basic new functionality was implemented in TCMS (planned re-named SeaCOP after new release next year) and showed to old and potential new customers. 3) Demo of the first AOSD prototype with all new functionality related to the user requirements as described in the final project report attached. Present at the demo: project partners Equinor and Eni, as well as Innovation Norway. 4) Presentation and demo (not live) of AOSD on the CIRFA (Centre for Remote Sensing and Forecasting for Arctic Operations) annual conference in Tromsø (approximately 60 participating parties from governmental bodies, universities, independent research institutes, industry and relevant private companies). 5) AOSD presentation on the annual NOSCA (the Norwegian Oil Spill Control Association) conference in Rio de Janeiro 2018.