Collaborative Research: Optimization of Remote Sensing Networks for Time-sensitive Detection of Fine Scale Damage to Critical Infrastructure

这项研究的重点是评估地震、洪水、飓风和野火等重大灾害事件对基础设施的破坏。前提是，一些基础设施(如桥梁和医院)，特别是在城市中，对于拯救生命和支持应急行动至关重要，因此，关于此类基础设施受损状况的近实时信息至关重要，但可能很难通过灾难发生后可能无法运行的常规地面观测和传感器网络来确定。这一危险后信息获取挑战的一个潜在解决方案是设计和实施灵活的、随时可部署的、时间敏感的航空成像系统，该系统基于小型有人或无人驾驶飞机和商用数码相机。关键是要确定哪些基础设施类型真正“关键”，然后设计和预先规划低成本系统，以满足应急管理人员对最大交付时间和最小损害信息可靠性的要求。对灾害事件前后的航空图像进行精确对齐，然后进行比较，以便能够在短时间内发现基础设施损坏，绘制地图并将其传播给应急管理人员，以便采取紧急响应行动，将生命损失和不便降至最低。这项研究的研究内容包括采访和询问与灾害事件后关键基础设施有关的应急管理信息要求，以及与航空成像工作流程有关的技术研究。应急经理将接受调查，以确定关键基础设施功能的优先顺序，并确定他们可能遭受的损害类型，以及需要多长时间提供有关此类损害的信息，以便做出适当的反应。虽然这似乎是显而易见的第一步，但大多数航空成像技术的研究和实施都没有做到这一步，而且当他们做到这一步时，也没有处理好信息传递的时间敏感性。以航空成像技术为基础的快速反应系统的技术设计将通过综合调查答复提供信息。这类系统涉及飞行计划、图像捕获、处理和分析，以及向应急管理人员提供损坏信息。整合图像和地图产品的无线传输可能是优化这一信息流的一部分。所有这些组成部分和端到端系统将根据其对接受调查的应急管理人员的效用进行评估。将制定在满足最低细节和精度要求的同时优化提供损坏信息的时间的程序。这些程序和原型端到端系统将在新墨西哥州和加利福尼亚州的应急经理参与的模拟事件中进行测试。

The focus of this study is on assessing damage to infrastructure following major hazard events such as earthquakes, floods, hurricanes and wildfires. The premise is that some infrastructure (e.g., bridges and hospitals), particularly in cities, is so critical to saving human lives and supporting emergency response actions that near real-time information on the damage status of such infrastructure is essential and yet may be difficult to ascertain with conventional, ground observations and sensor networks that may not be functioning following a disaster. A potential solution to this post-hazard information access challenge is to design and implement flexible, ready-to-deploy, time-sensitive aerial imaging systems based on a small manned or unmanned aircraft and commercially available digital cameras. The key is to determine which infrastructure types are truly "critical" and then design and pre-plan low-cost systems that meet maximum time to delivery and minimum damage information reliability requirements of emergency managers. Aerial imagery from before and after a hazard event are precisely aligned and then compared to enable infrastructural damages to be detected, mapped and disseminated to emergency managers in such a short amount of time that emergency response actions can be taken to minimize loss of lives and inconveniences.The research components of this study involve interviews and inquiries into emergency management information requirements pertaining to critical infrastructure following disaster events, as well as technical studies pertaining to the aerial imaging work flow. Emergency managers will be surveyed to prioritize critical infrastructural features and determine what types of damages they may be subjected to and how soon information about such damage is needed in order to be appropriately responsive. While a seemingly obvious first step, most aerial imaging technology studies and implementations fail to take this step and when they do, fail to deal with the time sensitivity of information delivery. The technical design of rapid-response systems based on aerial imaging technology will be informed by the synthesis of survey responses. Such systems involve flight planning, image capture, processing, and analysis, and damage information delivery to emergency managers. Incorporating wireless transfer of imagery and map products may be part of optimizing this information flow. All of these components and the end-to-end system will be evaluated in terms of their utility to the surveyed emergency managers. Procedures for optimizing the time to delivery of damage information while meeting minimum detail and precision requirements will be developed. These procedures and a prototype end-to-end system will be tested for simulated events involving emergency managers in New Mexico and California.