A Technique to Detect Oil Pipeline Leak Using a 3-D Bistatic Imaging Radar

Detecting and localizing pipeline leaks is a problem of importance as regards to environmental issues as well as loss of resources in water and oil transport systems. Since pipelines are extended targets and the oil or water leak is more localized, the methods for detection and localization of the pipeline itself and the leak are quite different. Another issue pertains to the fact that the scattered signal from the pipeline tends to be larger and can obscure the signal from the leak making direct radar-based leak detection quite challenging. To overcome this challenge, this paper proposes a technique to estimate the pipeline signal from the overall radar response then subtract it to make the oil leak signal easier to detect. The technique is explained and the simulation results for a realistic oil leak out of plastic (PVC) and metallic pipes buried in sand are reported and discussed to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technique.