What
is ENVISYS?
The purpose of ENVISYS is to provide a complete system for detection, verifica tion and assessment of an oil slick in addition to support of a possible cleanup operation. It may to some degree be similar to a defence command, control and communication system. The system provides a graphical user interface supported by image analysis, Geographical Information System (GIS) and data base (RDBMS) tools. ENVISYS has four modes of operations:
Under normal conditions, ENVISYS will run unattended by the operator in Automatic Monitoring Mode. When a radar image is acquired within the monitoring area, it will be transferred automatically from the ground station to the system. Then, after some preprocessing by the Image Preprocessing Module, it will be processed by an automatic oil slick detection algorithm (Detection Module).
If an oil slick is detected, an alarm sounds calling the attention of
the operator.
The operator will turn to the Verification Mode (Verification
Module) which provides tools to help the operator to investigate the
SAR image in order to determine whether an alarm is false or a real oil
slick. Sea current data and wind field forecasts or measurements,
which are automatically transferred to the system by FTP from a meteorological
service provider, may be displayed, as well as wind information derived
from the SAR image. The operator will also see some map data showing the
coastline, territorial borders and potential oil spill sources.
If the alarm is verified and the slick is of considerable size, the operator will turn over to the Assessment Mode (Assessment Module). This mode allows the operator to place the oil slick in a full geographic context showing fishing areas, aquacultural farms, recreational areas and environmental fragile areas. Simulations of the oil slick's likely evolution, taking into account wind and sea current data, may be run and the future oil slick trajectory displayed on the map. The operator may in an automated way create a report showing maps with the different geographic information, the oil spill and its simulated evolution. This report may be sent by email or fax to If the situation is threatening commercial or environmental resources, he may switch to the next mode.
The Operations Mode (Operations Module) may be used for planning of a cleanup operation and for decision support during the operation. The operator may enter information into and display tabular or cartographic information from a data base containing data about personnel, equipment in different equipment bases, personnel, ships, helicopters, etc, and about the oil slick. This data and some additional functions help him allocate resources for the cleanup operation and get the status during the operation.
In addition to the five core modules mentioned above (Image Preprocessing,
Detection, Verification, Assessment and Operations), there are some auxiliary
modules: The Main Command Interpreter constistutes the interface between
the user and the system. It displays a map of the surveillance area showing
the sites of the SAR images, and it interpretes the user's commands. The
Background Command Sequencer deals with the management of different processes
without any user interaction. The External Communication Module automatically
reads emails warning about new images available, retrieves them automatically
by FTP, and also retrieves wind and sea current data. It also sends oil
spill alarm reports by email and fax.