In addition to prevention, preparedness and response capabilities, a key factor to minimize any negative environmental impact is the ability to detect incidents at an early stage. For over two years, Indra and Repsol have been working together in the development of a unique innovative system for early detection of hydrocarbons on the water surface.
Two advanced surveillance technologies have been integrated and provided with intelligence. The integrated system combines the long range capabilities of radar signals and the precision of infrared thermal imaging. Furthermore, it has been developed an automated model to analyze threats and minimize the risk of error in detection.
This new system called HEADS (Hydrocarbon Early Automatic Detection System) provides with automated on-stream environmental surveillance, with continuous monitoring even in adverse weather conditions with maximum reliability. Furthermore, it increases dramatically the certainty in incident identification without the need of human intervention, thus reducing response times to a minimum. The result is the identification of threats on an HMI console together with tactical information (GIS coordinates, movement vector, reliability, evolution, etc.) useful for an efficient management of resources in operations at sea.
This advanced environmental protection system was set in operation last year at Casablanca Platform, an offshore production rig, and Tarragona (Spain) discharge maritime pier (Repsol operated assets), both in the Mediterranean Sea.
