Remote Sensing Science and Technology in Support of Exploration and Safe Utilization of Energy Resources

As human population is growing faster than ever, access to reliable and sustainable energy has become one of the most important problems in the 21st century. Access to energy resources will influence and shape the future of human society as we go forward. The cost and availability of energy significantly impacts our quality of life. While most people in industrialized countries have easy access to energy more than two billion people are still relying on solid fuels like wood for cooking and heating. There are also environmental issues to be considered in our efforts for exploration and utilization of new sources of energy.

Microwave remote sensing techniques have been very successful for measuring and monitoring many environmentally important terrestrial parameters such as soil moisture, biomass, ocean wind and salinity, etc. However, until recently such techniques have not been exploited for subsurface sensing. In this talk a number of recently developed radar remote sensing techniques will be presented to demonstrate the potential of microwave remote sensing techniques in exploration of fossil fuel resources. A dual frequency synthetic aperture technique will be presented that allows for mapping the sand layer thickness over bedrock to assist with successful seismic tests. Also, a borehole subsurface synthetic aperture imaging concept is presented that facilitates mapping the extent of the subsurface fracking region in shell rock. Monitoring the extent of fracking region is of great importance for optimal utilization of oil/gas wells and to ensure the fracking region is far away from the aquafers.

Dr. Kamal Sarabandi is the Director of the Radiation Laboratory and the Rufus S. Teesdale endowed Professor of Engineering in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. He received the B.S. degree in electrical engineering from the Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran, the M.S. degree in electrical engineering, the M.S. degree in mathematics, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from The University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. Dr. Sarabandi's research areas include microwave and millimeter-wave radar remote sensing, Meta-materials, electromagnetic wave propagation, and antenna miniaturization. He has served as the Principal Investigator on many projects sponsored by governmental agencies and industry. Currently he is leading the Center for Microelectronics and Sensors funded by ARL under the MicroAutonomous Systems and Technology (MAST) Collaborative Technology Alliance (CTA) program. He is also leading a newly established center in Microwave Sensor Technology funded by King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology. He served on the NASA Advisory Council appointed by the NASA Administrator (2006-2010). He is a fellow of IEEE and is currently serving as the President of the IEEE Geoscience and Remote Sensing Society (GRSS). He has received many awards including the Distinguished Achievement Award (2005) and Education Award (2013) from IEEE GRSS society and the 2011 IEEE Judith A. Resnik Award.