Detektia products

Deformation monitoring of dams is key to avoid catastrophic loss of infrastructure and lives. Measuring and monitoring the deformations of these assets is a mandatory task due to the high risk they represent. These monitoring activities are usually based on geotechnical instruments (e.g., direct and inverted pendulum, inclinometers, tiltmeters, jointmeters) and geodetic-surveying methods (e.g., leveling, trilateration, triangulation, angular collimation, GNSS…). Although these methods are very accurate and reliable, they are often time-consuming and expensive, providing very punctual and isolated information.

Monitoring underground infrastructures is extremely important during and after the construction stage. Conventional monitoring techniques are very accurate (topography, levelling, etc.), but quite expensive and limited to isolated points in very small areas. New satellite-based cost-efficient complementary techniques applied to wide areas and capable of analyzing  time series are being developed and redefining the control and monitoring of these large urban works.

Detektia develops early warning systems based on the analysis of deformation time series using non-intrusive Radar satellite technologies. This information is combined with other parameters such as rainfall, geology, DEM, geometry of embankments…allowing the generation of dynamic landslide risk models.

Aquifer overexploitation causes water shortages, reduces water quality and causes ground movements, affecting surface topography and infrastructure. The overexploitation of groundwater can generate continuous land subsidence that in some cases affects large areas and even collapses urban structures.  Mexico City is sinking 25 cm/year, similar to the rates in Jakarta and Manila, where sea level is also rising due to climate change. Closer to us, in Murcia Region, we find the highest rate of land subsidence in Europe (10 cm/year) caused by aquifer overexploitation. Groundwater is a scarce and dispersed resource, and therefore, control and management is a major challenge. In Spain alone, there are more than 500,000 illegal wells, extracting the equivalent of the annual consumption of 58 million people.  Globally, 20% of the world’s aquifers are overexploited and the number continues growing. New tools are needed to effectively control the overexploitation of aquifers over large areas at a competitive cost.