PHMSA · 49 CFR 192/195 · Oct 2025

The satellite monitoring system for U.S. midstream pipeline integrity.

Sentinel-1 SAR and Sentinel-2 optical, fused. PHMSA-format evidence on every alert. Built for integrity teams running high-pressure transmission across natural gas and hazardous liquid.

01The problem

Most U.S. transmission pipeline is patrolled by helicopter, four times a year.Between passes, there is no record.

A third-party excavator can break ground, lay a footing, and finish a road in 90 days, and the operator will not see it until the next quarterly survey. PHMSA's October 2025 Direct Final Rule made satellite patrols a permitted method. The 2026 Class Location Change Rule made continuous monitoring a regulated expectation.

90
days between patrols
Industry-typical helicopter cadence
$1–4M
annual helicopter cost
Per 2,400-mile system, industry average
$2.5M
avg third-party strike
PHMSA incident data
2.7
incidents / 1,000 mi
Significant events per year, PHMSA 10-yr avg
02Regulatory context

Two rules govern this work.Rowscan is built for both.

The October 2025 Direct Final Rule made satellite imagery a permitted patrol method for transmission and hazardous-liquid pipelines. The 2026 Class Location Change Rule lets operators avoid pipe replacement on class-changed segments by documenting continuous IM-Alternative monitoring, a record that has to begin accumulating now to be defensible when the filings open.

Rule 1 · Direct Final Rule
Effective October 9, 2025
Satellite & UAS patrols, codified.
49 CFR 192.705 · 49 CFR 195.412

Operators may use satellite imagery for ROW patrols on transmission and hazardous-liquid pipelines. The rule recognizes high-resolution imaging from space as a valid patrol method.

Rule 2 · Class Location Change Rule
Effective March 16, 2026
IM-Alternative or replace the pipe.
§ 192.611

When population growth changes a pipeline's class location, operators must either replace the pipe to higher-class standards or document Integrity-Management-Alternative monitoring. First filings are due March 16, 2028.

03Capability

Encroachment, excavation,
vegetation, ground disturbance.

Sentinel-1 SAR sees ground disturbance through cloud cover and at night. Sentinel-2 optical confirms with NDVI deltas. Rowscan does not need 30 cm commercial imagery. It needs the right fusion of the right sensors and context-aware classification of what changed.

SAR + Optical fusion

Sentinel-1 backscatter through cloud. Sentinel-2 NDVI deltas. Multi-pass persistence on a 5–6 day revisit cycle.

AI alert classification

Critical, Warning, or Info. Confidence scored, with a recommended action. Real threats surface; seasonal change auto-resolves.

Operator-grade map

Full corridor on one canvas. Each segment carries history, before/after imagery, and dispatch state.

Compliance evidence

PHMSA-format reports with timestamped imagery, georeferenced change polygons, dispositions, and cryptographic chain-of-custody.

Incident correlation

Every alert cross-referenced against 20+ years of PHMSA incident history. Recurring third-party strike geometry surfaces automatically.

Hazard context

NOAA severe weather. USGS seismic. FEMA flood. Correlated with corridor segments and risk scores.

04Detection chain

From orbit to evidence pack.

Six stages. Every detection ships with the imagery it came from, the geometry it spans, the classifier's confidence, the operator's disposition, and a cryptographic chain back to the pixel.

  1. 01
    Capture
    Sentinel-1 SAR + Sentinel-2 optical
  2. 02
    Co-register
    Geometric + radiometric alignment
  3. 03
    Detect
    Change polygons vs. baseline
  4. 04
    Classify
    AI severity + confidence
  5. 05
    Alert
    Webhook · email · review queue
  6. 06
    Evidence
    PHMSA-format audit pack
05Questions

Seven questions integrity teams ask first.

Sentinel-1 SAR (works through cloud, day or night) and Sentinel-2 optical at 10 m native resolution. Rowscan does not need to read license plates — it detects the things that actually matter for encroachment: ground disturbance, new structures, excavation, heavy-equipment activity, and vegetation clearing. SAR + optical fusion produces high-confidence change polygons that drive targeted field verification rather than blanket helicopter sweeps.
Workspace operational the day geometry validates

Start the evidence record now.

Authoritative geometry in. Workspace operational the same day. Classified detections populate per-corridor within the first hour, shipping with severity, confidence, and before/after satellite evidence. Every detection accumulates into the continuous PHMSA-format record the IM-Alternative rule expects.

Self-serve signup · explicit source provenance from screen one