The industry's recognized authority for design, engineering and application of equipment and services in the global ocean community
Issue link: http://sea-technology.epubxp.com/i/887058
www.sea-technology.com October 2017 / st 17 S treamline is a word that has echoed through multiple industries for the past several years. The need for a comprehensive system that is fast- er, more efficient and effective is constantly being sought after. Offshore operations require the completion of multiple tasks, which makes the process of streamlining problematic. Advances in technol- ogy are providing companies the opportunity to streamline but not without challenging, exhausting efforts. One innovative company has turned to the utilization of multiple autonomous vehicles in the effort to streamline opera- tions for geophysical data acquisition of the seabed. The effort started with a focus on how to increase survey sensor cover- age from a single survey ship and how to deviate from the traditional method to improve offshore operations. The solution of using multiple autonomous vehicles led to more questions: how to maintain safe operations and quality control while multiple assets are in the water; and how to handle, process and store the huge quantities of data generated? Under the broad questions are all the detailed ones: how to launch and recover multiple vehicles safely; how to store and transport unmanned assets using only one vessel; how to communicate and control unmanned as- sets simultaneously; how to transfer the collected data on a managed network; and how to track maintenance and spares? The list is long and challenging. Ocean Infinity has addressed these challenges by em- ploying proven systems at an unprecedented scale on board a single multipurpose offshore vessel. The technol- ogy is precisely integrated into a comprehensive system for offshore survey, inspection, repair and salvage. Ocean Infinity Spread The spread was designed from the seafloor to the ship, all to maintain continuous operations through to job comple- AUV Fleet Streamlines Offshore Operations Eight AUVs Working from One Vessel for Wide-Area Survey By Joshua Broussard (From top to bottom) AUVs in hangar on the Seabed Construc- tor. USVs in LARS on deck. InfinityView screenshot.