Offshore staff
EDINBURGH, UK –WFS Technologies, which delivers underwater wireless instrumentation and control solutions to offshore oil and gas operations, and Fugro Subsea Technologies, which designs, builds, and delivers the FCV range of ROVs to its Subsea Services Division, are jointly offering subsea wireless capability on all FCV Work Class ROVs from 2015 onward.
Having worked together in the past to deliver Seatooth Video deepwater systems to Fugro for the Moho Nord project in Congo, the companies agreed to enter a partnership that will benefit Fugro’s customers, delivering enhanced ROV solutions forsubsea projects.
This agreement means that Fugro ROVs can communicate with all Seatooth-enabled subsea devices, such as WiPS (wireless pressure sensor), Pipelogger (wireless pipeline integrity monitoring platform), and Video (wireless video camera), wherever they are globally deployed.
The integrated systems support three functions:
- High-speed data for video streaming and downloading data from wireless dataloggers
- Medium-speed data for command and control of remote wireless devices
- Wirelessly wake-up remote devices from a very low power state
Wireless subsea technology is becoming a fundamental part of the oil and gas industry worldwide, and this partnership aims to advance ROV capabilities by making them ready to support a growing number of wireless applications.
Subsea radio technology has a distinct advantage when operating in adverse water conditions such as in the presence of gas bubbles or high turbidity. Radio signals are unaffected by acoustic noise or bio-fouling, and are free from multi-path problems. As a result, Seatooth is often the only technology that can offer reliable data transmission in the real operating environment.
Tim Rhodes, development manager of Fugro Subsea Technologies, comments, “This step will mean that all future-build FCV ROVs will be wireless-enabled from manufacture, giving our operating companies seamless connectivity when working with devices utilizing this technology.”
Ian Crowther, executive vice president for WFS Technologies, adds, “This partnership is an industry-first, integrating wireless technology with ROVs in the factory rather than in the field. It will accelerate the successful completion of subsea projects.”
07/29/2014
