Stan DeVries, Hesh Kagan - Invensys Process Systems
Wireless communication promises higher production availability at lower operating costs through improved monitoring. For offshore production, wireless communication can accomplish this by combining mobile video and sensors to reduce costs in a number of ways:
- Operating costs drop because fewer personnel are required offshore. Most drilling and production personnel would be able to perform their duties onshore, drawing on information from an expanded array of sensors and collaborating with a few platform workers via mobile video cameras
- Fewer platform workers means less transport to and from the platform, which minimizes transportation costs and reduces risk
- Improved one-way visibility increases production by enabling earlier and improved intervention. Specialists can multi-task among many assets
- Improved bi-directional visibility increases production by improving collaboration with remote specialists.
Safety
Wireless equipment used on offshore platforms must be certified to operate in environments where sparks from electronic equipment could cause harm. In European operations, equipment such as portable video cameras, wireless transceivers, and associated sensors must have EX hazardous environment certification from the European Union. The VisiWear installation in ConocoPhillips’ Ekofisk platform in the Norwegian continental shelf, for example, uses EX-rated wireless video cameras.
Security
The greatest threat to wireless security is not malicious attack, but interference from overlapping wireless networks. Environmental or accidental radio frequency (RF) noise, broken RF equipment, dynamic changes in the characterization of the RF site, and the range on non-compatible RF devices all can interfere with wireless network performance.
Where wireless fits on the offshore platform.
Prevention for interference problems must be engineered into the network from its inception and must be covered by an enterprise-aware security and management model. Compounding the problem of contending with interference is the fact that effective wireless networking on an offshore production platform requires a combination of wireless standards.
The wireless industrial networking alliance (WINA) has developed guidelines for harmonizing the diverse wireless network standards required to enable various networks to keep traffic separate so that data transfer between networks only when the architecture requires it. Companies like Invensys, with its wireless technology partner Apprion, are applying the WINA model in products and engineering services that help offshore producers design, secure, and manage the lifecycle of offshore wireless installations. The objective is to manage all standards and associated security as a single, harmonized set.
Cost
Wireless networking is now affordable for offshore production platforms. The cost of low-power wireless network components, including battery-powered, hazardous environment sensors, and RTU’s (remote terminal units) to equip an entire platform would fit comfortably within the budget of most offshore operations. Now, operators can afford to add sensors at process points that would have been unthinkable with wired networks. Combining the process point sensors with long-range radio modems and gateways, which also are affordable, allows operators to monitor offshore assets much more closely.
Maintenance
Wireless networks for offshore applications are also more maintainable than before. It is now easier to troubleshoot, expand, modify, and upgrade the networks and components without jeopardizing security and availability. This improvement comes from the use of a single systems management approach that treats and manages all wireless network technology in a unified, coherent architecture. Such a framework helps technical professionals to manage the diversity consistently.
Management
Creating unified systems management is not just good practice; it is critical. Companies that attempt to implement more than a few tactical solutions without a unifying plan are taking a great risk.
The following are steps oil and gas producers can make to take full advantage of wireless technology today and tomorrow:
- Survey the entire company to determine where there is a need for wireless technology and how that need plays into the business strategy, examining at every point the strategic tradeoffs between improving asset availability and utilization
- Design a technology architecture that will encompass all stakeholders, including operations, safety, security, maintenance, and information technology
- Create a policy manual that sets clear criteria for implementing a wireless solution
- Select and purchase hardware and software that is proven, scalable, and capable of handling diverse protocols
- Prior to implementation, conduct an RF site survey to identify wireless signal paths and sources of potential interference
- Build ongoing maintenance, support, and optimization services into the plan.
Few companies have the resources to maintain the staff needed for all of these steps, especially given the high demand for specialists with relevant skills. Outsourcing to a specialist firm might well be the most cost-effective strategy for companies that want to use wireless networking with the least risk.
Feasibility
Maximizing oil and gas production and reducing costs require fundamental changes in the ways oil and gas production teams collaborate. Collaboration allows a group to forecast and recognize conditions and threat levels that require the deployment of additional sensors to drive software.
Instead of bringing people to the problem, the sensors and software take the problem to the people. The software senses conditions and trends, enabling collaboration on problem resolution to begin immediately.
Additional sensors combined with wireless voice and video communications change where collaboration takes place. Traveling specialists can collaborate effectively with workers on the platform and with experts in a centralized operations center.
