Going unmanned in the deep MARKET REPORT By Lindsay Voss
T
he 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill
time vehicles have been quick to anticipate
from their sensor systems. This allows the
brought an influx of attention to the
a growing need for unmanned surface and
vehicles to better detect obstacles in low vis-
world of offshore drilling; the role re-
subsea technologies.
ibility environments and helps them tackle
motely operated vehicles play in the offshore oil and gas industry and the potential for autonomous underwater vehicles to support subsea monitoring operations. With the global demand for petroleum at an all time high, companies in the oil and gas sector are exploring in the word’s most remote locations. In many cases the search for reserves has reached miles below the ocean’s surface at depths inaccessible to divers and manned underwater technologies. As ex-
According to Bob Black, CEO of SeeByte Ltd., a software provider for unmanned
subsea pipeline.
platforms, ROVs and AUVs are a neces-
As advances in the technology continue,
sary technology as offshore oil and gas
Dan McLeod, senior program manager at
operations move into deeper water. Where
Lockheed Martin, anticipates growing in-
divers were once used for subsea work, in
terest for AUVs to augment ROV capabili-
many cases they have been replaced with
ties for subsea oil and gas operations. The
remotely operated or autonomous systems
company’s Marlin AUV is being targeted at
capable of withstanding depths and pres-
the offshore petroleum sector and is gain-
sures unfeasible for humans.
ing traction as an ideal system for survey-
ploration and drilling go further out and
“Diving is a risky and expensive business,
deeper in the world’s oceans, the need for
and reserves are being located in deeper
autonomous technologies to ensure safe op-
and deeper waters,” Black says. “This is
erations and divert potential environmental
driving the demand for unmanned technolo-
disaster has never been greater. Fortunate-
gies and taking the diver out of the equa-
ly, the unmanned systems industry is primed
tion.”
and ready to meet the call.
difficult operations such as tracking miles of
ROVs and AUVs have been undergoing ma-
ROVs are not new to offshore drilling. In
jor technological advances that are propel-
fact, the systems were operated as early
ling them into the oil and gas sector. Many
as the 1960s and saw widespread use
of these advances have been in the sys-
beginning in the 1980s. Small, shallow-
tems’ software and subsystems rather than
water ROVs are used for routine monitoring
the actual vehicle. For instance, SeeByte’s
and inspection, while much larger systems,
software is enabling AUVs to make sense of
some as large as cargo vans, tackle mis-
the data and information they are receiving
ing applications and other more complicated missions. Unlike many AUVs today, McLeod says that the Marlin has increased capabilities that allow it to do more than the traditional patterned survey or simply “mowing the grass.” “The Marlin AUV brings additional autonomy and intelligence that allows the vehicle to interact with the data it’s collecting,” McLeod says. “The vehicle is capable of interacting with its sonar and building 3-D models. These models are ideal for realtime change detection, which is important for monitoring offshore infrastructure.”
sions involving equipment gripping and manipulation. Unlike ROVs, AUVs and unmanned surface vehicles have only recently seen more widespread operation in the oil and gas sector. Attributes including long endurance and low operating costs have intrigued the oil and gas industry and resulted in the systems being considered for a wide range of applications. More than a year after the Deepwater Horizon spill, AUVs continue to monitor the Gulf of Mexico to assess the environmental impact from the accident. But the systems are not limited to environmental monitoring, and a number of companies providing unmanned mari-
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Mission Critical
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Winter 2011
Lockheed Martin’s Marlin AUV is being targeted at the offshore petroleum industry. Photo courtesy Lockheed Martin.