Baseline issue 1

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THE CUSTOMER MAGAZINE FROM SONARDYNE ISSUE 1

Technology Now the industry standard, Wideband’s ranging accuracy signals the end of the tone age

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Profile Norwegian surveying company Artec Subsea AS goes global with Ranger USBL

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Customer Support How Sonardyne is building a responsive and reliable customer support team

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Feature Discover the proven operational benefits of the new acoustic technique of Inverted USBL

Baseline

Lodestar AHRS Attitude and Heading Reference System

With a history of success in providing Trusted Solutions for acoustic positioning, navigation and communications you might be a little surprised at where we are heading now.

Through investment in people, processes and technology we’ve risen to the challenge of developing a new standard of marine attitude and heading reference system.

Lodestar combines all of the robust cutting edge technology that’s been powering our Wideband™

systems with proven inertial technology developed to overcome the problems associated with conventional sensor platforms.

Sonardyne are committed to the development of integrated marine technologies that deliver a genuine competitive advantage to our customers.

We’re heading in the right direction, are you?

www.sonardyne.com/inertial

CONTENTS BASELINE ISSUE 1

04 News Products and People 08 Feature Wideband – End of Tone Age 12 Case Study Black Sea Air Crash 13 Profile Artec Subsea AS 14 Case Study Ormen Lange 18 Technology Tsunami Detection System

20 Feature Customer Support 24 Technology Carbon Fibre 26 Feature Inverted USBL 28 Technology Radian AHRS and AvTrak 2 30 International News Around the World 31 Help & Advice Ask Dave

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ASELINE IS SONARDYNE’S new magazine aimed at bringing you

the stories, the issues and the ideas surrounding our latest product developments.

With a track record of more than 30 years, Sonardyne has always invested in the future. We are committed to research and development and over the next few pages, Baseline reveals the substantial capabilities of our company.

The launch of Wideband1 represented a ground breaking moment for acoustic technology, technology that is now in service in many of the world’s most demanding subsea environments. In our article on Page 08 we explain in simple terms the fundamentals of Wideband and what it can do for you. Then turn to Page 14 to see Wideband’s impact on the Ormen Lange gas field development.

Sonardyne is so much more. We are also hard at work developing the next generation of hardware platforms that offer low power consumption, dependable data processing and storage, and robust communications. The technology feature on Page 18 reveals how Sonardyne’s tsunami detection system could soon be helping save lives whilst on Page 29 there is a product feature on AvTrak 2.

We don’t stop there. Over the past 12 months we have invested heavily in infrastructure, people and customer support systems in order to improve the business, the quality of products and our service standards. Meet our new Customer Services Manager on Page 20 and discover how training is the key to unlocking the potential of your staff.

We hope you enjoy the first issue of Baseline and until Issue 2, all the best.

Editor Su Kent Marketing Manager David Brown Marketing Co-ordinator Andrew Covey Art Director Michael Lindley at TruthStudio www.truthstudio.co.uk Photography Astonleigh Studios, Alton, Hampshire, UK www.astonleighstudio.co.uk (Pages 04, 07, 08, 10, 20, 23, 24, 25 and 31) Cover Photo Deployment of TOBI 2 during iUSBL trials off Portugal.

This page: 2004 tsunami © David Rydevik Published by Sonardyne International Ltd. Blackbushe Business Park,Yateley, Hampshire GU46 6GD. United Kingdom. © Sonardyne International Ltd 2007. www.sonardyne.com No part of this magazine may be reproduced without permission of the publisher.

Colour repro by ProCo Print Ltd. Printed by ProCo Print Ltd. Every effort is made to ensure that information is correct at time of going to press.

Sonardyne WidebandTM is a Registered Trademark of Sonardyne International Limited.

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Rob Balloch, Strategic Development Director

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NEWS Raising the roof at Ocean House to step up production, service and repair

Following a 600 hundred mile journey on the back of a low loader, our new acoustic tank is carefully lowered into position.

The 13,000 gallon, 4.1 metre diameter tank was so large that the only option available to the installation team was to dismantle a large section of Ocean House’s roof and lift it in by crane. Luckily fine weather ensured that the carefully orchestrated exercise went without a hitch.The new tank will sit alongside our existing three tanks and will be utilised in all areas of the business from product development through to production, servicing and repair.

OUR PEOPLE

All change at the top

New vessel extends sea trials centre’s capabilities

Barry Clutton has been appointed as Managing Director of Sonardyne International, following nine years as the company’s Finance Director. Barry says, “I am delighted to have been appointed to this key position in what promises to be a very exciting time for Sonardyne.The company is about to take its next major step forward with new innovative products on the way and the expansion of the business into new market areas.”

He continues,“I intend to ensure that the Sonardyne team will continue to build upon the company’s enviable reputation for product innovation, quality and customer support.”

Barry succeeds Ian Polley who has retired after 16 years with Sonardyne.

Work is nearing completion on our newbuild twin hull trials and research vessel.Shortly due for completion,the vessel is 12 metres long and was primarily chosen for its large back deck operating area,stability in rough weather and comfortable crew accommodation.

The vessel is additionally equipped with a deployment machine and hydraulic crane to enable equipment and ROVs to be easily and safely deployed and recovered.Propulsion comes from two Volvo Penta 430bhp engines giving a top speed of around 20 knots.This will enable the vessel to reach deep water quickly and then return to its Plymouth base all in the same day. The next issue of Baseline will contain a full report.

Barry Clutton has taken the helm as new Managing Director of Sonardyne International

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World’s largest pipelay vessel upgrades to Wideband The Swiss-based Allseas Group S.A. has recently upgraded the existing Sonardyne USBL acoustic positioning system aboard the ‘Solitaire’ pipelay vessel to use the latest Fusion Wideband technology. At 360 metres long, the Solitaire is the world’s largest pipelay vessel and has the capacity to lay pipes up to 60 inches in diameter. Equipped with class three Dynamic Positioning (DP), the vessel frequently operates in water depths in excess of 2,000 metres and depends upon its USBL for precise position referencing.

A key factor in Allseas’ decision to upgrade to Fusion Wideband were the benefits offered by our unique ‘ping stacking’ acoustic interrogation technique.

Originally developed for ultra deep water

“ At 360 metres long, the Solitaire is the world’s largest pipelay vessel” drilling operations, ping stacking enables the USBL system to transmit acoustic interrogations to subsea transponders before the last reply was received.This provides a DP system with a position update every second independent of water depth.

The installation of the Fusion hardware had been scheduled to occur during a five day stop-over in the Bahamas. However, due to operational reasons this was reduced to just one and a half days.This deadline was achieved and allowed the Solitaire to remain in service whilst making a smooth transition to the new technology.

Solitaire has achieved a lay speed of over nine kilometres per day and holds the deepwater pipelay record at 2,775 metres

SOFTWARE UPDATE

Sonardyne offers Ranger USBL with Fusion Sonardyne’s Fusion USBL (Ultra-Short BaseLine) acoustic positioning software has been upgraded to include the company’s new Ranger USBL technology.This upgrade is for existing Fusion users and anyone purchasing new systems in 2007.

Including Ranger software alongside Fusion v1.09.03 reflects Sonardyne’s commitment to make our systems straightforward to use whilst providing additional benefits aimed at increasing performance and operational capability. Operators can now use the application that best suits their needs: Ranger for simple survey and DP reference, and Fusion for complex, deep water positioning tasks.The new software functions with existing equipment inventories as Fusion and Ranger use the same vessel-based hardware and together support a wide range of analogue and new Sonardyne Wideband transponders.

Ranger is ideal for operators with limited experience or who are unlikely to ever undertake advanced USBL tasks.

The intuitive user interface means that the system is easy to learn, set-up and operate ensuring immediate success.

With the introduction of Wideband signal technology, Fusion has made a significant impact upon the construction survey market for subsea positioning

and long-range tracking operations that require survey grade accuracy in all water depths. Now, users can employ the same topside equipment to perform a variety of tasks.The upgraded software has been released for use in both USBL and LBL modes and offers big end-user improvements in performance and functionality.

An important new feature available in both Fusion and Ranger is the ability to undertake Inverted USBL (iUSBL) tracking of towfish over super-long laybacks. Here, the transceiver is not installed on the vessel but on the towed body itself (see Page 26).

Mounting the transceiver in this way eliminates repeated system calibration, whilst the accuracy and repeatability of the acoustic signals are improved, as the transceiver is located in a low noise, dynamically stable environment.

Sonardyne’s Ray Trace utility, included in the upgrade, analyses the water column for ray bending effects which are very important during the planning stages of a construction survey project. Customer input and feedback from Sonardyne’s field-engineering staff has led to many of the upgrade changes such as transceiver self diagnostic tools and the addition of sensor interface protocols that improve the handling of data through the system’s Navigation Controller.

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NEWS NEW PRODUCTS

Scout, Ranger and Fusion Sonardyne’s new line-up of Ultra-Short Baseline products means that whatever you are tracking and positioning, we have a system designed to perfectly meet your needs

Scout, Scout Plus and Scout Pro

Ranger and Ranger Pro

Fusion

● Affordable and high accuracy ● Quick to set-up and deploy ● General target tracking

● Simple, intuitive user interface ● Up to 4,000 metre operating range ● Designed for survey and DP

● Sonardyne Wideband technology ● Full ocean depth capability ● Complex construction survey

Available in three versions Scout USBL is a complete vessel based underwater positioning system for divers, ROVs and towfish. Scout and Scout Plus are entry level systems that can track one surface vessel and up to six subsea targets with a range of up to 500 metres. Scout Pro provides greater accuracy, additional tracking capabilities and a 1,000 metre operating range.

Building upon Scout’s capabilities, Ranger is the latest addition to the Sonardyne USBL product family and has been designed for survey and DP reference operations.

Ranger is easy to learn, set-up and operate and in Pro version, offers simultaneous tracking of up to 10 targets with a one second position update rate. Ranger also supports Inverted USBL (iUSBL) operations.

Fusion is the most advanced USBL tool available for long range deep water tracking with survey grade accuracy. It uses the same vessel-based hardware as Ranger providing users with an easy and cost effective upgrade path. Fusion supports multi-user, multi-vessel operations with many independent operating channels and integrated high speed data telemetry.

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SOFTWARE UPDATE

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Keeping your riser angles in check

Don’t leave home without yours

Excessive operating angles on drilling risers can lead to critical wear on flex joints and damage to BOP stacks.The outcome: rig downtime and an expensive repair bill.

Providing operators with a dependable, cable-free method for monitoring the riser led to the introduction of Sonardyne’s first MRAMS (Marine Riser Angle Monitoring System) system around 10 years ago and

The MRAMS software is simple to learn, set-up and operate and allows users to achieve immediate success and get to work without delay or additional stress

it has been reliably in service ever since.

With the developments in Wideband signal technology, the next generation MRAMS system is based on the integration of Sonardyne’s USBL acoustic positioning technology and riser/BOP mounted transponders fitted with high resolution inclinometers.This provides clear and unambiguous data on the vessel’s position and riser angle status. It also recommends a bearing for the rig to steer to in order to minimise riser inclination relative to the BOP. One of the most notable improvements with the new system is the greatly simplified software and user interface which has been influenced by users of the original system.

All critical information such as riser and BOP angles, rig heading and course-tosteer is now presented on a large graphical display that can be assessed at a glance.

Wideband MRAMS is now available for new installations or as a replacement for existing systems.

Our new customer support contact cards have just arrived. On one side, this handy credit card-sized item contains the details of our 24-hour emergency telephone helpline, product support email and website. On the other side, there are the telephone, fax and email details of all our regional offices.

The contact cards are freely available and can be found on the inside of every product manual. Alternatively, simply email: support@sonardyne.com and we will send you one.

NEW PRODUCTS

Pocket our new USBL Product Guide In order to help you decide which Sonardyne USBL system is right for you, we’ve developed this handy pocket guide. Simply peel it off, pin it up in your office or take it with you next time you’re heading offshore.

You never know when it might come in useful.

If you would like more copies of the guide, email marketing@sonardyne.com

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Technology

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Wideband signals end of tone age Wideband acoustic technology is the first step change in performance since acoustic positioning was introduced.

Mark Poole, Sonardyne’s Chief Surveyor, reports on its benefits and examines how it is addressing the ever changing demands of the offshore industry

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VER THE PAST

20 years, the search for ever diminishing hydrocarbon reserves has pushed the offshore construction survey industry into ever deeper waters. Depths which were considered beyond economical reach just a few years ago are today familiar territory for both operators and equipment manufacturers like Sonardyne who are challenged to develop innovative solutions.

Sonardyne Wideband technology is one such innovation. It addresses the contemporary requirements of the offshore survey, construction and drilling industries for subsea acoustic positioning, communications and control and in only a few short years has become widely adopted for LBL and USBL operations.

Mark Poole, Sonardyne’s Chief Surveyor talks to Baseline about the benefits of Wideband technology

Now the industry standard In an industry well known for its cautious approach to adopting new technology, the dramatic uptake of Sonardyne Wideband

draws many similarities with the way in which GPS rapidly consigned radio-based navigation systems to history following its introduction offshore.

From off Norway’s continental shelf to the ultra deep waters offshore West Africa, Brasil and the Gulf of Mexico, Wideband technology is at work providing multi-user capability, high precision observations, robust data telemetry and faster, more efficient USBL and LBL operations.

Multi-User Capability Positioning systems using Wideband acoustics offer truly independent multi-user capability through the availability of hundreds of operating channels. This is similar in many ways to terrestrial digital television which can provide many more channels than ‘analogue’ systems using the same available bandwidth.

Wideband signals are generated through the modulation of carrier frequencies using digital codes. Separation of signals in both frequency and code greatly extends the number of unique signals that can be supported within a defined bandwidth.

It is not until we look at the complex multi-

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Technology The benefits of Sonardyne Wideband

user, multi-vessel LBL (Long BaseLine) scenarios that the benefits of Wideband’s many operating channels become apparent. This situation frequently arises in contemporary deep water field developments due to concurrent drilling and installation activity.

Sonardyne has introduced the concept of ‘families’ to simplify the simultaneous operation of acoustic systems within interference range.

Each seabed transponder array can be configured to respond to only those interrogation signals that have been transmitted by a mobile Compatt 5 or transceiver that has been programmed as the ‘parent’ of that family. The current Wideband signal architecture supports up to 14 non-interfering families which is 11 more than previous generations of equipment and more than sufficient for most typical field development scenarios.

Compatt 5 transponder commands transmitted using Wideband telemetry offer far greater security than the tone bursts used in

legacy systems as they are addressed directly to an individual unit and do not use the Common Command Frequency.

Ranging Accuracy One of the most noticeable benefits offered

by Wideband is its superior ranging accuracy.

In a Wideband system, the code correlation between devices transmitting a signal and devices receiving a signal is such that only information with matching codes attached is accepted for processing. In simple terms this is rather like a coded car key; unless the code in the key matches the code in the car, commands to lock and unlock the doors will be ignored.

The increased ranging precision offered

by Wideband signals means that it is possible to obtain positional accuracies at MF that were previously obtainable only at EHF frequency. This has the combined benefits of extending the range of high accuracy

Wideband offers hundreds of unique channels providing greater flexibility for operational planning

positioning and rationalising equipment inventories. The availability of high accuracy positioning for subsea construction operations allows the optimisation of engineering solutions and reduces the risk of error when operating diver-less connection systems.

A significant advantage of Wideband signals over EHF lies in the ability to reliably command and range to Compatts in water depths in excess of 1,000 metres whilst maintaining high ranging precision. This is required when transferring surface control to the seabed when conducting an array calibration. The increased precision offered

by Wideband in conjunction with high accuracy DGPS systems makes it possible to co-ordinate Compatts with sub-metre accuracy to support the installation of high accuracy positional control on the seabed.

The increased precision offered by Wideband LBL systems was instrumental in the achievement of a key milestone in the final

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phase of the construction of subsea facilities in the Ormen Lange field in 2006. This required the installation of two 30 inch production flowlines in a one metre target box at the end of a very complicated lay route in sub-zero temperatures and over 800 metres water depth. After a couple of cut-to-length trials the flowlines were installed and landed out within a very impressive 90 centimetres and 60 centimetres of the target co-ordinates.

Wideband Data Telemetry Data telemetry is a common element of many subsea applications and one to which Wideband technology is particularly suited.

In developing Wideband, Sonardyne has created a robust high-speed telemetry scheme that is specifically designed for the real-time

This is what some of our customers are saying about the benefits of Wideband ❛❛ LBL tracking of a static target now Compatt 5 transponders interfaced to a subsea gyro

❛❛ Wideband USBL positioning in Resolution

“Sonardyne’s Wideband technology has broken new ground in all aspects of subsea operations” transfer of the relatively short data packets that are commonly associated with subsea navigation. The robust Wideband link incorporates forward error correction and all of the benefits associated with correlation signal processing in terms of immunity to noise and multipath and does not require the overhead of a training sequence which reduces the latency associated with the data.

This makes it more appropriate to real-time monitoring applications such as the acoustic telemetry of gyrocompass and attitude data for navigation. Wideband acoustic telemetry also offers significant improvements in the efficiency of deep water operations by greatly increasing the update rate for the positioning of structures as they are deployed to the seabed.

Addressing today’s demands Sonardyne Wideband technology has broken new ground in all aspects of subsea operations. It offers a proven, low risk route to a step change in performance and can be applied to every stage of a multi-user, multivessel field development project, no matter what the water depth. BL

requires two chart windows to be open. One zoomed right in to 1cm to convince you the ROV position is actually updating.❜❜

1,600m was so accurate a Wellhead, positioned by a competitor’s LBL system,showed a jump in position and nearly caused the USBL System Acceptance Test to fail. When the client revisited the job folder it turned out the Well position was dubious because the competitor’s LBL system had exhibited large errors.❜❜

❛❛ Wideband is so fast collecting baselines that we can no longer go for a cup of tea during collection.❜❜ Timing resolution of a tone burst signal: Coarse resolution of filter response to uncoded signal is more susceptible to degradation by noise

Resolution

❛❛ Wideband accuracy and position repeatability helped us diagnose a faulty VRU exhibiting a 0.5 degree drift.❜❜

❛❛ Our DP desk was regularly rejecting the USBL position updates because the 0.1m decimal place was not varying and the desk assumed that the system had frozen.❜❜

❛❛ The baseline spread is so small you have to use the smallest bin sizes to see any variation.❜❜ ❛❛ The position of Wideband beacons

Timing resolution of a Wideband signal: Code correlation function results in far greater precision and resistance to noise

on a 300 metre subsea towed array demonstrated that the streamer offsets had been incorrectly measured with the tape measure.❜❜

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Case Study ROV-Homer target relocation system

Sonardyne joins race to recover black boxes from Black Sea

The A320 crashed at about 0215 (2215 GMT) on 3 May 2006 as it made a second attempt to land at an airport near Sochi, a Russian resort town Armavia Airlines Flight No 967 from Yerevan to Sochi SOCHI

RUSSIA

Crash Site

ARMENIA

BLACK SEA

TURKEY

N 3 MAY 2006 an

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Armavia Airbus 320 was lost with 113 lives on a flight between Yerevan and Sochi on the Black Sea coast.

The plane crashed into water more than 1,600 feet deep where its ‘Black Box’ flight data recorders became impossible to locate visually. Strong currents and heavy sediment quickly covered the wreckage removing all traces of the flight recorders.

The only option left was to locate them acoustically via the emergency distress signal that activates on contact with water.

The Russian State Scientific Centre, Yuzhmoregeologiya (YMG) contacted Sonardyne for its help. Sonardyne recommended ROV-Homer which is a miniature range and direction guidance system for ROVs. It enables underwater vehicles to home into the signals transmitted from beacons attached to divers, seabed equipment or, as in this case, flight data recorders.

As Barry Cairns of Sonardyne explains, “It was important to get the equipment out to Russia as quickly as possible as the

emergency locator pingers on black boxes have a limited transmission life.” Within just a few hours of the call from YMG asking for assistance, a ROV-Homer was being hand carried out to the Black Sea. At the site of the crash, it was quickly fitted to the search team’s own RT-1000 ROV. The ROV-Homer system consists of an ROV mounted range and direction unit and PC control software.The pilot selects the target to ‘home’ into and the ROV unit begins interrogating the designated transponder to determine its range and direction. Points of interest can be easily marked so that an ROV pilot can be guided straight back to the target even in zero visibility.

Information is communicated back to the surface, via the ROV’s umbilical, and is displayed on the user’s PC. It indicates the range to the target and in which direction to turn in order to move the ROV directly towards the selected beacon.

With the Sonardyne ROV-Homer the first black box was found quickly on the first day. The second was located soon after despite being buried in silt without any traces being visible on the seabed. Recovery took place the day after, enabling the entire

The ‘black box’ had been lying in a thick layer of silt on the seabed,at a depth of about 500m (1,640ft) YEREVAN IRAN

operation to be completed in four days. Dr Arthur Pronkin, General Director of YMG was very grateful to Sonardyne and says, “We greatly appreciate the efforts of Sonardyne’s staff who efficiently mobilised the delivery of the ROV-Homer to Russia helping our specialists successfully complete the recovery operation in the shortest possible time.They were extremely helpful and understanding and we worked as one international team.”

ROV-Homer Facts & Figures ● Simple,low cost acoustic guidance system for ROVs ● 4,000m or 12,000m versions available ● Reduces search time and ROV operating costs ● Critical point marking – tools,valve heads,field joints ● Emergency relocation – divers, diving bells,ROVs ● Allows operation in zero visibility ● Works with AODC Emergency Transponders

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Profile Artec Subsea AS

Investment proves the key to success Norwegian survey company goes global with Ranger USBL

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N JUST A few short years, Artec

Subsea AS has earned an enviable reputation within the subsea inspection sector. Based in the picturesque setting of Aurland on Norway’s west coast, Artec Subsea is well positioned to serve both local and international markets with a wide range of services from high quality ROV surveys and construction-support through to seabed mapping and cable route planning.

“The company was founded in 1997 and currently our workforce is 15 strong,” Torre Brekke the company’s founder and managing director explains.“We expect to expand the workforce during the next year to up to 25 personnel." The company has enjoyed a period of sustained growth and amongst the assets now at the company’s disposal are two deep rated inspection class ROVs and an inshore survey catamaran that can fold up and be transported in a standard 40ft container anywhere in the world.“The systems in which we invest are specially

designed for high mobility and cover all areas from offshore to mountain lakes.We look for the best in the market with a view to price, performance and product support,” Torre points out.

Last summer Artec Subsea was the first Norwegian company to purchase a Ranger subsea positioning system; the latest addition to Sonardyne’s USBL product range. Ranger has been designed for survey and DP reference operations.The UI is simple and intuitive and in Pro version, supports industry standard transponders to full ocean depth.

The motivation to purchase the system was to monitor the position of an ROV on a telecommunications cable route survey over 1,000 kilometres between Narvik and Trondheim at depths of up to 1,000 metres.

“We chose the system after being impressed by its specifications and performance during testing,” continues Torre.

“The Ranger system is easy to use and set-up and so we have not had to invest

a lot of time in training. Our operators find it intuitive to use and results have been immediate.We have also seen enormous time and associated cost savings. For example, a recent project in Azerbaijan was only for eight weeks and we were able to set-up both the system and operators in just five days. Before, it would have taken us the best part of a month to get the equipment in place before we could even start surveying,” Torre adds.

Since then, Ranger has been deployed for a number of different projects. Currently it is at work in northern Norway on a test project for ROV repositioning and it is planned shortly to use the system on a project in Abu Dhabi.

Artec’s philosophy of continuous investment in the latest technologies from the leading suppliers is a big factor in the company’s success and continued growth.

“This is what makes Artec unique,” Torre enthusiastically remarks.

“Equipment like Ranger allows us to solve problems for our customers quickly, reliably and cost effectively. In the short time we’ve had it we have seen an increase in efficiencies for our clients and have been able to generate more work.We have future plans to update our acoustic systems and we shall be investing further in Sonardyne systems to complement the capabilities that we can offer with Ranger,” Torre concludes.

For more information on Artec Subsea AS, visit www.artec-subsea.net

On board Artec’s containerised survey vessel which is designed for inshore and very shallow water operations

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Case Study Ormen Lange – Norway’s largest ever industrial project

Wideband proves its worth for Ormen Lange When the Ormen Lange gas field comes on stream in 2007, exports of Norwegian gas to Europe will increase considerably.The world’s longest subsea pipeline, Langeled, establishes a new and important gas infrastructure between Norway and the UK. Baseline reports on how Sonardyne’s Wideband acoustic positioning played an important part in the installation of the production templates and their connection from the field to the onshore processing facility at Nyhamna >>

The development of the giant gas field Ormen Lange off the coast of Norway is the largest industrial project ever carried out in Norway.

When production commences this Autumn, gas from Ormen Lange will be able to meet up to 20 percent of Britain’s gas demand for up to 40 years

Ormen Lange Nyhamna Langeled

Oslo

Easington London

Photo: © Norsk Hydro

Sleipner

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The two eight-slot templates, each weighing 1,150 tonnes and measuring 25 by 17 metres and 16 metres high were required to be installed within ±2.5m of design location and within ±2.5 degrees of design heading

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Case Study Ormen Lange – Norway’s largest ever industrial project continued

HE ORMEN LANGE field contains 400 billion cubic metres of gas. It is one of the largest ongoing engineering projects in the world and will provide the United Kingdom with 20 percent of the nation’s gas supplies for decades to come.

The field is located 100 kilometres offshore at the foot of the Storegga Slide and required the precise installation of seabed templates, production lines and wells at depths of between 800 and 1,100 metres.

The field lies in a convergence zone for different water masses.This complicated the challenge for subsea positioning due to the Storegga Slide’s pronounced gradients in temperature and salinity. The subsea terrain along which the pipe route from the field to Nyhamna was planned had many pinnacles and hillocks of up to 50 metres high compounded with subsea currents of up to two knots, making it one of the most challenging subsea environments in the world.

The six production and injection pipes, the largest of which was 30 inches in diameter have a finite bend radius.This practical limitation means they would not conform to the seabed profile at the numerous points where the terrain was particularly rugged. Extensive use of rock dumping and dredging was made to create a smoother route on which to lay the pipes.

Norsk Hydro needed the precision offered by Long Baseline to ensure a highly accurate and reliable subsea positioning with a fast positional update rate during the different stages of the field development.

Compatt 5 Wideband transponders in seabed frames were placed along the length of the predetermined route.The positioning information from four subsea transponders (a minimum of three is required for accuracy and a fourth for redundancy) enabled positioning with a tolerance of just ten centimetres to be achieved.

Known to occur in the area are underwater waves known as ‘Solitons’ which can result in significant changes

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Spider subsea trenching ROV For the seafloor dredging and excavation work along the Ormen Lange pipeline route, a specially developed ROV called ‘Spider’ was deployed. Its position during operations was determined using a Sonardyne RovNav 5 LBL acoustic transceiver.Transducers fitted on either side of the Spider to allowed the vehicle’s position and heading relative to a seabed transponder array to be precisely determined.

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(Left) Layout of the Ormen Lange field development showing flowlines and export lines to the UK. (Above) Lowering one of the massive 1,150 tonne subsea templates into the water

Did You Know?

Ormen Lange was the name of tenth century King Olaf’s most renown longship.Its name means Long Serpent and was considered to be the North Sea’s most impressive ship

All images: © Norsk Hydro

Langeled translates to mean the long and winding road A million tonnes of steel were used for the steel pipes The seabed temperatures are -1 degree Celsius,so to stop the gas from freezing, Glycol (anti-freeze) is added

in sound speed over periods of just a few minutes. As the determination of the speed of sound in water is a key requirement for accurate acoustic positioning the Compatt 5 transponders were supplied with sound speed sensors.

The installation of the seabed templates was the first commercial application of Sonardyne Wideband technology for an operation of this scale.The two eight-slot templates were required to be installed within ±2.5 metres of the design location and also within ±2.5 degrees of design heading. As the installation would be completed from a dynamically positioned vessel there were concerns that the transmission of barge movement to the structures could complicate installation within these tolerances.This increased reliance on the acoustic positioning system to provide a real-time display of structure position and heading.

The position of each template was monitored as it was lowered to the seabed using USBL to track the Sonardyne transponders which were acoustically commanded to operate in USBL mode.

At 50 metres above seabed they were switched to Sonardyne LBL mode and the LBL system initiated to provide the precise positioning required for the final lower to the seabed.Wideband telemetry provided a positional update rate of better than four seconds based on an average of ten ranges out of a possible 14 being received by the structure mounted transponders.This update rate was three to four times faster than would have been possible using the best conventional LBL system. Postinstallation checks showed that the relative positions of the structure-mounted Compatts derived from LBL observations agreed with dimensional control results within less than ten millimetres, confirming the accuracy of Wideband positioning.

With the first two templates and the pipeline installed future plans are to install and then link up a further two templates in 2008/9.These are situated in deeper water and are located five kilometres from the others. Sonardyne’s proven technology will once again be deployed for its accuracy, reliability and quality. BL

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This IKONOS satellite image was taken on Dec. 29, 2004 - just three days after the devastating tsunami hit.The image shows destruction and damage along the coastline of this port city of Nagappattinam, India.

“Sonardyne’s new tsunami detection system is designed to detect waves which can travel at 1,000 kilometres per hour yet can be only a few centimetres high in deep water”

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Technology Indian Ocean tsunami monitoring programme

Sonardyne launches tsunami detection system The devastating effects of the Boxing Day Tsunami two years ago has prompted the authorities to invest in an early warning system based on subsea acoustics

R

ECENT EVENTS HAVE

demonstrated to the world the immense power, unpredictability and destructive capabilities of tsunami waves. In response to the Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami which killed 230,000 people, a United Nations conference held soon after in Kobe, Japan, decided that as an initial step towards an international early warning programme, an Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System should be established. The heavy loss of life had been partially attributed to the fact that, unlike in the Pacific Ocean, there was no co-ordinated alert service covering the Indian Ocean. The absence of any major tsunami events in the region since1883 is said to have been a contributing factor.

Working closely with the Indian authorities, it quickly became apparent that Sonardyne could provide a solution based on standard products that have a proven track record with the worldwide oceanographic community.

A tsunami wave in deep water creates a small but measurable change in pressure that will be maintained for as long as twenty minutes. By monitoring any such changes, subsea detectors can be used to trigger an alarm that sends a warning message to a buoy-mounted receiver on the surface. The buoy, in turn, relays the message via a satellite data link to a control centre that can issue a warning to vulnerable communities.

The Sonardyne system is based on a Compatt 5 subsea transponder that uses the latest Wideband acoustic signal technology to provide robust through water communications in difficult acoustic conditions.

The tsunami detection system continuously monitors the pressure of the water above it

Compatt 5s are used extensively in the oil and gas industry where their reliability is regularly trusted for use on the most complex subsea construction survey projects.

The Compatt 5 may be deployed in water up to seven thousand metres (more than four miles) deep and it is fitted with a sensor that continuously monitors water pressure, saving data every 15 seconds. Because a reliable early warning of a tsunami can only be obtained close to the sea floor, the Compatt provides the essential means of sending these readings up to the surface. Every hour the Compatt converts the pressure readings into signals which it transmits acoustically to the buoy on the surface.

The satellite communications transceiver on the buoy then automatically forwards the pressure readings to the tsunami monitoring agency ashore. The system can also receive data from the central control so that revised monitoring parameters can be downloaded to the Compatt if required.

The Compatt is programmed to anticipate continual changes in the pressure of the water as these can be caused by influences such as tides, weather conditions and temperature.

As these changes can be predicted, a

deviation of as little as three centimetres from the expected pattern will switch the device into alert mode. This will cause the Compatt to immediately transmit any data that has been saved during the past hour to the surface. It will then take pressure readings every 15 seconds which it will send up to the buoy once a minute for transmission by satellite to the monitoring organisation. As a result, the first warnings of a tsunami occurring several thousand of miles away can be issued within minutes.

The advantage in using Sonardyne’s system over those of other suppliers is that the system is small and self contained and thus easy to deploy. Additionally, the heart of the system, Compatt 5, is based on proprietary technology and the firmware and software can be easily updated and adjusted if necessary. Following sucessful trials in early 2007, the first operational system will shortly be deployed in the Bay of Bengal in 3,500 metres of water. This location was chosen as it makes logical sense to place the detectors as far away as possible from the Indian coastline to allow for the greatest amount of warning time for the mainland.

Modern battery technology and Sonardyne’s experience of power management techniques make it possible for the tsunami detection unit to remain in continuous monitoring mode on the seabed for up to four years. At the end of that period, a unique acoustic code is transmitted from a surface ship to the tsunami transponder.

A mechanism is then activated which releases the attached ballast weight enabling the Compatt to float up to the surface. It can then be quickly serviced and fitted with new batteries so that it can be re-deployed to resume its watch for the tsunamis that can cause such devastation and loss of life. BL

20

Our People

Gary Male (Centre) supported by onsite engineers Darren Taylor (left) and Darren Murphy (right) at Sonardyne’s Blackbushe headquarters

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Global commitment raises the bar for customer support Whether it is analysing system performance data or flying off to a remote location at a moments notice, there is nothing Sonardyne’s customer support team relish more than helping customers. Baseline speaks to Gary Male, Sonardyne’s new Customer Services Manager, about the day-to-day challenges his worldwide team faces

L

EAD BY GARY, Sonardyne’s Customer Support department is now over a dozen members strong with two co-ordinating engineers on site at the company’s Blackbushe headquarters managing the activities of a team of field engineers. Additional team members are based in Macaé (Brasil), Houston, Singapore and Aberdeen to ensure a fast, local and dependable response.

Determined to provide customers with professional and managed support, Gary explains, “Sonardyne has always had a very

good reputation when it comes to supporting its products and their users. As someone who has recently joined the company from the automotive industry, I hope to apply the knowledge and techniques that I have gained to further improve our service.”

Over the past year Sonardyne has invested heavily in recruitment and training which has seen the team grow significantly and the already high levels of technical skills within the close knit group expand.

“We are improving our levels of support through faster turnaround and a greater capacity to provide expert technical and product knowledge to get to the bottom of any

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Our People Customer Support

problems as and when they occur,” Gary reports.

Central to understanding and managing Sonardyne’s clients needs and expectations is a new Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that has been rolled out across the company. Gary explains, “The CRM’s ability to quickly and easily identify trends is already allowing my team to respond more proactively to issues from the field as they arise. To improve communications with our customers, the tools within CRM will also allow us to deliver highly targeted product and service announcements. ”In practice this means that within a few clicks of a mouse we could, for example, advise every user of a Fusion USBL system that there is a new version of software available," continues Gary.

Different companies have different requirements so Sonardyne’s customer support is designed to be flexible and offer various levels of service. Every customer has access to 24-7 support, 365 days a year. The first level of non-emergency support is provided

by Sonardyne’s website where users have unrestricted access to datasheets, technical bulletins, software and firmware versions and freeware utility programs. Requests for manuals can now also be submitted online.

From here the next level up is based around an established email system with product engineers on hand to respond directly to customers. The highest level of support is a worldwide emergency helpline with an engineer on the end of a telephone trained to resolve urgent issues offshore.

Gary says: “Feedback from customers on how we can do things better and improve our products is hugely valuable. As such, one of my first tasks has been to develop a customer satisfaction survey that will initially focus on customers who have had direct contact with the customer support department over the last couple of years. In the coming months other user groups will be invited to participate and have their say.

“Our continuous improvement philosophy focuses on consistently improving customer support as well continually seeking improvements in our technical knowledge and creating smoother, streamlined processes.

We thrive on our ability to provide proactive solutions for the resolution of customer issues,” concludes Gary. BL

(Above) Preparing to deploy a subsea acoustic datalogger offshore West Africa. (Right) Close co-operation leads to the successful installation of a through hull deployment machine during a vessel re-fit. (Below) Monitoring a Fusion system during tracking

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Training: The key to unlocking the full potential of your staff and our systems

(Left) Setting up and testing a Compatt 5 transponder using a Deck Test Unit (Top) Overseeing a shallow water LBL job in the Far East (Above) Wideband accuracy trials underway in a dockyard in Portsmouth, UK (Above right) Training certificate: to ensure consistently high standards of course material, delivery and examination, Sonardyne is working towards the independent validation of the Long BaseLine training course

The surge in deep water E&P activity has resulted in the increased utilisation of acoustic positioning systems. Today’s climate of tight margins and fast track field developments means that the deployment and operation of subsea positioning systems can represent significant risks that must be controlled to ensure the ultimate success of a project.

In this context there is no substitute for effective training of the personnel who will operate these systems offshore.

“The benefits of investing in high quality training for offshore personnel are clear,” says Sonardyne’s Chief Surveyor Mark Poole. “Operator focus on the reliability and quality of offshore operations combined with the scarcity of experienced personnel make ‘on the job training’ increasingly unacceptable.”

Our dedicated sea trials and training centre in Plymouth, South-West England is the venue for the majority of residential training courses. Before students get their hands on real hardware Sonardyne operator training courses begin by introducing participants to the basics of acoustic theory. Students can take control of real equipment from our training and trials vessels with seabed equipment permanently deployed in the estuary of the River Tamar. Sonardyne courses are largely practical with a high instructor-topupil ratio to ensure that all attendees get the opportunity to individually practice configuring and operating systems.

Mark explains, “The operating environment in Plymouth is challenging for acoustics which can be a great benefit in the training context. Overcoming inwater problems requires an understanding of the underlying measurement processes and provides invaluable preparation for work offshore.” The confidence gained through successful use of in-water equipment is a key step in the preparation of personnel for the use of these systems in the workplace.

Travelling to the UK for training is not always an option. Courses can therefore also be held in our regional offices or a location specified by the customer which could be an office or vessel.

Thanks to Sonardyne’s real time network link to the trials vessels in Plymouth, trainees can still command and control real in-water hardware although they could be thousands of miles away.

This recent innovation in remote learning is thought to be an industry first. In addition to training, the link is proving an invaluable tool for experienced teams during the planning stages of a project – complex construction survey operations can be rehearsed and procedures fine tuned in the comfort of an office.

For more information on training courses and their content, together with pricing and availability, please email: training@sonardyne.com or visit www.sonardyne.com/support

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Technology Hardware

Carbon fibre weav First developed in the 1950s just a few miles from Sonardyne’s headquarters, carbon fibre’s rigid, lightweight and corrosion-proof properties make it an ideal material for use in demanding marine environments

O

NCE THE PRESERVE

of the aerospace and motorsport industries, carbon fibre has been adopted by Sonardyne for the housing of the SIPS2 XSRS product range. At the forefront of its introduction is Dr Graham Brown, Chief Mechanical Engineer at Sonardyne.

Graham explains, “Seismic surveys are now regularly taking place in locations with warmer waters, such as in the South China

Sea, offshore West Africa, or in the Indian Ocean. We also discovered that the streamer-mounted XSRS acoustic transceivers were in the water for longer periods of time, both of these factors increase the potential for corrosion.

So the decision was made to look for an alternative to the exisiting stainless steel XSRS housing that has been reliably in service since the late 1980s.

“We evaluated a full range of new materials for size, strength and durability.

Titanium at first glance would be an obvious choice, however not only is it expensive and

difficult to source it is also more complicated to machine. We wanted to find a material that could replace the stainless steel housing like-for-like, for example, the tubes must have a very precisely controlled bore diameter and surface roughness,” Graham says.

Having also discounted GRP (glass reinforced plastic) due to weight considerations it was decided to produce the housing from carbon fibre composite as it met our strict size and mechanical requirements. Carbon fibre is also immune to corrosion in sea water; is widely available and is proven for use in subsea housings.

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es its way into SIPS

“We worked in partnership with leading composite suppliers and subjected the tube to an intensive programme of environmental type testing including cyclic pressure tests for a depth rating of 500 metres, EMC testing and drop testing to Def Stan 00-35 (UK MOD standards),” adds Graham.

The tubes need to be as light as possible, but have sufficient axial and radial strength to resist the pressure loads and also have sufficient material to cope with all other types of mechanical stresses.

The carbon fibre housing reduces the weight in water of an XSRS 750 fitted

Image yet to be shot

Dr Graham Brown:“No other material offered a superior match for our engineering requirements for lightness, stiffness and strength”

with alkaline batteries by half thereby greatly reducing the load on the streamer.

For greater visibility in water as well as providing additional local impact protection, units will have an orange PVC sleeve.

The first product to feature the composite housing as a standard feature will be the ‘XSRS Carbon D’ which will replace both the current XSRS and XSRS-750 models.

Customers will also be able to upgrade their existing XSRS transceivers (Type 7885) to carbon fibre housing. Both of these exciting developments will be available from mid 2007. BL

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Trials Report Inverted USBL for deep tow surveys

Photo:NOC

(Left to Right) RRS James Cook can spend up to 50 days at sea. It replaces RRS Charles Darwin; Deployment of TOBI 2, iUSBL positioning technique, iUSBL transceiver and mounting arrangement

iUSBL - Looking

U

SBL SYSTEMS ARE routinely used to track the position of a geophysical towfish relative to a surface vessel. In deep water however, the very long slant ranges involved together with poor signal to noise ratio at the surface contribute to lowering the overall positioning accuracy of the system.

Using a second vessel equipped with an additional USBL system to sail above the towfish is one approach many adopt and whilst this is a well proven technique, there are significant cost and logistical implications.

Photo:NOC

With water depths reaching 5,000 metres, the Nazare Canyon off the coast of Portugal was the perfect location to assess the performance of a new acoustic technique for long range towfish tracking. Baseline follows recent validation trials and reports on how iUSBL is set to transform deep tow surveys

However, recent advances by Sonardyne in transducer design have meant that engineers have been able to quite literally turn the problem on its head by swapping the positions of the acoustic transceiver and transponder. The technique referred to as

Inverted USBL (iUSBL) means that for the first time a transceiver can be installed on the towed body itself whilst the transponder that is normally on the vehicle is deployed from the vessel.

Mounting the transceiver in this way offers many operational benefits. Installation is simple when compared with installing a conventional USBL transceiver. Closely coupled attitude sensors eliminate the need for repeated system calibration, whilst the range, accuracy and repeatability of the acoustic signals are improved, as the transceiver is located in a low noise, dynamically stable environment.

At the end of 2006, the inverted system was installed on the deep-rated Towed Ocean Bottom Instrument (TOBI 2) for a research

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1.A signal is sent from the standard USBL to position the beacons on TOBI 2 and the towfish

3.A comparison between the USBL (Green ranges) and iUSBL (Orange ranges) positions of TOBI 2 is obtained

2.A signal is sent from the iUSBL on TOBI 2 to the Compatt 5 on the towfish to position TOBI 2’s transceiver

upat theworld cruise aboard the UK’s newly commissioned flagship research vessel ‘RRS James Cook’.

Equipped to explore some of the planet’s most inhospitable regions, the state-of-the-art, 5,300 tonne vessel is owned by the Natural Environmental Research Council and is based at the National Oceanography Centre (NOC) in Southampton.

The surface transponder used for the iUSBL positioning on TOBI 2 was a mini Compatt 5.

This was mounted on a towfish which would be towed 20 metres below the vessel to further minimise noise interference at the surface.

To obtain the real world position of TOBI 2, a directional Super Sub-Mini (SSM) beacon was also mounted to the towfish to allow accurate

positioning with the James Cook’s own Fusion USBL system.

TOBI 2 and the towfish were deployed and acoustic communication established as soon as both units were submerged. An interrogation signal was sent from the USBL transceiver on the vessel to the SSM beacon to position the towfish. Then a signal was sent from the ship to the SSM beacon on TOBI which was being towed at a slant range of 1,700 metres. Next, a signal was sent from the iUSBL on TOBI to the Compatt 5 on the towfish to position TOBI’s transceiver. This process was repeated until a comprehensive data set had been collected and a comparison of the USBL and iUSBL positions of TOBI 2

could be made. Post processing of the results showed that both systems were operating well within expected accuracy levels.

Commenting on the trials, Pete Mason, Head of the UK Deep ROV facility at the NOC said, “We already have considerable experience of Sonardyne USBL technology and when we learned of what iUSBL could offer, the benefits were immediately recognisable. When we deploy TOBI 2 to full ocean depth, the slant range will be more than 6,500 metres. iUSBL offers us the high performance subsea positioning that we need for this and based on these initial trials results, I am convinced that this target is utterly achievable.” BL

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Technology Systems and Products

Radian AHRS Heading, pitch, roll, rate of turn and acceleration. In high dynamic marine environments, Radian is the miniature AHRS that provides the answer Supplied within a 300 or 3,000 metre rated underwater pressure housing and accepting a wide range of input voltages, Radian can be mounted anywhere on vessels, ROVs, AUVs and other vehicles or structures

Radian is a miniature marine Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) using a triad of modern high quality solid state MEMS inertial and earth magnetic field sensors. Applications for Radian include: inshore hydrographic survey, compensation of vessel-mounted echosounders and bathymetry systems, and dead reckoning for AUVs. The embedded processor allows the realtime output of high accuracy gyro compensated magnetic heading, pitch, roll and related information at high output rates to provide the user with an optimum orientation solution.

To correct any local disturbances to the magnetic field caused by a vessel’s engines for example, a full magnetic field calibration can be carried out with easy-to-use

software supplied. A correction table is then stored within the device.

The relative weighting between the magnetic heading sensor data and gyro data can be adjusted to enable absolute or relative heading output, dependent on the magnetic environment that it is installed in.

The filter response can be adjusted to suit different vehicle dynamics.

Radian supports RS232, 485 with a range or proprietary or marine industry standard serial outputs.With the software supplied you can view the heading, pitch and roll data in real-time on a PC, or configure serial outputs to other systems.

Radian is compatible with Sonardyne’s family of Scout USBL tracking systems. For more information on Scout turn to Page 06.

Radian AHRS Facts & Figures ● Miniature affordable marine high accuracy magnetic heading,pitch, and roll sensor ● Surface or subsea versions available ● Low power consumption <450mW ● High update rate of 100Hz ● Industry standard serial outputs ● Low latency ● Suitable for highly dynamic conditions as gyro compensated ● Magnetic field calibration system provided ● Supplied with advanced software

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Technology Systems and Products

AvTrak 2 Developed to meet the needs of AUV designers and operators by combining positioning and communications in a single low power unit

Sonardyne has extensively modelled the performance of AvTrak 2 to achieve an optimum design.This capability is available to customers to assist in arriving at the best possible configuration for their AUV

AvTrak 2 is a second generation acoustic navigation and communications instrument designed to form part of an integrated AUV navigation system. It combines the functions of transponder, transceiver and telemetry link in one low power device that has been designed to meet the requirements of a variety of mission scenarios and vehicle types.

The unit can operate in Wideband or tone mode and with a variety of systems and transponders. It is also fully compatible with Sonardyne’s family of LBL and USBL navigation systems.

AvTrak 2 has a comprehensive, yet easy-touse command language that allows the AUV to undertake simultaneous LBL ranging, USBL tracking via a surface vessel and robust and high speed telemetry both for

AUV-to-vessel and AUV-to-AUV communications.This capability provides the AUV designer with good quality absolute position reference data to constrain the drift in the inertial navigation system.

The instrument is available in a variety of configurations including: 600m, 3,000m and 6,000m depth ratings; screened chassis option for mounting within the main AUV pressure vessel, omni or directional transducers for shallow or deep operations, and integral or remote transducer for easy installation.

An internal ‘watchdog’ option monitors AUV communications activity and can switch the unit into transponder mode for emergency relocation.This is supported by an internal back-up battery and digital I/O for emergency ballast jettison.

AvTrak 2 Facts & Figures ● Combined telemetry and positioning ● Incorporates Sonardyne’s latest Wideband Technology ● Compatible with Fusion USBL for surface vessel combined telemetry and positioning ● Supports AUV-to-AUV ranging and telemetry ● Two telemetry modes:‘robust’and ‘high data rate’ ● Pinger detection capability ● Designed for Doppler immunity ● Emergency relocation mode ● Extremely low power consumption

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International News from around the world

SE Asia – Singapore John Ramsden VP Asia

USA – Houston Spencer Collins VP Americas

UK – Aberdeen Derek Donaldson VP Europe and Africa

Brasil – Macaé Gavin Hunting Regional Manager

Sonardyne Asia has had a tremendous twelve months, with the expansion of the technical sales team to include Nick Smedley (who relocated from the UK) and Bob Coutts, both have huge amounts of acoustics experience to advise and support clients on all of their subsea positioning and telemetry needs.

Wideband in the Gulf Growing recognition of the performance benefits of Wideband has stimulated strong demand in the Gulf of Mexico from a number of rental and survey companies who have chosen to invest in this field proven technology to stay ahead.

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Derek Donaldson as Vice President of Europe and Africa. Joining Derek is Callum Magee who joins us with a background in the ROV sector.

During 2006 Wideband made significant inroads into Brasil both in terms of new sales and vessel upgrades.

Into The Deep The equipment supplied throughout the region has covered all of Sonardyne’s products with a distinct shift towards deeper water operations with Wideband Long BaseLine Systems being used in all the deep water fields.

Nevertheless, shallow water continues to be a busy market and in particular transition zone seismic operations in the Middle East.

OSEA Foosball Competition At the end of 2006 a table foosball competition was held in Singapore with clients from all over the region coming to join in the fun with the Sonardyne global sales team.

Congratulations go to Sean Fowler from Fugro who won the competition.

High profile projects during 2006 such as Atlantis and Independence Hub were instrumental in demonstrating and proving the performance of Wideband LBL to users in the Gulf.

Noble Drilling made significant investment to equip the dynamically positioned semisubmersible’s Dave Beard, Danny Adkins and Bingo 4, with Dual Wideband LUSBL and acoustic backup BOP control systems.

Transocean placed orders for Dual Wideband L/USBL systems to be commissioned on board the conversions of the Sedco 702 and Sedco 706.

Personnel Changes The Houston office welcomes Julian Rickards, who has relocated from our Head Office as an Applications Engineer.

Ranger Upgrade Great Yarmouth based Gardline Survey, took delivery of their first Ranger system as an upgrade to its existing USBL equipment.

Ranger will give enhanced performance through Wideband signalling and its intuitive UI which requires less training, saving both time and money.

Elsewhere, one of the largest and most advanced pipelay vessels in the world, the Solitaire has been upgraded full Wideband capability. The key benefits that drove Allseas to upgrade the Solitaire was the ability to provide the DP system with a position update every second, independent of water depth.

West Africa Heats Up Aberdeen In Angola, an extensive LBL spread has been supplied to Acergy for use on BP’s Greater Plutonio development.The system is being used in support of pipelay operations on the Seaway Polaris.

Marine Technologies bought three Wideband USBL systems.

Two have been installed onboard the Island Spirit and Mr. Chafic, both off Brasil.

Petrobras’ own survey department took delivery of a Fusion Wideband LBL system which will be used in a variety of deep water projects. Other products purchased by Petrobras in 2006 included a Scout system for shallow water towfish tracking off the northeast region of the country.

Additional LUSBL hardware have been ordered by Frontier Drilling and will allow their FPSO Seillean to use one of their existing systems in Wideband mode.Transocean’s Sedco 707 drilling semisub took delivery of Dual Independent Wideband LUSBL. Support and Expansion The increase of activity in the region has led to high demand for skilled operators. Sonardyne has met this by expanding training facilities and recruiting additional support engineers.

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Help & Advice Your questions answered

Ask Dave With over 20 years’ experience here at Sonardyne, Dave Mould has all the answers If there’s something you’ve always been meaning to ask us,then I’m here to get you the answer.Whether its a technical query or a handy hint,email me your questions at askdave@sonardyne.com.

The top questions will appear in the next issue of Baseline.

Q

Several of our equipment mooring strings have been recently recovered from off East Africa.They had been in the water for twelve months and had evidence of heavy bio-fouling around the release mechanism.We are about to deploy some short moorings using the Sonardyne Lightweight Release Transponder – LRT. Do you use or recommend any additional anti-foul coating for additional protection of the area around the release? Is there anything else we need to do with the LRT before deployment?

A

I would not coat any of the active parts of the release mechanism with anti-fouling paint,nor the body of the transponder or transducer as this could affect acoustic performance.

The LRT has a unique screw-off release that ensures a positive release action to overcome biological growth.Grease the stainless steel shaft of the release

mechanism and the release ‘nut’thread with underwater grease prior to loading the mechanism. Although the glass reenforced plastic is already impregnated with lubricant,this significantly reduces the friction. This in turn reduces the starting torque on the motor.

Providing more buoyancy to the instrument string will also help.The increased up thrust will help act against resistance caused by marine growth.

If your LRTs have not been used for a while check the battery life – make sure there is adequate capacity for the intended length of deployment.Finally, make of note of each unit’s acoustic address before deployment as there are more than 400 to choose from.

Q

One of our engineers is onboard a vessel off Trinidad attempting a USBL system calibration using a DIMONA and your Sonardyne CASIUS software.Apparently when he tries to load the CSV data into the CASIUS application,a message comes up saying there is no data.Can you take a look at our job file and let me know your thoughts? Thanks in advance.

A

It would appear that although your USBL console has DGPS physically going into it,DGPS was not switched ‘On’in the configuration page of the software itself.

This can be easily overlooked and although you are using an older style analogue USBL system,Fusion USBL users also need to be aware of this issue.

Basically with DGPS switched off in the software,instead of each DGPS data fix being given a unique number to

identify it,each fix is given the number 0, causing CASIUS to see the result as ‘No Data Found’.To rectify this,go to the top level menu in the software,then select option 2 ‘Job Set-up’.Then select option 1 ‘Navigation Set-up’.Scroll down and along until you get to the DGPS box – then simply change the status from ‘Off’to ‘On’.You’ll have to repeat your data collection process but this will fix your problem.

Q

We are currently offshore mobilising for a project in Angola.The LBL equipment that we have received onboard has been sourced from several different hire companies in addition to equipment from our own base back in Aberdeen.Is there anything we need to be aware of before we start deploying the spread?

A

If your equipment has come from a variety of sources,then there is a very good likelihood that the transponders and transceivers will be loaded with different versions of firmware.Ideally,everything needs to be brought up to the latest standard as you could run into operational problems or delays further down the line.

To check that you are using the latest recommended firmware versions, regularly visit the support section of the Sonardyne website.We update this as soon as there is a new release of Fusion software of firmware and for each component of a system,we list the recommended version that you should be running.You can also review and download the latest versions of programming,diagnostic and test utilities.

www.sonardyne.com

Copyright Sonardyne International Limited. Specifications subject to change without notice. Printed 03/07

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