Baseline issue 2

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THE CUSTOMER MAGAZINE FROM SONARDYNE ISSUE 2

Feature Ever wondered how to optimise your USBL positioning system?

Sonardyne explains how

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Technology Jonathan Martin talks to Baseline about the challenges of bringing Lodestar to market

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Production The people and processes involved in meeting record levels of demand

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Case Study Sonardyne Wideband onboard the World's largest crane vessel in the Gulf of Mexico

Baseline

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Is Your Underwater Perimeter Secure?

Sentinel Intruder Detection Sonar Sentinel is a new Intruder Detection Sonar designed for the protection of marine assets from underwater attack. Small and lightweight, Sentinel can be easily and quickly deployed in a variety of scenarios including: seafloor, jetty or from over the side of a vessel.

From a single node, Sentinel can be expanded into a fully networked solution with multiple heads that can be integrated into a remote Command and Control system that forms a secure cost-effective perimeter. Sentinel’s automated detection, classification and tracking software is proven to minimise false alarms by ensuring only genuine threats trigger an alert. Find out how Sentinel can protect your underwater perimeter, visit www.sonardyne.com

CONTENTS BASELINE ISSUE 2

cc 04 News Products and People 08 Feature USBL System Optimisation 14 Photo Story Sound Surveyor Launch 15 Hardware Focus On Transponders 16 Technology Lodestar 20 Case Study Shallow Water Construction

22 Our People Production Department 26 Case Study Thialf Installation 28 Technology DTU and SIPS Inline Unit 30 International News around the world 31 Help & Advice Ask Dave

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08 Front Cover A buoy-mounted surface transceiver, part of Sonardyne’s Tsunami Detection System.

When an alert is triggered, an Inmarsat-C satellite terminal on the buoy relays data to a shore station from where warnings can be issued.

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ELCOME BACK TO Baseline, Sonardyne’s regular magazine

that presents the latest news, technology and insights into our products and capabilities.

Since Issue 1, we’ve successfully launched Lodestar, our new Inertial Navigation System. On Page 16, you can learn more about the development of this exciting new product in an interview with key members of the Lodestar engineering team.

In a detailed feature article starting on Page 08, we explain to users of USBL systems how they can best optimise the performance from their equipment to ensure success.The quality of reference sensors and deployment methods are amongst the factors discussed.

Sentinel Intruder Detection Sonar (Page 07), is yet another example of the record levels of investment the company is making at the moment. Designed to counter the threat of underwater attacks against ships, ports and offshore installations, Sentinel is the first of a new generation of maritime security products to be released by Sonardyne.

Unprecedented demand combined with almost impossible delivery deadlines.

Find out more about the challenges Operations Director Tim Moore and his team face on Page 22.

Of course, we are not forgetting the continual development of Sonardyne Wideband™. By far the largest single R&D effort is dedicated to developing improved positioning capabilities that will enable us to deliver trusted solutions to all of our core oil and gas markets now and well into the future.

As Baseline Issue 2 goes to press, we’re already on the look out for interesting stories to bring you in Issue 3, until then, best wishes.

Rob Balloch, Editor

Back Cover A 5,000 metre rated subsea Lodestar AHRS unit manufactured from Ferralium.

Turn to Page 16 for the story of its development.

Marketing Manager David Brown Marketing Co-ordinator Andrew Covey Strategic Development and Marketing Director Rob Balloch Art Director Michael Lindley at TruthStudio www.truthstudio.co.uk Photography Astonleigh Studios, Alton, Hampshire, UK www.astonleighstudio.co.uk (Pages 04, 05, 16, 18, 22, 24, 25, 28, 29 and 31).

Baseline Magazine is edited

by Rob Balloch with David Brown and Andrew Covey.

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.

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NEWS OUR PEOPLE

Richard Binks rejoins the team

Allseas choose Wideband for KG-D6 Indian field development Sonardyne Wideband continues to be the positioning technology of choice for the Swiss-based pipelay specialist Allseas Group.

The company’s latest order is for Long BaseLine (LBL) hardware that includes a substantial quantity of Wideband Compatt 5 acoustic transponders and five Data Fusion Engines that will be used to support both LBL and Ultra-Short BaseLine (USBL) subsea positioning operations.Two of Sonardyne’s recently launched subsea Lodestar attitude and heading reference units have also been ordered and will be used to aid the high accuracy installation of structures on the seabed.

Allseas has specified that all of the subsea equipment be rated to 5,000 metres operating depth. Commenting on this decision, Sonardyne’s Derek Donaldson said:“This reflects Allseas’ belief that future contracts will find them operating in increasingly deeper waters. By investing in appropriate acoustic positioning technology now, the company believes that they can future-proof their investment offering them a competitive advantage when bidding for complex deepwater operations.”

The new equipment will initially be used to provide field wide positioning for the Allseas fleet mobilised on the KG-D6 project for Reliance offshore India. Although

this work is expected to take place in water depths averaging 1,000 metres, Allseas surveyors anticipate that the size of the project will result in considerable acoustic congestion brought about by multiple vessels operating within close proximity to each other.“Overcoming this was a major driver in the choice of Sonardyne Wideband as the technology provides over 200 non-interfering navigation channels” added Derek.

The use of Sonardyne’s unique ‘ping stacking’ acoustic interrogation technique was also said to be an influencing factor.

The method enables the USBL system to transmit acoustic interrogations to subsea transponders before the last reply was received.This enables the operator / vessel DP system to receive a position update every second regardless of water depth.

Whilst ping stacking will not be used on the initial deployment of the equipment in India it will offer significant advantages when installing structures in ultra deep water.

The Sonardyne equipment will be mobilised onto vessels including Allseas’ new vessel Audacia, deepwater pipelay vessel Lorelay and Highland Fortress pipeline survey vessel. Solitaire, the World’s largest pipelay vessel, was also upgraded to Fusion Wideband USBL earlier in the year.

I rejoined Sonardyne as Sales Director in May this year! Sonardyne has seen tremendous growth so it’s a fair question as to why they needed my skills if they were doing so well in my absence!

Part of the answer is about understanding where we are on the offshore industry’s typical cycles of boom and bust.

Current large forward order books are difficult to see beyond, but a longer term market vision is essential.This requires a two way dialogue with our customers, so hopefully I will be talking to many of you directly.

Sonardyne has not only grown but continues to build on its core skill set with Gyro,Inertial and Sonar technologies.

Across all our busy offshore product sectors we are seeing both demand and increasing windows of opportunity. The growing success story is Wideband with accuracies at MF now setting new bench marks and allied robust telemetry offering potential in subsea control and integrated solutions.

“Sonardyne has not only grown but continues to build on its core skill set” Going back to the industry “cycles”, its definitely still boom!! We cannot throw caution to the wind, but my role in quantifying the market, will ensure that a “caution” factor does not limit our resources. One thing I do need, is a new crystal ball so if you still have a clear one, please send it to me!!

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NCS Survey invests in Wideband LBL

Pictured left to right during the Ocean Business Exhibition in March: John Ramsden (Sonardyne), Chris Erni (NCS) and Derek Donaldson (Sonardyne)

Aberdeen-based NCS Survey Ltd has made its first major investment in Sonardyne Wideband LBL. Formed in June 2005, NCS Survey has become the fastest growing independent survey company in the sector and has until now utilised acoustic equipment hired in from rental companies to support its activities.

Commenting on the order, Andy Gray, managing director of NCS, said “We have used Sonardyne equipment successfully on subsea projects on many occasions and felt that the time was now right for us to make the investment.” He added “Our business is expanding steadily and having our own LBL equipment will give us greater flexibility and the freedom to serve our clients even more effectively.”

DEEP WATER DRILLING

Hakuryu 5 upgrades to MRAMS In a truly international operation, Japan Drilling have upgraded their acoustic riser angle system onboard the Hakuryu 5 to Ranger MRAMS.The system is Sonardyne’s latest generation Marine Riser Angle Monitoring System and utilises Wideband signal technology to provide robust telemetry and riser/BOP positioning.

The MRAMS system was shipped to the rig when it was in the US, but was not actually installed until May when it was in dry dock in Singapore. The rig then sailed to Japan where,in July,Sonardyne engineer Nge Aik Moh set the system to work and provided operator training.

The rig’s crew were reported to be impressed by the ease of use of the system and the reliability of the BOP/riser angular data provided by the wideband telemetry signals.

New Scout USBL Transceiver Scout USBL has a new aluminium bronze transceiver now supplied as standard.

The new design is shorter, more rugged and offers dramatically better corrosion resistance making it suitable for longer term deployment. The design also offers better protection to the transducer, and as most Scouts are used as portable systems, it comes with a collar to protect the transducer during installation and storage on or off the vessel.

The new mechanics, and recently introduced easy to use software for Scout, shows Sonardyne’s commitment to the continuous improvement of its products.

OUR PEOPLE

Orange DPT transponders shown mounted on BOP and riser

Are you looking for a new career challenge? Here at Sonardyne, we’re always looking for highly motivated and talented individuals to join our team. Our website has details of how to contact our HR department, together with a list of current vacancies.

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NEWS PROJECT UPDATE

Tsunami system on watch in the Bay of Bengal

The Sonardyne tsunami detection system underwent stringent testing at the acoustic tank facility at NIOT, Chennai. Senior project engineer Nick Street from Sonardyne (pictured above) and Rangarajan from Elektronik Lab accompanied the NIOT team during the launch of the system

In the last edition of Baseline, we reported on the development of a system from Sonardyne that is the first link in a chain of communication systems that provide early warning of an approaching tsunami wave.

Developed in response to the devastating effects of the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, the Sonardyne system is based upon a Compatt 5 subsea transponder that uses the latest Wideband acoustic signal technology to provide dependable communications through deep water.

If the Compatt detects the change in water pressure that results from the minute variation in sea level (as little as 1 centimetre in 4000 metres depth depending on the algorithm used) following an earthquake in the deep ocean, and which travels at hundreds of kilometres per hour and

OP PRESS TS I UPDATE...ST M A N U perhaps leads to a 10 metre high tsunami TS S: that ...STOP PRES ve just heard wave on a distant beach. es to press,we’ m successfully As Baseline go ste lled tsunami sy Following side-by-side trials of by an our newly insta i wave created chter Scale m na tsu a ed Ri e detect th on competing systems in late 2006 and early 2 6. gistering night earthquake re tly before mid or sh al 2007, the National Institute of Ocean ng Be in the Bay of Technology of India (NIOT) chose on 25th July.

Sonardyne’s tsunami detection system for its Bay of Bengal monitoring programme. providing a tsunami warning. It also reduces In March, engineers travelled to India to the Compatt’s power consumption which oversee the deployment of the first two enables it to remain in continuous monitoring systems in 2,700 metres and 3,500 metres mode on the seabed for up to four years. water depth. Over the coming months, a Commenting on the installation, further eight systems will be deployed in Rangarajan from Elektronik Lab said: the region to establish a complete network “As a soon as the Compatts were on the of tsunami monitoring stations. seabed, they began their standard tsunami The use of Sonardyne’s new intelligent reporting sequence.That gave the NIOT Wideband technology has made it possible team onboard a great deal of confidence for NIOT to increase the efficiency of the in the Sonardyne technology and its through-water communication needed when capabilities” he added.

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PRODUCT LAUNCH

SOFTWARE UPDATE

Sonardyne causes a stir with Sentinel IDS

Major CASIUS update released

Sonardyne’s Rob Balloch and Andy Meecham pictured with the Sentinel sonar head and command workstation during the UDT exhibition in Naples in June this year

Sonardyne chose the Underwater Defence Technology exhibition in Naples, Italy to reveal to a surprised audience its new Intruder Detection Sonar (IDS), Sentinel.

Designed to counter the threat of underwater attacks against ships, harbours, coastal industrial installations and offshore oil platforms, the introduction of Sentinel follows a major investment in engineering and acoustic technology to create the world’s smallest and best performing underwater intruder detection sonar.

With a sonar head measuring just 44 centimetres tall by 33 centimetres diameter, the Sentinel sonar array is considerably smaller than any other system currently available. It nevertheless provides a full 360 degrees of coverage and is capable of reliably detecting underwater targets up to 900 metres away.Weighing just 35 kilogrammes the system can be deployed in many different ways, including over the vessel’s side, mounted rigidly or in a seabed frame.

The reliable detection of underwater targets and their discrimination from marine mammals is a notoriously difficult problem.

Sentinel overcomes this challenge by combining state-of-the-art sonar technology, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processing units and automated

detection, classification and tracking software.This has been proved in extensive trials over the past year to confirm a system that can work in a wide range of difficult acoustic underwater environments while ensuring that only genuine threats are highlighted.This minimises false alarms and reduces the dangerous tension that these can generate.

With maritime facilities such as oil and gas refineries, LNG terminals, power stations and oil platforms already deploying conventional terrestrial security systems, including thermal imaging, radar and ground sensing devices, Sentinel now closes the defensive circle.

Commenting on the launch of Sentinel, Rob Balloch said,“Sentinel is the first of a new generation of maritime security products to be released by Sonardyne.We have brought together many of the leading experts in their specialised disciplines to develop the unique technology that can deliver trusted solutions to the customer in the most challenging underwater conditions such as noisy, shallow harbours.

We have listened to what the customers really wanted from a diver detection system and believe Sentinel is the first practical, cost-effective solution to the threat presented by underwater intruders.”

A completely new version of CASIUS, a software tool used with Sonardyne’s USBL systems, is now available offering substantial improvements over the previous version.

CASIUS was introduced by Sonardyne to independently verify the accuracy of USBL systems and simultaneously calibrate them by resolving the alignment errors between the acoustic transceiver, the vessel’s motion sensors and GPS antenna.

The new software is now totally integrated into Ranger and Scout USBL software as part of the easy to use Calibration Wizard. Excel is no longer needed, processing is almost instantaneous, corrections are automatically applied, client reports are supplied in pdf format and no addtional security dongle is required. In Fusion USBL, CASIUS runs as a separate application with the same features.

For more information about the new version of CASIUS, or to arrange an upgrade, please email our customer support team at support@sonardyne.com

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Technology Optimising USBL

Installation of a Sonardyne Type 8021 USBL transceiver on an over-the-side deployment pole

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Optimising the performance of your USBL system The USBL positioning technique is highly convenient, enabling positioning of a large number of subsea targets over a wide range of geometries and water depths and all from the surface vessel. The downside is that there are a number of sources of error and care needs to be taken to ensure system design, configuration and user understanding mitigate as many of these as possible.

When this is achieved remarkable performance can result.

Baseline talks to Simon Partridge, Engineering Director, to discover more.

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Precision, bias and accuracy It is very important to understand these words. USBL systems can be highly precise but inaccurate due to systematic biases or they can be accurate but imprecise due to random errors (see diagram overleaf). Only by understanding the nature of the error, can you hope to begin to resolve it.

USBL Positioning Ultra-Short BaseLine positioning systems calculate the position of a subsea target by measuring the range and bearing of a transponder from the vessel

Signal to Noise Positioning quality is hugely effected by the level of signal from the target being tracked compared with the background noise level seen by the USBL transceiver (SNR) below the vessel. Decreasing SNR causes increasing random error.

The noise from thrusters and machinery onboard varies tremendously from vessel-to-

vessel and tends to increase in heavier weather conditions as thrusters are more active. Sonardyne has developed a range of different USBL vessel transceivers which are designed with increasing capability for rejecting vessel noise. Choosing the right transceiver for the vessel and application is important.

Choosing the right transponder is critical too. The higher the output power the greater the SNR. This either improves the system performance or increases the operating range.

Increasing the output power reduces battery life, and so choosing a transponder that has sufficient output power to ensure low random errors, while providing sufficient battery life is important.

Sonardyne’s family of Wideband transponders can increase the SNR without having to increase the peak power level and therefore size of the transponder. In addition >>

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Technology Optimising USBL

directional transducers focus the valuable signal towards the USBL system rather than wasting energy when operating in deep water or at long ranges.

Random error (red cone): Causes position scatter around the true beacon position Systematic error (green cone): Causes position scatter to be biased away from the true beacon position

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Elevation When a transponder is under the vessel, the estimation of depth is extremely good, provided the average sound velocity (SV) through the water column is accurate, as mainly derived from the range measurement.

When the transponder is at higher elevations, the azimuth or bearing estimation remains very good but the elevation estimation degrades. However this can easily be mitigated by using depth aiding, for example, by configuring the system to use the depth sensors fitted to most Sonardyne transponders.

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Refraction USBL systems measure both the range and direction to a transponder.

The range measurement can be affected by changes in the effective SV throughout the water column.

Refraction causes the signal path to bend as the sound speed changes, which means that the measured distance will have a bias error.

This is a particular issue when tracking a transponder at a high elevation angle and over long range, as the time that the signal spends in each sound speed layer will vary according to the angle that it meets that layer.

When tracking a transponder mainly below the vessel, refraction is minimal so an average sound speed can be used with little problem.

Refraction does not affect the estimate of horizontal direction, however, it does cause the estimated elevation of the transponder to be in error, since the USBL system is measuring the direction of arrival at the transceiver and not the true direction to the transponder.

When operating at high elevations and long ranges, for example when tracking a towfish at a long layback, depth aiding will reduce both the random and systematic errors that arise.

In addition, if an SV profile is available, then the USBL system can correct for the systematic refraction errors. It is important,

Elevation:The green cone illustrates an area of 60 degrees below the vessel’s USBL tranceiver.

Outside of this area, it is recommended transponder depth aiding is used

Refraction: A sound speed profile showing the variation of speed of sound with depth

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however, when using SV profiles to be aware that profiles can change within the operating area. SV profiles can change significantly at different stages of the tide and between day and night. Using an inaccurate SV profile can cause greater errors than just using an average sound speed figure.

(Above) Dual Lodestar units installed on a vessel for high latitude trials in northern Norway.The unit comprises of six sensing elements, three Ring Laser Gyros (RLG) and three Linear Accelerometers, running a Sonardyne developed gyrocompass algorithm (Left) With iUSBL systems, the transceiver is installed on the ROV or towed vehicle and requires motion compensation from subsea AHRS (Below) A subsea gyro installed directly above a USBL transceiver on an over-the-side deployment pole

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Reference sensors USBL systems need to remove the huge effects of vessel motion. To do this they use heading, pitch and roll motion sensors on the vessel. These come in a variety of types, ages and cost. The quality of these can dramatically limit positioning quality by introducing random error and bias.

The better the sensor and installation, the better the performance of the total system.

Sonardyne USBL systems support a wide range of industry standard motion sensors.

However, it is important to make sure that the accuracy of sensor installed is appropriate to the accuracy required and the water depth.

If operating mainly below the vessel then pitch and roll is critical. If more out to the side, for example towfish tracking, the accuracy of heading sensors is more critical.

Older sensors tend to be of poorer quality and can cause errors due to data latency.

Analogue output sensors can introduce scaling and sign convention error, and so it is important to make sure that these are set-up correctly.

Users need to make sure the sensors are rigidly mounted and fitted as near to the roll/pitch centre of the vessel as practical and that they are compensated by GPS velocity and heading inputs if appropriate. Watch out for filter settings in the sensors which can over filter data and introduce latency. If the latency is known, Sonardyne USBL systems can be setup to compensate.

If a separate pitch and roll sensor (VRU) and heading sensor are used (Gyro) then it is important that the two reference frames are aligned within a degree or so or errors can result. This is the significant advantage of integrated heading and attitude sensors.

Sonardyne can now provide a premium quality heading and attitude sensor of its own called Lodestar which is specifically designed to compensate USBL systems for vessel motion.

(Turn to page 16 for more information).>>

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Technology Optimising USBL

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USBL transceiver deployment The deployment of the USBL transceiver is critical.

It should ideally be rigidly mounted to the vessel well below the keel away from any weather or vessel induced aeration.

The motion compensation sensor should be mounted at the roll/pitch centre of the vessel where it is subject to the least motion induced acceleration. Sonardyne supply through-hull deployment systems that are extremely rigid and ideal for high accuracy USBL positioning in deep water.

It is not always practical, however, to install such a permanent deployment system and other alternatives are required. Many operational installations have shown that if care is taken then moon pool and over-the-side deployment systems can be very accurate.

In these cases, fitting an integrated heading and attitude sensor to the top of a moon pool pole or over-the-side deployed pole can compensate for movement relative to the vessel, such as when lowering and raising the pole.

If the pole flexes substantially, then, although more exposed, putting the sensor at the bottom of the pole can improve performance by compensating for bending of the pole.

Sonardyne now also manufacture a high quality portable over-the-side deployment system.

This is practical to transport and install on any vessel, whilst still enabling survey grade quality USBL system performance.

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Verification of system accuracy As discussed, USBL system performance varies so it is important for users to know the actual performance achievable on the particular vessel.

Sonardyne has comprehensive models that account of all system components discussed to help customers predict the theoretical system accuracy.

Sonardyne’s CASIUS software and procedures verify to the client the actual accuracy of the system achieved and simultaneously calibrates the whole system to remove systematic biases. This must be undertaken using the Sonardyne software provided as

With over thirty years of experience in the deployment of transponders and transceivers from all types and sizes of vessels, Sonardyne has the experience to ensure that clients achieve the solution that is best matched to their application

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calibration using external software packages often introduces significant timing errors.

A transponder should be deployed in a suitable depth of water. The USBL software then guides the operator through the data collection process where range and GPS observations are acquired during a series of vessel manoeuvres. Simultaneously, USBL and motion sensor data is logged. The new CASIUS software, now incorporated into the USBL system, provides an accuracy verification report for the user or client containing the actual USBL system accuracy. In addition it computes the GPS antenna offsets from the acoustic transceiver, the pitch, roll and heading corrections and sound speed through the water column to be used by the system.

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Increase your update rate To some extent, random error can be reduced by collecting more observations. If there is time and the target is stationary, a more precise fix can be achieved by averaging over a number of observations.

Increasing the update rate and using responder mode can achieve this in a shorter period of time. Automatic averaging is provided in Sonardyne USBL software.

“Improves dynamic tracking performance by producing a smoother track” Sonardyne systems can use simultaneous interrogation modes where all transponders reply to a single interrogation signal every positioning cycle. This is not always possible when using transponders from other vendors which require individual interrogation signals for each transponder. Another benefit of simultaneous interrogation is that it reduces the number of signals in use, leaving more of the frequency band available for use by other vessels.

The use of Sonardyne’s unique ‘ping stacking’ acoustic interrogation technique also provides an advantage when working in deep water by enabling USBL system users to transmit acoustic interrogations to subsea transponders before the last reply was received. This can substantially improve dynamic tracking performance, producing a smoother track.

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Go Wideband to improve performance Sonardyne Wideband acoustic signals improve USBL performance. They enable more transponders to be used without interference issues. They improve the SNR, as discussed earlier, reducing

QuickSet Wideband – What is it?

QuickSet Wideband provides a set of easy-to-use pre-set Wideband channels for Sonardyne Wideband transponders.

Connect to the transponder then set its identity to A1 etc. using the software provided. Then enter A1 in the USBL system and off you go.

The A1, A2, C3 etc. identity denotes the interrogation and reply signals, the turnaround time as well as the address code for commanding the transponder.

Using A1, B1 and C1 allows individual interrogations to support different update rates per transponder, whereas A1, A2 and A3 use the same interrogation giving faster cycle times.

Scatter plot illustrating the dramatic improvement in repeatability and precision of Sonardyne Wideband signals (blue) over traditional tone burst signals (red)

the random errors seen, particularly on noisy vessels or you can reduce the transponders output power level and so increase the battery life. The signals are more robust so improving detection, particularly in harsh environments, at high elevations or where there is substantial multi-path.

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Summary Choose the most appropriate USBL transceiver for a particular vessel, the right transponder for the application and install a good quality integrated heading and attitude sensor in the right place. Ensure the USBL deployment is rigid or compensate appropriately where necessary. Verify the actual accuracy achieved and calibrate the system using Sonardyne’s new CASIUS software. Use depth aiding and SV profiles when required and choose the best interrogation method. With good planning and configuration your USBL system performance can be exceptional. BL

If you require more flexibility or want to track more transponders, then go to Advanced User mode and have complete access to independently set interrogation, reply signals and turnaround time.

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Our Resources Launch of MV ‘Sound Surveyor’ On Friday 15th July 2007 Sonardyne launched its new trials and research vessel ‘Sound Surveyor’ in Plymouth, England.

The 12 metre long high speed catamaran offers a large stable survey platform.With both dual moon pools and a hydraulic crane, a variety of equipment from transceivers to our Falcon ROV, can be easily deployed.The cabin provides ample space for the installation of equipment that will allow an excellent work environment whilst maintaining easy communication with the bridge and back-deck.Sound Surveyor, and its entry into service, has been keenly anticipated by Sonardyne employees and customers alike.The advanced work platform will enable the continued development of both existing and future technologies. Of particular benefit will be the ability to simulate both static and dynamic aspects of offshore construction and positioning operations from a single vessel.Realistic customer acceptance testing and training is clearly a foundation for successful operations offshore. Sound Surveyor is now online and its work schedule is filling up fast.

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Hardware In-water equipment

Focus On:Transponders WSM 1,000/3,000 Metres A small Wideband transponder/ responder designed for positioning ROVs and towfish

DPT & DPTi 3,000 Metres A full size transponder designed for DP reference and riser angle monitoring

ORT & DORT 2,000/6,000 Metres Tough,reliable acoustic releases designed for deep water deployment

COMPATT 5 5,000/7,000 Metres High power directional transponder for deep water LBL positioning

BPT 200 Metres Designed to provide accurate tracking of a vessel relative to an underwater turret buoy

TZ/COASTAL 500 Metres A low cost,versatile transponder for a wide range of shallow water subsea applications

LRT 500 Metres A compact,low cost acoustic release with integrated receive and transmit capabilities

COMPATT 5 3,000 Metres The ultimate Wideband LBL transponder for advanced construction survey operations

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Technology Lodestar

Project Manager, Jonathan Martin, talks to Baseline about the challenges of bringing Lodestar to market

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Ask anyone in the industry what Sonardyne do and they’ll probably tell you acoustic positioning. Until recently, they would have been largely correct. However, behind the scenes the company has been busy investing in people, processes and technology to add new depths to their capabilities. Baseline finds out about how one such development is set to establish Sonardyne as a leading provider of high quality heading and attitude sensors and aided inertial navigation systems.

Heading in the right direction

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OR MANY YEARS Sonardyne

has strived to make its LBL and USBL systems as good as they can be. Developments in acoustic positioning technology such as Wideband have created products that can provide centimetric accuracy regardless of water depth. Outside of the acoustics, one of the largest factors that impacts upon performance is the provision of high accuracy position, heading and attitude aiding data. Existing off-the-shelf solutions relied too heavily on military specification sensors and for the oil and gas industry, this made them unsuitable due to the restrictions on export and support. The company realised that to further improve their systems, the only

viable alternative was to turn their attention to creating an in-house solution.

From the moment the Sonardyne board agreed to accept this challenge, the company began to harness the experience and expertise of some of the world’s leading authorities in motion sensor and inertial navigation technology. For many joining the Lodestar development team, such as Principal Engineer Mikael Larsen and Project Manager Jonathan Martin, it was an opportunity to work clear from the product legacies that accumulate with every established firm. They were starting with a blank sheet of paper on which they could design the best integrated inertial navigation and heading reference system in the world.

The Lodestar team identified that the ideal solution lay in combining both a true gyro- >>

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Technology Lodestar

compass algorithm and INS (Inertial Navigation System) algorithm in the same unit. This unique approach means that the unit would align in static or near static conditions, without any external GPS aiding, thus eliminating the need for time consuming and expensive vessel alignment manoeuvres that some north seeking INS solutions require.

Gyrocompass algorithm As Jonathan Martin explains: “The gyrocompass algorithm calculation we developed for the AHRS (Attitude and Heading Reference System) produces output in real time for heading, roll and pitch of the vessel or subsea vehicle.

Because of the high precision of the six sensing elements (three RLGS and three accelerometers), we produce a highly accurate solution for each orientation in the local level frame. The unit also provides a robust heave measurement solution by applying a heave filter to the

Compatability Lodestar is compatible with all of Sonardyne's LBL and USBL acoustic positioning systems and is available in surface and subsea versions

Connectors High quality,industry standard

Variable power Both versions of Lodestar accept a wide range of power supply inputs to suit all types of vessel and subsea vehicle

INS capable Lodestar is upgradeable to full INS capability through firmware upgrades

vertical motion of the unit.”

“By combining a motion sensor and gyrocompass in the same unit, significant advantages can be gained in relation to system calibration as the heading and motion frame share a common internal alignment axis” added Mikael.

In addition to the advanced algorithms, the development team has also introduced many practical features into the Lodestar.

The inclusion of 4GB on-board memory can be used to store raw data in situations where real-time uploading may be unnecessary or impractical. This can simplify subsea projects such as template positioning by eliminating the need for an acoustic uplink.

An internal Lithium-ion battery was a comparatively simple but potentially valuable development that has been largely overlooked by manufacturers until now. Its inclusion allows Lodestar to maintain performance and protect

stored data for up to 3 hours if the power to an ROV or surface vessel is lost.

“Sonardyne’s AHRS is suitable for any application that requires the accurate measurement of heading, heave, roll and pitch in a dynamic marine environment. These might include platform stabilisation, DP, subsea structure monitoring and towfish or vehicle operations down to 7,000 metres” comments Mikael. He continues “We’ve worked hard to develop a product that will move the benchmarks for motion sensor technology”.

Lodestar revealed In March this year, Lodestar AHRS made its first public appearance at the Ocean Business exhibition in Southampton. At its unveiling, Rob Balloch, Sonardyne’s Strategic Development Director said; “This is an important development for Sonardyne as a company as it introduces our technical

Fast Spin-up Lodestar has been designed to be ready for use within five minutes of being powered up

Battery Back-up An internal Li-ion battery provides up to three hours of operation in the event of mains supply failure

Data outputs Lodestar has four digital data outputs and an ethernet port for interfacing to navigation and survey systems

Reference plate An integral reference plate is designed to make installation and alignment easier and more accurate

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expertise, experience and service back-up to a new market within the offshore and marine industries”.

This milestone marked the end of the programme of intensive in-house testing and the beginning of customer validation trials, the first of which was aboard the UK’s newly commissioned flagship research vessel ‘RRS James Cook’ in the Bay of Biscay.

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.

Onboard, the Sonardyne team interfaced a Lodestar AHRS to the vessel’s own Ranger USBL acoustic positioning system which was operating with a directional Compatt 5 subsea transponder deployed in 4,870 metres of water.

In order to qualify the performance of Lodestar, the Ranger system was initially configured using the vessel’s own high quality,

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industry established, dual GPS antenna-aided AHRS. A ‘box-in’ calibration of the Compatt was performed using a static cardinal point technique that involved manoeuvring the vessel and transceiver directly above the Compatt, and also fore, aft, port and starboard of the Compatt at a 500 metre radius. To verify the offsets derived, the process was repeated with the vessel on reciprocal headings.

A second box-in was then undertaken but this time with the Lodestar AHRS interfaced into Ranger. The previous box-in had proved that the dimensional control offsets were valid and therefore reciprocal data was not required.

The Lodestar box-in showed a 1DRMS value of just 7.2 metres which in 4,870 metres of water reflects a staggeringly low error of just 0.12% of slant range for 63.2% of all observations. Even better still, the 2DRMS of just 17.1 metres reflects an error of 0.29% of slant range for 98.2% of all observations.

“When compared to the industry standard AHRS used in the trial, this equates to an overall improvement in accuracy of 6.2 metres. To put this into context, that’s close to the length of two classic Minis” remarked Jonathan.

Inertial navigation Having successfully completed the development of the Lodestar AHRS, the team’s attention is focused upon taking the final steps towards the goal of a fully integrated and robust INS and heading reference system. Over the coming months a rigorous programme of offshore testing using a variety of industry standard aiding inputs will be carried out. As each of these inputs is added into Lodestar, the INS algorithm will become more and more robust.

“For everyone that’s been involved with the project over the last two years, the next chapter in the Lodestar story promises to be the most rewarding so far.” concludes Jonathan. BL

EXTREME TESTING

Lodestar High Latitude Trials To illustrate the extent of the Lodestar testing programme, the latest round of offshore testing saw two Sonardyne Lodestar units successfully trialled in the northernmost part of Norway by Aquadyne, Sonardyne’s Oslo-based associate company.

The high accuracy gyrocompasses were taken to Svalbard, an archipelago lying in the Arctic Ocean north of mainland Europe, about midway between Norway and the North Pole. It consists of a group of islands ranging from 76° to 81° North, and 10° to 35° East.The trials were carried out at sea on a vessel lying off Spitsbergen Island at 78.21 degrees north.

Lodestar – Origins of the name Lodestar is a star that guides, particularly with reference to the north pole star Polaris, and hence is appropriate for the name of a true north seeking compass

The accuracy of heading from all compasses decreases with the seclant of the latitude. Other gyrocompasses have been used at relatively high latitude and have experienced problems with alignment and stability of the heading output.With increasing use of survey grade heading and attitude systems in the far north, it was important that Lodestar was put through its paces.

The trials were aimed at testing multiple Lodestars for alignment time and heading accuracy. They were installed on a vessel and data logged when both static and during lengthy transits to the frozen glaciers of the Svalbard region.The Lodestars survived their journey to the north, aligned to true north faster than expected, ran continuously for days and provided very successful data that exceeded expectations.The high latitude data from the trials will enable the performance to be further improved.

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Case Study Civil engineering in South-East Asia

Shallow water challenge for Fusion LBL

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HE PERFORMANCE AND

accuracy of Sonardyne’s Wideband technology in deep water is well known.

However, an ultra shallow water test for the system came earlier this year on a project taking place in Malaysia in just five metres of water.

Port Dickson, 60 kilometres from Kuala Lumpur on the Malaysian Peninsular, is the location for a new coal fired power station being built to help supply domestic demand for electricity.

A key stage of construction was the installation of a submerged outfall culvert

carrying cooling water from the power station out to sea.The sections of concrete culvert would stand on piles running alongside a new tanker unloading pier that was also under construction.

Prior to the setting-down the culverts on the piles, the various engineering and construction parties needed to conduct an ‘as-built’ survey which involved taking high precision measurements between each pile. For this crucial stage, the accuracy and performance of Sonardyne’s Fusion Long BaseLine (LBL) technology was identified as the optimum solution.

The challenge of acoustic positioning

operations in very shallow, tidal waters is a notorious one. Of primary importance is the determination of the speed of sound in water which is a key requirement for accurate LBL positioning (see Ask Dave Page 31).

In deep water environments, the speed of sound varies relatively slowly with depth.

However, in shallow tidal waters, different salinities and temperatures flow over one another in a very chaotic way. The resultant variation of sound speed gives rise to ray bending whilst reverberation from the sea surface and seabed create multipaths that can limit the acoustic ranges available for reliable positioning.

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Case Study Civil engineering in South-East Asia

(Above) The water outfall culvert is made up of large pre-formed concrete box sections shown here awaiting installation (Left) Deployment of a Compatt 5 LBL transponder installed in a rigid frame. An array of four transponders was used on the project (Below left) Construction of the culvert took place in just five metres of water making the challenge for Sonardyne engineer James Hope (Below) that much more demanding

at which the two diagonal baselines met.

With everything purely relative, every set of four piles was considered its own individual array or quadrilateral brace.

The increased precision in the timing resolution of Wideband acoustic signals together with improved performance in noisy and reverberant environments was the main reason for Wideband being chosen for the Kaiji Project; a choice that was justified by the impressive performance of the system in difficult operating conditions.

What proved especially effective was the ability to interact with the signal processing and fine tune the system to ensure detection of the direct signal as opposed to the indirect or ‘multipath’ signal.

The challenges inherent with the shallow water environment have traditionally discouraged the use of LBL acoustic positioning.This view may change in light of this successful project that illustrated the capabilities of the Wideband system to improve performance in the presence of multipath, and prove that Sonardyne LBL acoustics really can be accurate independent of water depth.

Allied to this beneficial user-to-system interaction, was the robustness of the

The choice of Wideband was justified by the impressive performance of the system in difficult operating conditions

Positioning operations were run from a survey shack on the back of a small crane barge moored next to the piles. Onboard, a Data Fusion Engine (DFE) was interfaced to a Medium Frequency (MF) RovNav 5 transceiver that would control all the transmission and reception of acoustic signals to and from the array of Compatt 5 transponders in the water. In addition, a sound speed sensor in direct read mode was interfaced directly to the DFE so that the continuously changing sound speed could be monitored using the numerical and graphical tools within the Fusion operating software.

As with all high accuracy metrology LBL work, the array of four transponders were installed in seabed frames to prevent them moving around in the current and therefore affecting the accuracy of the measurements being taken.One of the benefits of Wideband signal technology is that it is now possible to obtain positional accuracies at MF that were previously obtainable only at EHF frequency.

Geometric and environmental limitations dictated that co-ordinates (and in-turn relative distances between the piles) could not be expressed in absolute terms.

Therefore coordinates were derived relative to 0, 0 which was taken as the point

Wideband signal architecture that allowed the baseline observations to be collected with repeatable precision and speed. Such performance bred confidence in the positioning solution which was supported by the statistical QC for each array giving RMS values of 3 millimetres or less.

For many in the construction team, the Kaiji Project was their first foray with LBL and the prospect of controlling the system seemed quite daunting. However, with the system running reliably and ease of use, the team soon became competent in its operation, allowing the Sonardyne field engineer to leave the site after just a few days.The construction team successfully completed the LBL survey ahead of schedule giving valuable additional time to for the installation phase of the culverts in the following weeks.

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Our People Production – From manufacture to delivery

Building for success Unprecedented demand combined with almost impossible delivery deadlines; two issues anyone involved in the oil and gas industry will be all too familiar with. Baseline visits Ocean House, Sonardyne’s manufacturing headquarters 40 miles south-west of London to find out how Operations Director Tim Moore and his team are rising to these challenges.

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For Operations Director Tim Moore (left) and Manufacturing Manager Keith Boghurst (far left), balancing the demand from the market with production output is a complex challenge.Effective planning, investment in the right resources and above all team work, is the key to their success

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Our People Production – From manufacture to delivery

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“

OW SOON CAN I have it?” If there’s one question that sums up a typical day for Tim Moore, it would be this one.

When you consider that in 2006/07, the company shipped over 50,000 products containing more than six and a quarter million parts to all corners of the world, the scale of the task involved in keeping everyone happy soon becomes apparent.

At any one time, Tim’s team has six months of production capacity forecasted. “The decision of what to build, how many and when is based on many factors” comments Tim. “The forecast from the sales team, past history, market intelligence, even the price of barrel of oil are all factors that go into the mix” he adds.

“It’s when we get an order out of the blue that my production planners really have to earn

their money” Tim continues. “Wherever possible they have to find slots in an already tightly orchestrated schedule whilst understanding the implications of moving delivery dates.”

The small team of highly experienced planners don’t like to say “No” to any reasonable request and are very successful at balancing demand with capacity.

One of the tools supporting their day-today activities is a scheduling and resource loading software package called ‘Preactor’.

Not only does it allow the team to load upcoming work, it also helps to generate daily work lists for the shop floor.

Running to plan Making the decision of what to build and for when, is just the start of the story. Managing the assembly-through-to-delivery process is Manufacturing Manager Keith Boghurst. As Tim’s right-hand man, it’s Keith’s job to ensure that the production schedule runs to plan.

For a large proportion of the working day, Keith can be found on the shop floor in one of Sonardyne’s five main production cells: SIPS, Nav, LBL, FAB and INS. As Keith explains “The SIPS cell looks after our marine seismic and ocean bottom cable products, Nav covers USBL transceivers and topside systems such Data Fusion Engines.

LBL takes care of all transponders and subsea transceivers, FAB manages our transducer build whilst INS, our newest cell, is exclusively dedicated to assembling gyros and INS systems”.

Across the five cells, Keith has gone to great lengths to ensure that each production team is multi-skilled so if someone is on leave or off work, the impact upon output is minimal. “Each cell is headed-up by our most experienced people, all of which have been with the company for years” Keith explains. “Their in-depth product knowledge, attention to detail and expertise are some of the reasons Sonardyne has such a good reputation in the field.”

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Training and recruitment With such a heavy reliance on skilled people, Tim and Keith face the perennial issue of recruitment. Although this is an industry wide

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the same, experienced people we are after.”

One initiative aimed at addressing this issue is Sonardyne’s apprenticeship scheme that was established five years ago. Its long

“ When we need additional tools, whether it’s just a new bench instrument or a complete additional test tank, as we’ve just had installed, there’s a willingness to make that investment” problem at the moment, the geographic location of Sonardyne’s factory makes finding the right calibre of people as much of a challenge as building the equipment in the first place.

“Where we are in the south-east is known as the Silicon Valley of the UK; an area between the M3 and M4 motorways into London” says Tim. “All around us we have large bluechip electronics manufactures such as Nokia, Motorola and Sun Microsystems competing for

term aim is to equip people with the skill set the company requires. “The scheme has proved very successful and a great return on investment. The former apprentices are all now full-time employees making a significant contribution to the company” remarks Keith.

As well as having the right human resources, Sonardyne strives to ensure that the right physical resources are also available.

Sonardyne’s factory was purpose built with this in mind and boasts four large acoustic test

(Far left) Transponder assembly in one of Sonardyne’s five production cells, (Left top) quality control is integral to every step of the manufacturing process, (Left middle) every product is rigorously tested in-water before being despatched, (Left bottom) Sonardyne’s headquarters and to its right, the recently acquired second manufacturing facility, (Above) last year 6.25 million individual parts were issued to production, (Below) over 50,000 products are now despatched each year

tanks, pressure vessel for depth testing, environmental chambers and dedicated transducer assembly lab.

New facility “When we need additional tools, whether it’s just a new bench instrument or a complete additional test tank, as we’ve just had installed (see Baseline Issue 1), there’s a willingness to make that investment” said Tim. For the last couple of years, Sonardyne’s management team had recognised the need for additional production space above and beyond what was available at Ocean House.

With this in mind, when the large factory opposite Ocean House recently came on the market, it was the perfect opportunity for the company to dramatically increase capacity.

“As the ink dries on the contract, we’ve got a bit of work to do before it’s operational.

The new facility presents us with many different possibilities, but above all, it will allow us to grow over the coming years” Tim enthusiastically adds.

Testing, testing One process that should not to be underestimated is the huge amount of effort that goes into testing and quality checking every product before it leaves the building.

For example, every subsea instrument goes through a rigorous in-water test and calibration that checks its performance and functionality before it’s boxed up.

The company has put much effort into gaining and maintaining its ISO 9001:2000 certification which offers customers assurance of Sonardyne’s quality control procedures.

Tim explains: “My team of inspectors are a vital link in the chain. We are always going to get last minute panics on a Friday afternoon; it’s the nature of the offshore industry. However, this doesn’t mean corners are cut. If we have to make a courier wait whilst we do the final quality checks, that’s the way it has to be”.

Tim and Keith pride themselves in meeting customers’ demands by setting their highly motivated and dedicated teams tough but achievable goals. They are clearly successful; in 2006/07 they broke all company records for the amount of equipment they built. With no let up in demand, their records look set to be broken again sometime soon. BL

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Case Study Gulf of Mexico – Upgrading the Thialf

Wideband for the World’s largest crane vessel VER THE LAST two years,

O

operators have become increasingly aware of the importance of mitigating acoustic interference between construction and drilling vessels.

The risk of down time and associated loss of revenue caused by simultaneous multiple vessel operations (SIMOPS) is very real, unless proper planning and selection of the most suitable acoustic solution is made in advance.

Responding to this situation, Heerema

Marine Contractors recently chose to install Sonardyne Wideband acoustic technology aboard Thialf, the World’s largest deepwater crane vessel, which is currently at work in the Gulf of Mexico; an area well known for acoustic congestion.

Thialf is a 201 metre long semisubmersible construction vessel equipped with two cranes capable of a tandem lift of 14,200 tonnes.The vessel is equipped with Class III Dynamic Positioning with propulsion coming from six 5,500 kW retractable azimuth thrusters.

The Thialf’s unique capabilities are

currently being used for SIMOPS in fields where the number of acoustic systems in use, leave little or no bandwidth available for the vessel’s existing HiPAP® systems to operate.

The Sonardyne Wideband solution supplied to Thialf involved the replacement of the existing HiPAP® equipment with a Dual Redundant Wideband L/USBL (Long and Ultra-Short BaseLine) system utilising two ‘Big Head’ transceivers.Wideband L/USBL offers truly independent multi operational capability through the availability of hundreds of operating channels.The technology also provides a highly repeatable

Sonardyne engineer Julian Rickards completes the removal of the Thialf’s HiPAP® transducer. The Sonardyne Big Head (right) awaits installation

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position reference for the DP system with cross linked redundancy between processors and transceivers.

The Big Head transceiver was chosen because it has been specially developed to reject thruster and other vessel generated noise from the side and from above. It is optimised to receive signals within a ±50° cone which results in an improved signal-tonoise ratio enabling the system to provide accurate positioning on the noisiest of vessels and in the deepest water.

A Ranger-Pro USBL topside was also installed for survey operations and will utilise one of the Big Head transceivers. RangerPro is notable for the ease with which it can be used and the speed with which new operators can become confident in working with it.The system can work with a single reference transponder at an operating range of up to 7,000 metres but also has the ability to track up to ten mobile targets.

A particular feature of Ranger-Pro is the fast simultaneous tracking of transponders using ‘common interrogation channels’.

For example, ten Sonardyne Wideband Sub-Mini transponders (WSMs) can all be updated in less than two seconds in 1,000 metres of water.The method is significantly faster than sequential modes of interrogation that traditionally could take up to 15 seconds or more for the same number of targets.

For vessels with two cranes, such as the Thialf, simultaneous updates of transponder positions whilst lowering structures provides much better depth feedback and hence installation control.

Heerema Marine Contractors also purchased a Fusion LBL software licence.

This is capable of running on the RangerPro hardware and demonstrates the flexibility and cost-effectiveness of Sonardyne’s Wideband system architecture.

Fusion LBL is available to position multiple subsea targets and structures on the seabed within an array of Compatt 5 transponders to achieve the highest attainable levels of accuracy independent of water depth.

Typical operations might involve positioning anchor piles, manifolds or templates and multiple ROVs working in close proximity to each other as well as streaming sensor data from gyros, precision digiquartz pressure sensors, inclinometers and the like.

The installation aboard the Thialf offers a truly comprehensive and advanced positioning capability.

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(Above) Thialf is the world’s largest crane vessel capable of lifting over 14,000 tonnes (Below) Compatt 5 transponders provide high accuracy subsea positioning of a pile

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Technology Systems and Products

SIPS 2 Inline Transceiver Built to withstand wrapping onto streamer cable drums, the Inline XSRS transceiver allows operators to dramtically improve the efficiency of their back-deck operations Manufactured from Grade 5 Titanium, the Inline XSRS is designed to withstand high operational loads and wrapping onto drums. It has a working load of 30kN and uses industry standard 37 pin Syntrak connectors to connect into the streamer

The Inline XSRS transceiver is the latest addition to Sonardyne’s SIPS 2 streamer positioning product range.

SIPS 2 (Seismic Integrated Positioning System) uses a network of acoustic transceivers attached to each streamer, air gun and tailbuoy/ navbuoy to measure ranges between each other and the survey vessel.This enables both the shape of the towed array to be known and the positions of the hydrophones, relative to the survey, to be precisely determined.

Offering the same performance advantages as existing ‘clip-on’ XSRS transceivers, the new Type 8085 unit is designed to fit inbetween streamer sections thus allowing streamers to be deployed and recovered without having to attach or remove any acoustic hardware.This allows for faster

and more efficient survey operations whilst improving back-deck health and safety.

Like all SIPS 2 XSRS’, the Inline XSRS uses Digital Signal Processing with multiple modulation modes to suit different operating conditions.The rugged intelligent transducer array reduces surface and bottom bounce effects using beam steering technology.

Communications and power are picked up from the streamer, whilst all other lines are passed through the unit in a shielded cable bundle. By eliminating the need for an internal battery pack the safety risks and downtime in replacing batteries, whilst streamers are deployed, is removed.

The unit is manufactured from Titanium which offers both exceptional corrosion resistance and high strength.

SIPS 2 Inline Transceiver Facts & Figures ● Fully compatible with existing ‘clip-on’SIPS 2 XSRS units allowing users to mix and match hardware ● Requires no new software or operator training ● No need to remove during streamer deployment and recovery ● No limitations on transceiver position due to coil locations ● External and internal seals to prevent canister flooding ● Designed to integrate with TSS and Syntrak streamers ● Less unit losses due to in-water debris

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Technology Systems and Products

Deck Test Unit An easy-to-use splash-proof transponder unit for testing Compatt 5, DTU and WSM transponders in the workshop or the harsh environment of the back-deck The DTU is powered by Lithium-ion batteries providing up to 8 hours of continuous testing.The unit can also be mains powered and is environmentally protected to IP65 making it suitable for use in most operating conditions

The Type 8063 Deck Test Unit (DTU) has been developed as a fully portable, splashproof transponder test unit.The DTU now supercedes Sonardyne’s popular ANT product as the primary test equipment for Sonardyne and other acoustic instruments, whether in the workshop or on the back-deck.

The DTU is capable of transmitting and receiving both Sonardyne Wideband™ and tone acoustic signals in order to test and set-up the functionality of all MF frequency Compatt 5s, DPTs and WSM transponders. Ranging, acoustic command function and the release mechanism can all be tested prior to deployment, using the test transducer.

The unit offers the potential for significant time and cost savings with a range of practical features based on Sonardyne’s

long experience of supplying technology to the offshore and oceanographic industries.

For example, if a serial connection is made to the Compatt 5 or DPT, the DTU will extract all the transponder settings needed to be able to test the unit, simplifying the testing operation.The results of tests performed by the device are stored internally in a test record that can be uploaded via a USB port to a PC for long-term storage whilst the large LCD display is designed for both sunlight reading and low-light conditions.

Although initially programmed to perform acoustic and cable-connected tests on Compatt 5s, DPTs and WSMs, the DTU’s firmware can be easily upgraded by the user so that the unit can be used for testing other acoustic positioning instruments and their functionality.

Deck Test Unit Facts & Figures ● Test transponders acoustically including Wideband ranging ● WSM Responder test capability ● Supplied in a portable,rugged and splash-proof case ● Continuous battery life of 8 hours with Lithium-ion battery ● Universal mains-powered charger ● Display suitable for bright sunlight and low-light conditions ● Electronic manuals available via USB connection to PC ● Firmware upgrades to test other instruments

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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 have been very busy over the last quarter not only in terms of sales and support but also with training, product releases and a regional agents meeting.

The first half of the year has been exciting and dynamic.

New recruits have included Dan Zatezalo joining our field support team, Nicki Howard in administration and Brandon Bowie into sales, following an honorable discharge from the US Navy.

Although it’s been hectic since I rejoined Sonardyne, its great to be back. One of my first tasks was to strengthen the team up here in Aberdeen.With this in mind Barry Cairns who was based in Blackbushe has relocated to Aberdeen and brings with him a wealth of technical knowledge.

The expansion of activity continues for us here at Sonardyne Brasil.This period is proving very busy for installation and commissioning of new systems as well as upgrading of existing ones.

Training Product training has been conducted in the Singapore office utilising the virtual acoustic link with the main training centre in Plymouth, UK.This link allows an office based training scenario in Singapore to use real acoustics at the UK training centre by way of an internet link which has proven both successful and popular.

Agents seminar All the Sonardyne agents from around Asia came into Singapore for a seminar covering all the existing product lines and also the latest releases of equipment including Lodestar and Sentinel.

Stop Press: Tsunami update As Baseline goes to press, we’ve just heard that our newly installed tsunami system (Page 06) successfully detected a tsunami wave created by an earthquake registering 6.2 on the Richter Scale in the Bay of Bengal shortly before midnight on 25th July.

SIMOPS A key activity for Sonardyne Inc. has been the support of the Oil Majors including Chevron and Shell to provide solutions to manage interference problems caused by SIMOPS with Narrow Band positioning systems in the Tahiti, Deimos and Mars fields.

Through proactive involvement and management by the Major’s the optimal solution to install Sonardyne Wideband systems on a number of vessels was implemented. Installations included Heerema’s Thialf, Highland Fortress,Transocean’s Cajun Express and Transocean’s Discoverer Spirit.

Deep water USBL Activity has also been strong across all of our product range in deep water applications.With demand particularly strong for permanent vessel based USBL systems as owners shift focus from dedicated PSV’s or AHTS to multi-role capability.

World’s largest In March, the world’s largest pipelay vessel Allseas’‘Solitaire’ upgraded its acoustic positioning system to the latest wideband solution. Installation was completed in just one and a half days.

Following this record breaker, we’ve just upgraded Heerema’s ‘Thialf’, the world’s largest crane vessel for work in the acoustically crowded Gulf of Mexico (Page 26).These two vessls add tremendous prestige to our track record.

Allseas fleet Allseas have continued with their investment in Wideband technology. A complete LBL and USBL spread of equipment, together with two Lodestars, will provide field wide positioning for the Allseas fleet mobilised on the KG-D6 project for Reliance offshore India.

The construction survey market is going through a period of significant growth.This is reflected by the number of RSVs currently been mobilised and also recently awarded contracts.

We have now nearly completed the installation phase of the RSV CBO Rio which will be working for Petrobras.This is fitted with Fusion USBL, LBL and a hydraulic deployment machine.

Commissioning of the system has already begun.

Coming up soon we will commence mobilisation on the second RSV, also from CBO, which will have a very similar scope of supply.

Drilling market On the drilling side of things we will be upgrading systems on the Ocean Alliance, Seillean FPSO and also installing and commissioning of a new Wideband Ranger MRAMS system on the recently arrived Ocean Whittington.

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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.

Some of the best questions will appear in the next issue of Baseline.

Q

I am currently planning a Wideband LBL job in an area where there is significant variation of sound speed.

How could this affect the system performance? What can l do to optimise the system for this environment?

A

An error in sound speed causes a systematic error which will scale the signal travel time and thus the computed range to the detriment of calibration and tracking quality.

To visualise the effect,think of a histogram displaying the measured ranges against frequency of occurrence.

Ideally the dataset should be free from systematic error and subject only to random error. This will give a ‘short and tall’normal distribution trend line.

If sound speed is not accounted for sufficiently, the histogram will reflect this with a larger measurement spread.

Sometimes this can be seen as two distinct groupings of reciprocal measurements if the sound speed changed during baseline calibration.

The significance of this error has been exacerbated due to the repeatable centimetric precision achievable over greater distances using Wideband LBL than was previously possible with tone systems. Indeed,the greater the distance the greater the significance of sound

speed error. To achieve the quoted 0.03m overall accuracy of Wideband LBL, I recommend regularly monitoring sound speeds across each baseline using Compatt 5’s with sound speed sensors which offer an accuracy of +/- 0.06m/s.

Q A

Hi Dave,I have a ROV-Homer transceiver that I need to setup to receive signals from a 37kHz emergency pinger.

How do I go about it?

This is a straightforward one.

Using the PC software supplied with the ROV-Homer simply select AODC Channel A or Channel B from the list of transponders available. The ROV-Homer will then be able to pick up the signals from the pinger. Remember,in this case the ROVHomer will only give you a direction to the pinger as you are not actually interrogating it to calculate range.

Q

We have received updates for our Fusion and Ranger software.

I want to prepare some notes for our users on how to interface Ranger to our navigation software. To do this I would like to run the software in simulate mode and acquire some screen grabs of the report configuration for a Kongsberg SSB output.

I can get the software into simulate mode,with a vessel position and a transponder however I get a message zero transponders can be tracked at a time when I try to enable the output.

We have a Fusion Office dongle.

Should the Ranger software recognise this or is a separate dongle needed?

A

You will need to send in an email to our Customer Support Team to get your dongle updated as a Fusion Office dongle is not recognised by Ranger.

They can do this update remotely, just follow the instructions that you receive.

Q

We are using a Fusion USBL system with a Wideband MF RovNav 5 on one of our ROVs but we are having some problems when we try to use it as a USBL responder. It appears to be set up correctly for responder mode but when the vehicle that we have the instrument attached to is put online it will not track and comes up with an error message saying that it is unable to track.

Could you please have a look at our job set-up and see if we have a problem?

A

To operate the RovNav 5 as a responder you must first ensure you are running Fusion USBL Survey software and not just the standard Fusion USBL software.If you are not, go to Start Menu\ Programs\ Sonardyne\ Pharos. Survey will be one of the icons listed.

Once this is done,unplug the RovNav 5 from the responder card in the back of your NCU. You will then need to plug it into the transceiver card. However,as your USBL transceiver is currently using this card,you will need to fit a second transceiver card. This will allow you to use the USBL transceiver whilst operating the RovNav in responder mode.

I would advise you to create a new job to start this set-up to prevent making lots of changes to an existing job which could cause conflicts.

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