Fugro General Robotics Limited – Extending Subsea Simulation and Visualisation Technologies
Figure 3: Supervisor Re-configuring the Simulator on Edda Fauna Installer World Builder
modules for individual customers. This also enables customers to develop their own solutions with their own team members on site.
Case Study
FGRL has now delivered the first order for its DeepTouch pilot training simulator to Fugro-Rovtech, which is planning to use DeepTouch for pilot training and the rapid evaluation of subsea engineering designs.
Fugro-Rovtech bought DeepTouch due to its ease of use, specifically because a subsea engineer can readily customise it for a particular task, whereas competitor systems require a programmer to make the changes. The company also liked the fact that FGRL writes all its own software and does not rely on third-party applications it does not control.
Customisation
Customisation is straightforward and programming skills are not required. DeepTouch allows an engineer to drag and drop objects from the extensive libraries to build subsea worlds containing items such as vessels, pipes, cables and ROVs. DeepTouch can also show electrical and hydraulic circuits in complex subsea machinery, modelling down to great detail within the ROV itself. This makes it quick and easy to change or even create a new vehicle design.
DeepTouch simulation makes it simple to evaluate and change designs prior to manufacture and reduces reliance on expensive and time- consuming prototypes. FGRL is aiming DeepTouch at companies within the Fugro Group and third-party subsea services providers.
DeepTouch heralds a new era in subsea simulation. Models can be as detailed as the hydraulic or electric circuits comprising the sub assemblies of an ROV or other tool system. At the same time this can interconnect with cables, tethers, vessels and other real world items all of which can be controlled, driven, and winched in realistic fashion. The
DeepWorks supports FGRL’s offshore and subsea clients in minimising risk and speeding up the oil and gas production process. The latest addition to the DeepWorks family is DeepTouch.
resulting information is truly 3D and allows immersive documentation, live data recording, training and marketing material all to be built on real physics-based outcomes.
Like its predecessor, the ROVolution simulator, DeepTouch uses cost-effective PC hardware running Windows XP. Existing ROVolution simulators can be upgraded to DeepTouch specification.
The technology in DeepWorks 2.0 makes it very straightforward to produce proprietary, customer-specific components that plug into the customer’s copies of DeepWorks, making it easy to develop specific
34
Until now, Fugro-Rovtech’s engineering and tooling department has relied on building prototypes, system integration testing, small-scale wet tests and the like for design verification. It now plans to conduct preliminary testing in the simulator during the design phase with the goal of greatly reducing overall lead times.
“We are talking about bespoke equipment we make for our clients such as tooling, control systems and other kit for the ROV,” said Nick Alvarado, Subsea Engineer, Fugro-Rovtech. “When clients encounter a
DeepTouch allows an engineer to drag and drop objects from the extensive libraries to build subsea worlds containing items such as vessels, pipes, cables and ROVs.
problem subsea we occasionally have to design a set of tools specific to that job and sometimes the ideas and mechanisms have never been used before subsea, so being able to test before we actually start manufacturing is of great value.”
For pilot, training the underlying circuits are fully modelled. This gives supervisors an overview, allowing them to ‘break’ individual circuits or components to test how much pilots understand their equipment. The supervisor can do this in realtime or develop a problem scenario for trainees to resolve. Trainees can repeat a scenario until they get it right. The whole data set and 3D world are recorded and can be returned to at any point for review.
“We chose FGRL because of capabilities and future development, we saw where FGRL was heading and that was more in tune with our needs as opposed to competitor offerings. It was a decision made long before Fugro bought FGRL and was independent of it,” said Alvarado. n
About FGRL
FGRL is a member of the Fugro group of companies. Fugro is listed on Euronext Amsterdam and is included in the AEX-index. Fugro has about 13,500 employees in more than 50 countries.
EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION – VOLUME 8 ISSUE 2
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108