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Marine Research

Marine Research
Marine Research

Sea based scientific laboratory of BaltRobotics is placed on the vessel “MAEKSA”. There are mechanical and electronic workshops fully equipped there. It is the universal platform for any marine scientific research and marine development.

With very experienced scientific and engineering staff and with AUV “X-3A” on board BaltRobotics is interested to cooperate and participate in any marine development and research projects.

BaltRobotics can integrate any sensors in AUV “X-3A” and design and manufacture in operative manner any kind of special research equipment.

The vessel “MAEKSA” with its marine experienced crew is certified for the missions in any part of the world ocean.


Undersea Raw Material Exploration

The ocean is the main source of raw material reserve for world population just in the nearest future.

Using of ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicles) for raw materials exploration – it is very expensive approach.

AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) has to be the main type of undersea vehicle for raw material exploration.

Undersea Surveys

Undersea Surveys

Undersea Surveys

 Offshore survey applications include:

  • mapping (relief modeling);
  • development of offshore resources (such as oil and gas, minerals, etc.): exploration, preliminary planning for the production activities;
  • locate submerged wrecks and obstacles;
  • find and photograph underwater archeological sites.

Before any subsea work can begin, the area must be surveyed to map the bathymetry and composition of the seafloor, detect the presence of resources, and ensure that there are no impediments to development.

Historically, towed systems performed these tasks. However, towed systems require a connection to a surface vessel, which limits their ability to maintain a constant altitude and requires cumbersome maneuvers between track lines.

There is also shallow water issue – if we see the ROV-approaches (Remotely Operated Vehicle) the carrier vessel usually has large displacement (tonnage) – 1000 ton and more. Such large vessels can not work in the depths less 20-30 meters taking in mind also the the sea bottom in many areas is not plane – there could be rocks, corals and other dangerous obstacles.

Divers for large production scale work are also not the right solution.

In many regions the weather can be very severe for all the season – for example in North Sea or in Arctic.

For any of these conditions AUV “X-3A” had been designed by BaltRobotics is the right and reliable solution.

AUVs collect data more efficiently than towed systems or ROVs. Without the constraints of a tether and umbilicals. AUVs can maneuver and navigate more precisely, enabling them to run accurate track lines and follow bottom contours. This reduces the number of track lines required to completely survey a designated area. In addition, AUVs can quickly perform very tight turns, which increase the ratio of survey time to the time required to position the system for the next track line, ultimately enabling faster data collection.

Another advantage of AUVs is the increased quality of the collected data. In addition, accurate navigation of X-3A allows the sensors to collect data at a constant altitude above the sea bottom, resulting in much greater data consistency.

 

Undersea Catodic Protection Inspections

Undersea Catodic Protection Inspections

Undersea Catodic Protection Inspections

The majority of materials currently used for the construction of subsea pipelines and flowlines will corrode if they are not protected from the corrosive seawater environment. The mitigation of corrosion in these systems almost always relies on a protective coating and an effective cathodic protection (CP) system.

BaltRobotics had designed and implemented “Cathodic Protection Underwater Automatic Inspection Technology” (CP-UAIT). This technology is based on AUVs (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) as the carriers of CP-potential sensors.

Cathodic Protection approach is still at the moment the mostly used for undersea structures corrosion protection: for platforms, rigs, pipelines, etc., and for vessels also.

The Challenge is:

-          Pressure capability and hence the operational capacity of O&G pipelines deteriorates rapidly over their lifecycle;
-          Increasing environmental awareness following BP Deep water Horizon spill necessitates a more diligent approach to maintenance.

New regulatory and audit requirements:

-          “Safety and Environmental Management Systems” (SEMS) by “Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation & Enforcement” (“30 CFR Part 250”)had been approved and implemented in the regulation;
-          “American Petroleum Institute” (API) designed “Recommended Practice 75” (RP75) and it was bringing into force. Now it is the norm for obligatory fulfillment for all US operators from the beginning of 2014.

This, in particular, means that all Oil&Gas offshore operators should make audits by the “third party” – as independent company every 4 years. The initial one has to be done for 2–years from the beginning of 2014.

Currently the main approach for the inspections of undersea pipelines cathodic protection potential was the using of ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) with the proper sensors.

The ROV-approach advantages:

•         existing and proven technology;
•         the number of installed ROV: survey equipment, and vessels;
•         the pool of trained staff.

The ROV-Approach disadvantages:

•         high CAPEX & OPEX;
•         high risks (ROV loss);
•         limited area of operations – it means - “shallow water” limitation.

Some ROV-approach figures (Malaysian experience):

•         Cost of work – 75,000 -100,000 UDS/day;
•         Productivity – 6-8 km/day (depends on weather conditions);
•         Working period – 80-100 days per year.



AUV-approach: 1) the system allows offshore oil&gas operator to inspect greater pipeline lengths and more frequently with same budget, and 2) allows multiple AUVs operate from single carrier-ship (ROV has to followed by the ship alone).

AUV-approach advantages:

•        low CAPEX & OPEX;
•        low risks of losses (because of the absence of tether and umbilical);
•        unlimited area of operations (deep and shallow water permitted);
•        proven worldwide tendency of the development.

As the last item – according to the market forecast of M&M (http://www.marketsandmarkets.com):


“The global UUV (Unmanned Underwater Vehicle) market will exhibit a robust growth over the next five years.
The global ROV market is estimated to be $1.2 billion in 2014 and is expected to register a CAGR of 20.11% in 2019.
The global AUV market is estimated to be $457 million in 2014 and is expected to register a CAGR of 31.95% in 2019”.


Note: M&M is a full service market research company and consulting firm that produces 400 high-level, strategically analyzed, full-length reports a year, tracking more than 10 industries. This intelligence database comprising of about 400 reports a year, will form one of the world's largest business intelligence resources worldwide.

Thus AUV-market is estimated as more fast growing as ROV one as “+10%”.

Of there are disadvantages.

There are some disadvantages for AUV development:

•        lack of underwater communications;
•        lack of battery capacity;
•        new technology;
•        needs the investments;
•        has to be implemented.

BaltRobotics practically had resolved the technical ones.

In particular we have now the only in the world implemented Underwater Wireless Video Communication Channel in operation mode in our AUV X-3A and the vessel MAEKSA.

The battery capacity permits the missions of AUV X-3A till 10-12 hours and cover till 10 km of pipeline CP-potential inspection.

For the CP-inspection we use the most accurate approach – with the direct wire contact with sacrificial anode on the pipeline. The CP-inspection are provided in fully automatic mode.


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