Page 22: of Marine Technology Magazine (May 2020)

Vehicles

Innovative new platforms to conduct subsea work operated vehicles, or ROVs. date reservoir information. Seabed Geo-

SurvEy typES “In the morning, the operator launches Solutions has just declared itself a “nodal

A more lucrative use for the Mariner

II is, potentially, the servicing of seabed the USV from a mothership carrying seismic company”. After two downturns seismic nodes that receive and refne nodes and ROVs. Then, the operator in 12 years, the industry is keen to use acoustic signals “shot” from a surface goes to the control room to program the nodes over streamers where possible. vessel to provide real-time reservoir data USV and to work with a map of placed While Hovstein doesn’t see the Mariner nodes. The USV drives over those areas II replacing larger vessels that supply over time. The Mariner II retrieves infor- automatically, and when the USV is in massive power for the acoustic “shoot”, mation from these and speedily transmits the right area, it acoustically commu- there is a new multi-client market for them to the seismic survey vessel “The quality control of these nodes is nicates with the nodes and checks that seabed nodal surveys, as confrmed by the battery’s okay, the system’s running Schlumberger’s collaboration with Axxis time-time consuming, (so the Mariner II) right, there’s enough (digital) storage Geo Solutions to promote seabed nodal is better than three guys in a dingy,” says and adjusts the parameters you want to seismic and the West African and Gulf of

Maritime Robotics chief operating of- fcer, Eirik Evjen Hovstein. “Especially monitor. That info is transferred to the Mexico surveys of Seabed GeoSolutions,

USV which reports it to the mother ship itself a business of CGG and Fugro.

when piracy is an issue.” as a live update. It’s all live.” Seabed GeoSolutions is in year three

Servicing nodes — normally a labour- of its use of the Mariner USV and is un- intensive endeavour — normally leaves

NOdAl SEISmIC derstood to have applied it in this year’s key people out in the open. Having the

While seabed nodal seismic has been a nodal survey of Mississippi Canyon

USV communicate with the nodes and growth market for a decade, there could, blocks in the Gulf of Mexico. Depending relay the signal to the ship has report- edly been “a great success” for Seabed according to Seabed GeoSolutions, be on water depth and the size and ability some disruption. Future nodes might de- of crews, the Mariner II can service be-

GeoSolutions, an early Maritime Robot- ploy on their own. tween 300 and 700 nodes a day, so vast ics client. Sending out the USV seems as

To be sure, nodal seismic has picked up distances can be serviced. For the Gulf uncomplicated as sending out the seis- mic vessel’s node-deploying remotely as a means of gaining less-costly up-to- shoot, Seabed GeoSolutions does the data

Seismic survey work:

Seabed GeoSolutions operationg a Mariner in 2018 (the vessel would have been used to check the integrity of a wide area of accoustic receivers on the ocean bottom

Maritime Robotics May 2020 22

MTR