Dry measurements of sea state has been made available through the cloud as a service, granting customers flexible access to real time data without having to cover the investment in data collection and transfer equipment.
“Making sea state data available in real time through the cloud was a major step forward, but we believe that offering this as a pure service will be equally as important for our customers,” said Andreas Brekke, CEO of Miros Group, a technology company specializing in measuring the ocean surface.
According to Brekke, Miros’ line of IoT based dry sensors, with no equipment exposed to water, is the key to the new service offering: “With a dry system there is virtually no maintenance once the system is in place. That allows us to be secure in providing the service without the customer having to pay for equipment maintenance.” He confirms that customers may also purchase the sensors if they choose, and subscribe to the cloud service.
Energy major Equinor is the first Miros customer to take advantage of the cloud-based sea state data offering, using it to monitor wave conditions at their gas pipeline landfall on Norway’s west coast. The pipeline requires regular inspection and maintenance performed by divers, and accurate monitoring of the near-shore sea state is crucial to diver safety.
“Miros dry system monitoring proved to be more attractive for Equinor than wave buoys, due to enhanced safety, low maintenance and data availability,” Brekke said.
The Miros Wave and Current Radar (SM-050) collects sea state data on wave parameters, wave spectrum and surface currents. Their Rangefinder and Wavefinder (SM-140) adds water level and draft measurements to the package, all available through the cloud. The Miros portfolio also includes oil spill detection.
Brekke believes this latest service development, dubbed Miros Cloud, will serve Miros’ customers well: “Delivering on service-based contracts requires exceptional confidence in the equipment. With zero-maintenance, dry sensor technology and data sharing through the cloud, we can now offer our customers the most affordable and flexible sea state data services at the highest level of reliability.”