Sonardyne has delivered an acoustic positioning simulator for dynamically positioned (DP) rigs and ships to GE Power Conversion, a vessel control and automation company, for their new training school in Macaé, Brazil.
The Sonardyne Marksman hardware and 6G Sim software will be used to provide student DP Officers (DPOs) with an understanding of the important role acoustic positioning has in assisting a vessel to remain in a specified location while underwater operations are being conducted.
The Marksman system calculates a vessel’s position relative to an array of transponders deployed on the seabed. The technique is known as Long and Ultra-Short Baseline (LUSBL) and it provides a position reference for DP vessels where remaining in a specified location is a critical operational requirement.
The Sonardyne equipment now installed at GE’s Macaé facility includes a Navigation PC running the Marksman LUSBL application, along with 6G Sim, a software application that simulates an array of transponders on seabed transmitting signals up to the surface. The system has been interfaced with GE’s C series DP desk to provide DPOs with an onshore training experience that is realistic as possible to being offshore.
“Simulator-based training, like that offered by GE in Macaé and ourselves in Rio das Ostras, not only helps maximize equipment performance, it also reduces operational risk," said Mark Carter, global business manager for DP and drilling, Sonardyne. "We’re delighted that GE has selected Marksman to help train the next generation of Brazilian DPOs."
DP is the automated control technology that enables a deepwater mobile drilling unit, well intervention, survey or construction vessel to maintain a predetermined heading and position, fixed or moving, using its own thrusters and propellers. To counteract the effects of wind, current and wave action, all DP systems require aiding from position and motion sensors in order to calculate the required steering angle and thruster output needed to keep the vessel in the required position. Subsea acoustic positioning, along with satellite navigation, surface-based lasers and high performance attitude sensors form the primary suite of sensors that a DP system is interfaced to.
Image: Marksmen acoustic simulator equipment/Sonardyne
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