Latest Developments in Acoustic Subsea Control and Monitoring for theDrilling Industry

摘要

This presentation will review the case for secure, high reliability acoustic signalling through water, with applicabilityto communication, monitoring and control requirements. Illustrations will be drawn from NASBOP to provide anexample of critical data being transmitted and received acoustically in the deepwater Oil and Gas arena today. Advances in Digital Acoustic Technology and the specific inception of spread spectrum communication technologyhave resulted in high integrity, high reliability transmission and reception of critical command and control data fromSubsea BOP to surface vessels. These systems have unique ability to operate reliably in deep water, highmultipath environments with greater than 99% reliability. The foundation of Nautronix signalling is ADS2 (Acoustic Digital Spread Spectrum) technology. Proven ADS2technology allows high integrity data transmission and excellent immunity to interference. Its long range capability(in excess of 5km dependent on environmental conditions) as well as reduced battery consumption, makes thistechnology the ideal solution as primary or secondary data management and communication. Ultimately, thistechnology will provide options for a wide range of life of field applications in the future. NASeBOP, using ADS2 technology, provides the solution from a subsea control perspective without the traditionalumbilical to remotely monitor other subsea equipment and retrieve data such as pressure/temperature wirelessly.NASeBOP provides 16 critical functions with feedback for the Subsea Isolation Device and allows for read-back of8 analogue sensors to monitor critical subsea pressure and temperature readings. The system also allows theability to activate an Emergency Disconnect Sequence (EDS) and to monitor the BOP status after disconnect. The next evolution of BOP control is NASMUX; using 128 channels to fully control and monitor the BOP withacoustics. This technology will revolutionise BOP operations by addressing many of the current issues by providinga reduction of umbilical’s and reels, elimination of downtime caused by umbilical damage and increased safety byreduction of moon-pool activity in handling of umbilical’s. The system would provide full BOP functionality in theevent of umbilical failure, in order to allow the operator to safely shut in a well before recovery for umbilical repair.