Smart Vessel Systems for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations
Oil and gas platforms are crucial to upstream company production. Maintaining 24/7 visibility in rig operations is critical to value creation, preservation and amplification.
However, installing internet protocol (IP) and thermal cameras does not automatically translate to effective operations surveillance.
Think of it this way: Unless your security personnel are capable of unrelentingly monitoring multiple video surveillance screens 24/7, your high-definition video footage — even if it was taken from all possible angles — is likely to be more useful primarily for review purposes rather than for real-time preventive security and monitoring measures.
Turnkey solutions, instead of piecemeal surveillance hardware or software, are the answer. You must have a system in place to ensure constant, active surveillance and trigger responses to real-time incidents. Fully integrated, technology-enabled systems – not disjointed and compartmentalised components – yield the best results.
1. Surveillance
Using the above example, you can install IP cameras all over your vessel and make them more effective by integrating them with a video management system.
Such a system can do many things. For instance, you can use it to set up virtual tripwires in the field of view of the cameras focused on restricted areas or controlled entry and exit points. When these virtual tripwires are breached, the system automatically sounds an alarm for surveillance personnel to check and verify.
Motion detection is an alternative to or may be used in conjunction with virtual tripwire analytics. It’s an excellent way to detect intrusion in crucial areas typically devoid of human activity.
The video management system may also have advanced algorithms capable of detecting abandoned objects. This can be coupled with or enhanced with background modelling capabilities, pinpointing objects that do not usually belong within a camera’s field of vision. Anomalies in the scene can trigger alerts or alarms.
2. Safety
Cameras powered by video management systems can be used to enhance safety checks.
In usual practice, vessels have staff in charge of manually checking whether personnel going into high-hazard areas or responsible for undertaking risky operations are wearing proper gear, particularly the personal protective equipment or PPE mandated by occupational health, safety and environment (HSE) standards and best practices. Video analytics can automate these checks, removing the need for manual PPE and HSE inspections.
The great thing about automated PPE and HSE checking systems is that they don’t limit safety checks to entry and exit points. Cameras inside PPE-only areas can monitor personnel for the entire duration of their shift, ensuring HSE compliance violators can be immediately spotted and subsequently deterring and minimising potential HSE violations.
Machine learning can take this to the next level. The data from cameras monitoring PPE and HSE compliance can be used to detect HSE violation patterns. Conclusions drawn from the data may influence HSE standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Likewise, oil and gas vessels can use artificial intelligence (AI) with machine learning to improve their defences against sea swells. Machine-to-machine (M2M) inclinometer sensors can continuously log the ship’s periodical movements, specifying the rate and direction of such motions.
Machine learning algorithms can process these data, which can help detect patterns in sea movements and determine the thresholds for specific sea conditions. AI systems can then be set up to alert the crew whenever perilous conditions are present.
3. Slip and Fall Detection
Intelligent platform surveillance systems can be used not only to detect intrusions, motion and abandoned objects. They can also be utilised to detect accidents onboard.
Slip and fall accidents are among the most common causes of offshore rig injuries. These platforms are subject to sea swells. Combine this with slick and slippery surfaces, and personnel are at a high risk of slipping and falling in offshore platforms.
Through video analytics, cameras can be rigged to detect whenever a crew member slips and falls. This ensures no accident will be left undetected and no injured crew will be left untreated. Additionally, sea swells and weather data may be used for prediction whenever there’s an exceptionally high risk of slip-and-fall accidents. This can lead to the introduction of more effective slip-and-fall prevention practices.
4. Visibility
Offshore rigs and operations need exceptional vessel visibility. To accomplish this, you can use precise image-recognition software with surveillance cameras. What this does is ensure the identification of objects caught in the camera field of view.
Not only does this provide control (or the AI program tasked with active monitoring) with a baseline for measuring and detecting activities for various purposes, but it also enables effective digital asset management, as this technology can help account for the company’s assets and their whereabouts.
Additionally, thermal cameras can be paired with AI analytics. These can look at the movements in the camera field of view and detect recurring movements as well as differentiate movements on and outside the vessel.
This type of technology ensures the cameras (and the entire video surveillance system) can be more effective at accurately detecting if a person goes overboard. This will prevent nuisance alarms and ensure prompt action from rescue and first-response personnel.
The use of the global positioning system (GPS) can further enhance the efficacy of man-overboard detection systems. Every time an actual movement indicates someone falling off the vessel, the system can automatically plot the GPS positioning of that event to provide a more concentrated area for search and rescue operations.
Smart Offshore Operations
Oil platforms and vessels aloft at sea are physically disconnected from onshore bases. They require autonomy and prompt decision-making to ensure the people onboard are able to respond correctly to ongoing situations. Additionally, they need systems that will enforce compliance with best practices and industry standards.
Smart vessel systems are the answer. Instead of installing cameras, manning them 24/7, and trusting that their overseers can maintain focus throughout their entire shift, a system integrator can incorporate them into an ML-informed, AI-driven video management analytics system to improve surveillance, safety, injury prevention, and visibility throughout the vessel.
Such a system automatically triggers alerts and alarms, focusing the safety and security personnel’s attention on notable incidents instead of them struggling to monitor everything all at once. This ensures effective and prompt responses as needed.