Strategic Review of autonomous system capability for long-term decommissioning monitoring
STREAM will provide a comprehensive strategic review, looking at the capabilities and cost-effectiveness of robotics and autonomous systems for long-term environmental monitoring pre-decommissioning and in perpetuity.
The main impacts from this project will be the embedment of new knowledge within the industry sector, taking account of the lessons learnt within the academic community regarding the true capabilities of these systems.
The industry partners will steer the strategic review, providing context with regards to the current practice and data expectations of the decommissioning community. Reviewing the current ‘state of art’ technological capabilities, this project will, in-turn, identify the key knowledge and technology gaps that restrict the adoption of autonomous systems within the sector.
The outcomes will inform policy on environmental regulation of decommissioning operations and promote cost-effective solutions for in-perpetuity environmental monitoring by the decommissioning community. They will also assist steering future development of autonomous environmental monitoring systems for the O&G decommissioning industry, and other offshore operators.
Role of SAMS
Steered by the industry partners, SAMS will consult a range of stakeholders such as the regulator, oil and gas companies, academics, and platform & sensor developers, to obtain an understanding of the ‘state of requirement’ for environmental monitoring within the decommissioning sector, to acquire insights into the current technological capability of autonomous systems, and to collate information on future technology and sensor developments. This review will highlight the potential capacity of autonomous systems to meet the industry expectations, and will identify key opportunities for innovative sensor and platform technology development.
The SAMS Scottish Marine Robotics Facility (Scot-MRF) houses the knowledge-base for operating autonomous systems platforms and sensors for the acquisition and streaming of environmental data. Based at Scot-MRF, the North Atlantic Glider Base (NAGB) has maintained a long-term monitoring programme in the North Atlantic since 2009. SAMS will review the operational infrastructure, data processing requirements, and lessons learned from operating the NAGB.
Using a case study (defined by the industry partners), SAMS will undertake a cost-benefit analysis comparing the use of autonomous technology (operational requirements and costs) against conventional means.
