Fugro Speeds up Subsea Operations

Fugro Survey Ltd. has successfully installed the first of three structures in 850 metres of water using Sonardyne’s wideband Long Baseline Acoustic Positioning System, Fusion. Working from their client’s installation barge on the North West European Continental Shelf (NWECS), Fugro Survey Ltd. is believed to be the first company to successfully use this system in the commercial arena.
This acoustic positioning innovation uses digital subsea acoustic signals to position subsea structures. The digital signals mean that subsea operations are speeded up because:

• calibrations are carried out more quickly
  
• operations are possible in noisier subsea environments
  
• stable, repeatable readings allow precise, delay-free manoeuvring
  
• extra-high-frequency accuracies are achievable over longer ranges.

• multi-user arrays – more than one job going on at the same time and less deployed equipment
  
• overlapping arrays extending the size of the area of operations
  
• additional telemetry functions providing a new level of critical information to the installation team
  
• lower power consumption, extending subsea array deployment duration
  
• stable accurate ROV tracking within the array.