Video Tool for ROV Surveys
Atlantas Marine has made its first move into ROV instrumentation with the design and manufacture of a video overlay device intended to make cathodic protection surveys easier and faster. Being shown in public for the first time at OI 2016, the tool has been designed to display the readings obtained by a cathodic protection probe as an overlay on the ROV’s video display. This creates a permanent record and eliminates the need for the ROV operator to make handwritten notes of individual probe readings while surveying the condition of a vessel’s anodes. The CP video overlay tool is the result of many years of practical ROV operation by Atlantas Marine.
The CP video overlay unit consists of a small black box that can be quickly and easily interfaced with the ROV’s cathodic measurement probe and the pilot’s video display. It is the answer to a practical problem that Atlantas Marine ROV operators had been grappling with for many years and it now enables them to give their undivided attention to the task of operating the ROV and its probe. When the ROV is driven forward against the hull or anode of a vessel the current reading obtained by its probe is traditionally displayed on a separate unit. From there it must be transcribed by the ROV pilot or an assistant in a way that enables the reading to be related to a specific anode. This can be a challenge if sea conditions are difficult or visibility is limited but with the CP data overlay it is no longer necessary. The reading obtained by the probe is shown as part of the ROV’s video display which is creating a permanent record of the dive. By reviewing the recording later it becomes possible to relate the data to the exact location in a way that efficiently avoids any mistakes or ambiguity.
