Offshore service provider BOURBON has announced the successful completion of testing on a new system to conduct remote digital surveys of DP (Dynamic Positioning) systems by analysing performance and carrying out redundancy audits, developed in collaboration with Kongsberg Maritime and Bureau Veritas.
The ‘DP Digital Survey’ application runs on an industrial data management architecture, acquiring information directly from the DP system and delivering it to auditors via a secure Cloud infrastructure, allowing compulsory surveys to be conducted remotely.
“This project greatly contributes to the aim of our ‘smart shipping’ programme, which is to capitalise on the digital revolution so as to stand out through a connected fleet while simultaneously reducing our operational costs,” said Frederic Moulin, BOURBON Operations Director.
“With our partners, we are ready to extend this ‘DP Digital Survey’ to sister ships in the coming months, and plan for further deployment later.”
The next stage of development for the DP Digital Survey app will include gradual automation of the survey process by capturing and digitalising the best practices of DP auditors, and then redesigning surveys and tests to best fit the new tools, based on the industrial data.
Kongsberg says that it also aims to establish a continuous ‘DP Digital Survey’ framework, where the performance and the technical availability of the DP system are remotely monitored in detail.
“The key for us is to receive reliable performance and failure data – not just photos and pictures,” said Laurent Leblanc, Vice-President and Marine Operations Director, Bureau Veritas.
“We have to first check the data is of sufficient quality: data quality management is a key factor, along with cyber security for data transfer. Our expertise is then used to review and assess the data. This provides access to a higher level and depth of ‘onshore’ engineering expertise to make judgements on results.”
