John Benson outlines the challeneges of digital video recording solutions offshore.
Reliability of equipment offshore is paramount; delays due to failure can cost companies financially and has a negative impact on reputation.
Understanding this is very important when designing a product, to be used in the offshore environment.
Digital Edge Subsea Ltd has supplies the oil and gas industry with their range of digital video recording solutions and now supplies the main ROV manufacturers and ROV/Diving operators worldwide.
Most people now have high definition TV at home, yet HD has been fairly slow to be implemented in offshore underwater inspections. The tide has now changed and many companies are now realising the benefits of the higher resolution that a HD survey can bring.
High definition recording gives the client up to four times the video resolution of a standard definition survey. When inspecting a client’s subsea asset, the upgraded resolution gives the inspector the best possible chance to determine the integrity of the component.
HD comes with its own technical challenges, video storage, cameras, lighting etc. But the industry is learning from these challenges, with ROV manufacturers now supplying vehicles with HD capability.
Cost is always important within the industry, but clients can now see the true benefits of high definition video inspections.
With that in mind, Digital Edge’s range of standard resolution DVRs are fully upgradable to HD at a later date. The systems return to base for the upgrade on a 3 day turnaround. This allows clients to forward plan and have confidence that their equipment does not become redundant.
The company now has six DVRs within its product range:
* Standard Resolution (SD): EdgeDVR1SD – Single Channel Recording; EdgeDVR2SD – Dual Channel Recording; EdgeDVR4SD – Quad Channel Recording
* High Resolution: EdgeDVR1HD – Single Channel Recording (HD or SD); EdgeDVR2HD – Dual Channel Recording (HD & SD); EdgeDVR4HD – Quad Channel Recording (HD & SD).
The DVR is a complete inspection solution that is easy to use and is presently being used worldwide by most of the leading ROV and diving companies.
Main Features: Real-time Eventing; Digital Overlay; Automatic Dive, Video, Photo and Anomaly Logs; 3 x 3Tb of removable hard drive storage; Multi-channel Video Clips & Photos; Workpack creation; Client Viewer/Editor COABIS Integration; Automatic Blackbox Recording
Technical support is also very important offshore; all units are remotely accessible by Digital Edge. This also allows the company to install updates as well as normal tech support tasks.
Enter X at www.engineerlive.com/iog
John Benson is with Digital Edge Subsea Ltd, Ulverston, UK. www.digitaledgesubsea.com
