Forum Subsea Rentals, the Aberdeen based equipment rental specialist have made a further significant investment in inertial navigation technology from supplier iXBlue. This latest investment makes Forum Subsea Rentals one of the world’s largest stockists of iXBlue products.
The equipment is due to be utilised for ROV positioning in survey and construction support applications on major projects worldwide. The contract includes a quantity of ROVINS subsea inertial navigation systems as well as OCTANS gyrocompasses. These OCTANS gyrocompasses can be upgrated to the full INS capability of the ROVINS.
The robust positioning solution provided by ROVINS can be enhanced with the use of a Doppler Velocity Log which can be coupled directly to the INS or fitted elsewhere on the vehicle. In either case, for best performance, it is necessary to perform an alignment calibration procedure. This can be performed on site however users often prefer to have the sensors coupled and calibrated prior to mobilisation to a project.
iXBlue engineers assisted Forum in the preparation and calibration of six ROVINS/DVL sets to be mobilised to a project in the Spring of 2013. A survey vessel was hired for a week during which the coupled systems were calibrated and a number of Forum Engineers were fully trained in the procedure by the iXBlue engineers.
David Cunningham of iXBlue’s Aberdeen based subsidiary said ‘ As the demand for iXBlue subsea INS solutions continue to grow we see training as a vital element of our offering’.
[mappress] Press Release, April 10, 2013