DATA PROCESSING & INTERPRETATION
Remote exploration: the changing world of satellite communications
In what is a highly data- intensive industry, ships once had to collect seismic and other exploration data and bring it back with them when the ship next docked in port. But, as the search for oil and gas moves into deeper waters, satellite technology is the only realistic option for communication. Simon Watts reports.
In dieser extrem datenintensiven Branche mussten einst Schiffe seismische und andere Explorationsdaten sammeln und mit sich in den nächsten Hafen zurückbringen Doch die Suche nach Öl und Gas dringt in immer tiefere Gewässer vor, sodass Satellitentechnologie die einzig realistische Option zur Kommunikation ist. Simon Watts berichtet.
En una industria con un uso intensivo de los datos, los barcos tenían que recoger datos sísmicos y de exploración y traerlos consigo cuando el siguiente barco atracaba en el puerto. Pero a medida que la búsqueda de petróleo y gas se realiza en aguas más profundas, la tecnología satélite es la única opción realista de comunicación. Comenta Simon Watts.
A
s with many other industries, the world of communications in supporting the oil and gas industry
is developing rapidly, both in terms of the users’ needs and the technologies capable of meeting the sector’s constantly evolving demands. With near-shore exploration in areas such as the North Sea, the requirements are broadly in line with those of most data- intensive industries. As fibre links can be placed alongside pipelines linking oil or gas rigs with the mainland, terrestrial solutions form the primary underlying communications technology, with satellite and microwave used as a back-up as required.
Deeper waters As we move towards exploration in deeper waters and more remote geographies, the communications landscape changes completely. Where it is commercially or technically unfeasible to lay fibre optic cable or use long-haul microwave connections, satellite becomes the only viable option. It is here that the demand of the oil and gas industry differs the most from other commercial users of telecommunications technologies. Historically, ships had to collect seismic and other exploration data and bring it back with them when they next docked in port - a slow process and one with potentially significant commercial implications.
Ku-band-based solutions Te market took a quantum leap forward with the emergence of Inmarsat-type satellite technologies and has moved on again with the latest Ku-band-based solutions offering a faster, fixed price broadband service. Critically, for both the vessel owner and individual crew member, the expansion of Ku-band brings voice and data performance much closer to the established ADSL communications quality users are used to back home on land. And, as Ku-band delivery becomes faster, cheaper and more
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readily available in remoter corners of the globe, so associated usage will increase.
Upload capacity One area in which the exploration industry is unlike many other sectors is in the flow of data. In most IT applications, more data travels from the centre to outlying locations, such as regional offices or manufacturing units. However, in the oil and gas industry,
large volumes of raw geological and SCADA (supervisory and data acquisition) type data is transmitted from rigs and exploration vessels to each company’s data centre. Equally, relatively little data flows back from the centre and when it does, it usually relates to confirming precise details as to where to focus local exploration efforts based on an analysis of that data. Unlike most satellite-based solutions
which are data centre-centric therefore, here most of the required bandwidth is at each of the remote locations. A standard enterprise-grade service focused on the data centre will be unsuitable in such an environment: what is required is a solution which can offer a Quality of Service (QoS) with large upload capacity. As a result, the typical satellite-based solution deployed by oil and gas companies today is a single carrier per channel (SCPC) solution – in effect, a ‘leased line in the sky’.
Changing needs Until now this has been a primarily commercial decision based on the needs of the broader business. However, more recently, there has been increasing pressure to provide communications solutions which also meet the social needs of employees, by making Internet access and video- conferencing, for example, readily available at an individual level. With staff away from home for many
weeks at a time, this has become a critical factor in the ability to recruit highly-skilled staff. Put simply, without offering such personal communication links as part of the
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