DATA PROCESSING & INTERPRETATION
employment contract, the ability to recruit the best people can be severely restricted. Such concerns are similarly paramount in the
recruitment of employees for tankers and exploration ships travelling huge distances and to even more remote parts of the globe. Here, both commercial and social criteria demand solutions that provide truly global network coverage, with a breadth of communications functionality and capability significantly beyond that legally required for tracking purposes. In meeting this demand, solutions are now available offering C-band and Ku-band Internet access coverage for commercial shipping on a global basis. Te ability to meet both commercial and social
imperatives on a global scale has also become more important as companies are having to push the boundaries of exploration. As those natural resources which are most readily accessible are near exhaustion, companies have to extend their search and reach in ever-more remote locations, both at sea and on land. In facing greater physical, geological and political challenges in these new areas of exploration, certainty of communication becomes even more important.
Optimising bandwidth Oil and gas companies are not immune from the intense financial pressure which continue to result from the current economic downturn and so need to make the most of the bandwidth available to them. Most companies today typically have a dedicated communications link to each rig or ship. Tis is where the potential exists to optimise bandwidth performance by sharing connectivity between multiple remote sites and the data centre. So, if each individual rig, for example, uses 2Mbps of connectivity five times per day, it may be possible to share that bandwidth between, say 10 rigs, so requiring a substantially lower investment. Te big issue for any exploration company is that of bandwidth cost, so by moving away from a dedicated to a shared resource, provides the opportunity to make much better use of existing bandwidth. For many, the move away from a bottom-up, per- rig to a top-down, fleet-based approach may require a fundamental change of mindset: however, the potential savings in sharing in-route communications are substantial.
Tough the initial cost of a shared solution will be slightly higher compared to a SCPC solution, the medium to long-term savings on bandwidth will far outweigh any additional initial upfront investment. Tere is another change which companies should consider when selecting the most appropriate and cost-effective satellite-based solution. Historically, in
an industry with unique demands on data communications, not surprisingly, sector-specific solutions have had inherent advantages over generic, off- the-shelf competitors capable of limited personalisation at best to meet the needs of an individual end-user. However, with the level of
investment in such broader solutions far outpacing that of their niche counterparts in making these more stable and cost-efficient, it is fair to say that in some cases the generic solution will now outperform custom build products. As a result, for those oil and gas companies that have in the past selected specially developed communications solutions, now may be the time to take a fresh look at what the market has to offer.
And of course, in such a mission-critical area in which the data is the business, it is equally essential to have total confidence in the financial robustness and quality of support of any provider claiming to offer a truly global communications network.
Looking ahead Providers of satellite technologies face a constant battle to keep up with the oil and gas industry’s insatiable appetite for bandwidth, as the volume of data derived from remote locations and fed into data centres continues to grow exponentially. Te resulting challenge for providers is to meet these increasing capacity demands, at the same time providing a robust service at competitive cost. One example of this is the addition of global C-band coverage for the deep blue oceans, building on the extension of Ku-band broadband services to coastal waters.
Looking ahead, the next move is already underway
- from Ku-band to Ka-band - in looking to further increase bandwidth without a parallel increase in price, it is likely to be four years or more before Ka-band is commonly available for ships and oil and gas platforms in near coastal waters. Having said that, the industry will continue to
put pressure on providers to drive such technology improvements as quickly as possible, as faster voice and data speeds deliver immediate and substantial benefits in terms of lower cost and better performance.
Simon Watts is chief engineer, Hughes Europe, Milton Keynes, UK.
www.hughes.com
www.engineerlive.com 33
“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.”
Simon Watts, Chief Engineer, Hughes Europe Ends
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