DIPS (DGPS INCLINOMETER POSITIONING SYSTEM)
Challenge - Shallow Water Positioning
Shallow water acoustic positioning is challenging due to high ambient noise and multiple reflections.
Additionally, ROV's must often work at large offsets from the host vessel due to vessel draft limitations.
This results in calibration delays, slow fixes and poor accuracy,
The Solution - DIPS
The ROV tows a small surface buoy on a constant tension winch. The buoy measures the range and bearing to the ROV. The Buoy transmits its location (DGPS derived) and calculated ROV position to the host vessel.
As the buoy position is accurately known, and the ROV offsets are short, sub-meter positioning is easily achieved in shallow water, independent of distance from vessel, and without on-vessel calibration.
Shallow Water Operational Experience
Macedon Pre-lay and Post-lay Survey
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Inspection of pipeline and umbilical route in nearshore sections.
Cliffhead Shallow Water Inspection
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Inspection of platform,fowlines and umbilicals in water depths from 5m to 20m.
Darwin Harbour Power Cable
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Inspection of power cables running across Darwin Harbour. Depths from 7 to 20m, through water visibility of less than1m
Veranus Shallow Water inspection
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Inspection of 20km of pipelines in 0.3 to 30m water from an 8m vessel.
Wheatstone Environmental Survey
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Inspection of coral colonies in 1 to 13 m of water, including DGPS Buoy positioning system, HiDef video, Hi Res Stills
