Live from the deep: new inspection techniques.

The offshore market has many challenges and one of the most critical is monitoring the health of pipelines and all critical equipment that lie below sea level.
The digital revolution and Internet of Things are bringing huge benefits in this field. A “smart grid” fully integrated with a widespread communication and sensor network can transmit video footage “live from the deep” courtesy of camera-equipped ROVs. The real-time video streaming is downloadable on the cloud and in this way is retrievable after months and compared to the “live” streaming filmed now. Comparison of the two different situations allows to forecast the effect of corrosion or other phenomena (fouling) and track the pipeline sections affected by issues.
This opens interesting new Overhaul & Maintenance scenarios with proactive and on condition maintenance based on the real condition of the equipment and no more scheduled interventions, optimizing operation cost and time.
Many times, the traditional scheduling of maintenance reveals asynchronous with the necessities of the real plant and systems, affecting their availability and profitability.
Furthermore, this technology is crucial to the fact finding of potential catastrophic issues, a real game changer for assuring the safety of the plant.