New iXblue subsea positioning tech debuts off Africa

Survey provider UTEC, part of Acteon, has deployed iXblue’s new subsea positioning technology on an ultra-deepwater field development project in Africa, with depths below 2,000 meters.

iXblue’s LBL solution brings together Canopus intelligent transponders, Ramses transceivers, Inertial Navigation Systems, and Delph Subsea Positioning Software, to provide more informative positioning and spool piece metrology at multiple drill centers throughout the project execution.

UTEC was the first to operate the new sparse range-aided INS subsea positioning technology on a commercial project in the energy industry.

According to iXblue, combined with a new innovative and cost-effective ROV Simultaneous Localisation And Mapping (SLAM) box-in method, the solution drastically reduced the time spent on calibration and maintenance during the operations.

“The extensive and open dialogue between UTEC and iXblue personnel enabled iXblue to fully develop the capabilities of their system to meet our clients’ requirements and expectations,” said Paul Smith, group managing director at UTEC.

“UTEC now have experience and knowledge of Canopus and Ramses that lets us provide the benefits of the system to other clients.”

According to iXblue, the solution offers significant installation vessel time savings compared to conventional subsea positioning methods.