Targetless sensor enhances safety of DP operations

Following success of sea trials, owner plans to add sensor system to other vessels to enhance DP operations

Launched in 2018 by Guidance Marine, a Wärtsilä company, SceneScan is a high-accuracy rotating laser sensor that provides positional data to allow automated approach and station keeping relative to a structure or vessel. The tracking information is relative to natural or man-made structures within the sensor’s field of view by matching its current observation of the scene against a map generated from previous observations of the scene. The advantage of the system is that it does not use reflector targets.

The first sea trials for the SceneScan Monopole were conducted in 2018 for a Chinese SOV newbuild project carried out by GE Power Conversion, a subsidiary of General Electric.

The system successfully underwent sea trials earlier this year onboard Windea La Cour, a purpose-built SOV owned by Bernhard Schulte Offshore. The vessel is fitted with other Wärtsilä sensor solutions, including the RangeGuard Monopole, the first targetless local position reference sensor based on radar technology.

In April, Dubai-based OSV owner and logistics support company Topaz Energy and Marine reported that it carried out sea trials of SceneScan on board Topaz Citadel, a 72-m, dynamic positioning class 2 capable PSV. SceneScan was connected to an existing Wärtsilä DP system on the vessel.

Following the successful 90-day test, Topaz Energy plans to keep the SceneScan system on Topaz Citadel and install it on four other vessels.

“The testing and evaluation were carried out and proven under actual DP operations with offshore platforms in the Caspian Sea,” said Guidance Marine head of business development Andrew Stead. “This is fully in line with Wärtsilä’s Smart Marine vision, for which enhanced vessel safety is a key pillar,” he added.

“The installation on board Topaz Citadel was seamless, and the technical support provided by Wärtsilä throughout the testing period successfully determined the system’s overall effectiveness,” said Topaz Energy and Marine operations director Paul Jarkiewicz. “We have no doubt the SceneScan system will add considerable value to the DP operations of our versatile and digitised fleet,” said Mr Jarkiewicz.