March 7, 2024
Boulder identification tool (Credit: Ocean Geophysics)
Renewable energy industry supplier Ocean Geophysics has introduced an AI-driven boulder identification tool, which is expected to reduce development risk, time and cost for developers of offshore wind farms.
Large, individual boulders as well as boulder fields with thousands, sometimes millions of smaller boulders pose a big challenge for the planning of offshore wind farms and cable routes. An analysis of the seabed is a prerequisite prior to any construction work.
Side-scan sonar – a system for detecting objects on the seafloor – is commonly used to identify boulders on the seabed. This analysis is then used to choose the ideal placement of wind turbines, substations or subsea cables for offshore wind farm developments.
Detecting big boulders is relatively straightforward. However, boulder fields with thousands or tens of thousands of boulders pose significant and costly obstacles to developers as they must obtain both the amount and positioning of boulders to calculate the time and cost of boulder clearance.
Ocean Geophysics’ new AI-driven boulder identification tool leverages a machine learning algorithm that allows for the automatic detection of boulders as small as 25 cm in size and automatically removes duplicates, according to the company.
The software can process entire seabed survey areas quickly, taking around one second per side-scan line to detect all boulders, Ocean Geophysics claims.
The company will integrate the tool with its specialist offering of processing, interpreting and reporting of marine geophysical data, noting that the software will not be sold as a stand-alone product.
“We have successfully developed an AI-driven software that can automatically identify boulders down to 25 centimetres in height, with the power to remove duplicated boulders from seabed survey data. This will dramatically simplify and expedite the boulder identification process, with the associated time and cost savings for developers.
“This means that boulder identification work, which previously took weeks or months to complete, can now be done in a few seconds,” said Alison Wells, CEO of Ocean Geophysics.
Equinor and Polenergia have awarded a contract to RockWave for subsurface data reprocessing for Baltyk 1 offshore wind farm…
Exail's DriX uncrewed surface vessel (USV) has completed a first-of-its-kind fisheries research survey to assess the impact…
Corio Generation, a Macquarie Group company, has deployed Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) systems for offshore wind projects…
A groundbreaking ocean energy project, which has combined wave power with subsea energy storage to power subsea equipment…
AGR, an ABL Group company, has signed a contract extension with Equinor for the provision of blowout and well control studies…
Italian cable maker and installation services provider Prysmian Group has secured three contracts with German transmission…
Marine Technology Reporter is the world’s largest audited subsea industry publication serving the offshore energy, subsea defense and scientific communities.
Marine Technology ENews is the subsea industry’s largest circulation and most authoritative ENews Service, delivered to your Email three times per week
Subscribe for MTR E-news
About The Author
More Stories
How RightsCon Is an Unexpected Stress Test for the Multistakeholder Model of Internet Governance
From Coverage to Meaningful Connectivity: How Kenya Is Leading Africa’s Internet Future
Community Snapshot—April