Mobile control center: A new approach to deploy ROV-oriented education and training

Abstract

The paper discusses the requirements to design a mobile control center (MCC), which is a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) educational control center that is compact and that can be used in different high sea ROV operations. The intended applications are for research and educational purposes. The need for better-prepared technical professionals is present in the Brazilian offshore oil and gas scenario. In deep-sea operations, where space is scarce and need to be wisely occupied, ROV operators need to have a proper formation and have a widespread awareness of the processes they participate. Using a control center that brings the reality of the operator day-by-day experiences to ROV students will help in the improvement of the skill set of the future ROV operators. A literature survey on the state-of-the-art on the subject was carried out to assess the existing technology and it has shown that there is an opportunity for developing such as concept. Current initiatives reported in the literature include a containerized delivery system with an automated control centers and other features essential to ROV operations. However, our analysis has indicated that this type of solution does not entirely address the requirements for research and educational activities. The mobile control center design should include a generic control center that could be integrated in an agile fashion onto different ROV units from different manufacturers. Besides, it needs to be present in the facilities planed to fit the course, next to the Santos basin, where major in oil engineering is lessoned. By addressing these requirements in this control center and forming techniques and engineers in the same facilities and in with the same attention and teaching method makes them closer and readier to work together in the future.