How GEOxyz leverages ScanFish ROTVs to keep up with high demand through efficient UXO survey setups
The challenge of surveying large areas efficiently
With the increase in offshore energy assets, such as wind farms and electrical cables, large seabed areas must be surveyed more frequently. Finding solutions and surveyors to cover such large areas efficiently is a challenge many subsea survey companies face. One company overcoming these challenges is GEOxyz. They perform surveys with their fleet of vessels in varying sizes, equipped with different subsea sensor platforms, from ROTV to ROV.
Over the course of early 2024, GEOxyz was tasked with many offshore energy survey projects that included a UXO (unexploded ordnance) survey of an area many hundreds of square kilometres large. They were able to complete these surveys efficiently thanks to…
- A setup for wider swath coverage
- Training more ROTV operators
- Renting extra equipment needed for busy periods
Dive into this case study to learn more about their setup through the experiences of one of the GEOxyz survey engineers, Darren Kirkwood – who went from having no experience operating ScanFish to operating three ScanFish simultaneously!
Three Scanfish Katria 3D, equipped with soft-tow magnetometers, wait on the deck of GEO OCEAN III, connected to different winches, while a fourth, spare ScanFish sits to the side
UXO survey solution with benefits: efficiency and training
UXO surveys are typically conducted with magnetometers, which have a detection range of only a few meters, so it is important to keep these close to the seabed. To achieve this, leading survey companies have commonly leveraged EIVA’s remotely operated towed vehicle (ROTV) sensor platform tailored for such operations, ScanFish Katria. This platform tows magnetometers optimally spaced apart for wide area coverage, while safely keeping them at the optimal fixed distance close to the seabed. Learn more about EIVA’s solutions for UXO surveys.
Speeding up data collection
Area coverage per runline can be further increased by deploying several ROTVs sailing in parallel from the same vessel. In their operations, GEOxyz has deployed up to three ScanFish ROTVs simultaneously.
‘Triple deployment allowed us to speed up the data acquisition process as it increased the coverage swath of each runline,’ describes Survey Engineer Darren Kirkwood, one of GEOxyz’s employees who has operated this triple deployment. Have you read our case study about a ScanFish Katria customer performing a double deployment?
Operating several ROTVs simultaneously is possible thanks to the 3D control capabilities of the ScanFish ROTV. The five ScanFish in GEOxyz’s fleet of equipment all include the 3D steering option, which provides horizontal movement control. This means, on top of staying at a fixed altitude from the seabed, the ScanFish can follow precise horizontal runlines, and multiple ROTVs can be towed simultaneously, kept at a fixed distance from each other.
ScanFish Katria being deployed onboard GEO OCEAN III, which has several winches on deck
Training new operators to support large projects
You might assume that since Darren Kirkwood successfully operated three ScanFish simultaneously, he is a long-time ScanFish operator. However, this was a skill the survey engineer learned over the course of this project!
To ensure their team had the necessary competencies for this and other projects, GEOxyz sent Darren and another employee to a three-day ScanFish operator training course at EIVA’s Danish offices.
‘GEOxyz has sent multiple employees to the ScanFish Operator course in the past and we booked several seats for the trainings in the fall of 2024. In these trainings, the attendees learn the full range of installation, operation and maintenance of EIVA ScanFish systems, so they are well prepared to tackle the challenging projects on board of our GEO Ocean vessels.
Additionally, we have several year-round licences on the EIVA eLearning platform which is perfectly oriented towards a first introduction to the system for new starters to be better prepared for the first actual hands-on experiences,’ explains Ruben Baert, Survey Support at GEOxyz.
ScanFish operator training course – after learning about ScanFish components and service at EIVA’s Danish offices, participants embark on the research vessel AURORA for on-board hands-on experience shown here
EIVA eLearning is an online platform allowing users of EIVA’s products to learn the theory needed for their projects, whenever and wherever they want, then receiving a certificate of completion. The ScanFish Operator Essentials module is a precursor to the practical workshop at EIVA.
‘In addition to doing the EIVA course, which provided the internationally recognised gold standard of experience with ScanFish, I also learned some of the different personal best practices for operating the ScanFish from my colleagues,’ describes Darren Kirkwood, highlighting the value of combining training with hands-on experience.
Meeting high demand with consistently high-quality results
‘Even when we are busy with several different UXO survey projects, we have been able to ensure we still have the best equipment for the job by leveraging EIVA’s rental pool, and this has helped us avoid turning down jobs during busy periods,’ explains Brecht Roelstraete, Equipment & Logistics Manager at GEOxyz.
For periods when they are using ScanFish in several projects simultaneously, GEOxyz has rented extra ScanFish Katria ROTVs from EIVA equipped with 3D steering and magnetometers, as well as OceanEnviro electrical winches with the desired cable length and type to deploy their ROTVs for a given project. This provides them the flexibility to adjust their setup to reflect the projects they are certain of, rather than investing in extra ScanFish they are unsure if they will use.
Products in play
- EIVA ScanFish Katria – The ScanFish Katria is an intelligent wide-sweep remotely operated towed vehicle (ROTV) solution for time-efficient magnetometer surveys
- This sensor platform deploys four Geometrics G-882 Marine Magnetometer
- 3D steering option which allows for deployment of multiple ROTVs in parallel through 3D control
- Note that in other ScanFish setups GEOxyz uses, they sometimes deploy extra magnetometers thanks to a fixed frame and the ScanFish Expansion MUX option – a subsea bottle which lets users connect more than four sensors to a ScanFish
- ScanFish Flight software – included with all ScanFish is this easy-to-use software system allowing for control and monitoring of the ROTV
- Operator training course – combining hands-on practice with expert guidance and advice
- EIVA eLearning – ScanFish Operator Essentials module
Facts and figures
- GEOxyz own 5 ScanFish and they rent additional units as needed
- Over the course of 2024, they sent 6 employees to EIVA HQ for the ScanFish Operator Training course
- In another project, they used a dual ScanFish configuration with fixed frames: Read their case study of how they conducted surveys in preparation for the constructions of the Swedish Kriegers Flak wind farm site
