Satellite Technology Feature Article
November 12, 2009
Fastwave Chooses Iridium for Chevron Offshore Gas Project
By Raju Shanbhag, TMCnet Contributor
Iridium (News - Alert) Communications has provided Iridium satellite data links to a project undertaken by Fastwave Communications. Fastwave Communications is supplying a water quality monitoring system for the Gorgon offshore gas project for Chevron (News - Alert) Australia Pty Ltd.
The Fastwave system includes underwater instrumentation modules positioned on the sea floor around the dredging and spoil disposal sites. Iridium will provide its short-burst data, or “SBD,” modem and rechargeable battery packs to turbidity sensors and data loggers contained in every subsea module. The Iridium satellites help them to connect the battery packs to small moored buoys which relay the data packets, and from there to an environmental monitoring system onshore.
The SBD modem from Iridium can be directly connected to a laptop, tablet PC or PDA allowing mobile users to exchange text messages and GPS location updates on a global basis. It also offers a ready to use GPS tracking and two-way text messaging solution.
Patrick Shay, vice president of Iridium's data division, said that Iridium's fast-growing M2M data business is being driven largely by the innovative and creative solutions being developed by Value-Added Partners such as Fastwave.
“Iridium offers a unique value proposition for remote M2M asset monitoring and tracking, providing reliable, low-latency data communications anywhere in the world, on land, in the air, on the sea and even under the sea,” Shay said.
Gorgon project places high importance on the protection of the marine environment. The project consists of a program of water quality monitoring using the Fastwave system. The system offers extra protection from the cyclones by providing all electronics and instrumentation packages in waterproof, hardened subsea capsules rather than in surface data buoys.
Recently, the company’s new-generation maritime high bandwidth satellite communication service, Iridium OpenPort, was used by participants in the recently completed Cap Odyssee Challenge. The Challenge was taken up by three young women -- Stephanie Geyer-Barneix, Alexandra Lux and Flora Manciet -- who paddled in relays to cover the distance between Cape Breton, Canada to Capbreton, France in 54 days.
Shamila Janakiraman is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of Shamila’s articles, please visit her columnist page.
Edited by Kelly McGuire
