World’s largest offshore high-capacity communication network
Learn how Tampnet partnered with Ericsson to deploy a private offshore 4G LTE network and IoT connectivity across 50 oil & gas rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, improving worker safety with 75% reduction in hazardous, manual inspections and enabling millions of dollars in savings from automated processes.
Highlights
By partnering with Ericsson and a broad ecosystem of technology providers, Tampnet built a maritime 4G LTE network, and deployed cloud-based IoT connectivity management, enabling industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) use cases for autonomous operations and predictive maintenance on oil and gas platforms. As a result, Tampnet is helping its customers improve worker safety while reducing operating costs by up to 40 percent through incorporating predictive maintenance technologies for asset integrity, such as corrosion and vibration monitoring. Environmental monitoring programs also benefit from the 4G technology, providing safe deployment of sensors to monitor greenhouse gas emissions and other environmental hazards. Tampnet is now positioned to further extend its maritime network reach to help additional maritime industries, like offshore wind farms and mobile structures such as vessels and rigs, while also improving safety, efficiency, and agility at sea.
The challenge
Deploying wireless base stations in harsh offshore environments presented Tampnet with a unique set of challenges:
- Physical challenges
Communication technologies must be selected to suit the structure geometry, optimal installation heights, and signal transmission range of 60-70 km. - Specialized skills
Installation personnel must be qualified in use of scaffolding and rope access techniques to safely mount systems at the highest point of an offshore facility. - Environmental threats
High winds, storms, or extreme heat must be managed appropriately.
The solution
Where legacy 2G infrastructure existed, Tampnet has carried out upgrade projects, deploying a redundant Ericsson Core 4G LTE/GSM RAN network and an Ericsson microwave solution, along with Ericsson IoT Accelerator to manage thousands of IoT sensors and instruments. The complete solution consists of:
Ericsson Hardware
- GSM and 4G/LTE Radio Access Network (RAN)
- MINI-LINK Microwave mobile backhaul
- Ericsson Virtual Evolved Packet Core
- Ericsson Cloud Execution Environment
Ericsson Software
Ericsson Services
Solution Advantages
- High bandwidth, low latency connectivity with reliable and predictable performance
- Leading RF technology transmits and receives farther on each base station
- Proven technology, tested and deployed in 43% of world’s LTE market
- Complete cellular solution that includes RAN, EPC Core, OSS, Transport (microwave), and unique IoT connectivity management platform (IoT Accelerator)
- Radio equipment suited for frequency bands available in the Gulf of Mexico and North Sea
- Support for important use cases—voice, mission-critical push-to-talk, autonomous machines, remote control, predictive maintenance, environmental sensing
- Favorable cost efficiency compared to Wi-Fi
- Rich device ecosystem provides choice for communications
- End-to-end security, using SIMs, on both network and device levels
The result
Tampnet is revolutionizing offshore voice and data communications, providing maritime industries with reliable, high-bandwidth, low-latency network connectivity to support advanced, automated operations that improve safety, efficiency, agility, and environmental measurements.
Connects people across the sea and back home
With wireless access to high-capacity, low-latency data and voice services across 250,000 sq. km. in the Gulf of Mexico, offshore workers can use their mobile devices just as they would on land to communicate with each other and with family and friends back onshore.
Improves offshore worker efficiency and safety
Augmented reality solutions visually connect workers performing inspections, fault-finding, or other critical tasks on the platform in real time with remote experts who can guide operators through the task or verify work, improving efficiency and safety while reducing operational costs by up to 40%.
Automates dangerous jobs through IoT
Innovative IoT solutions, such as corrosion monitoring, provide real-time insights to proactively address problem areas and reduce extended exposure of personnel to dangerous conditions, reducing the number of hazardous manual inspections by 75% and saving Tampnet customers millions of dollars.
Advances data-driven operations
By equipping drones with IoT sensors, Tampnet enables its customers to measure greenhouse gas (GHG) levels in the atmosphere surrounding offshore rigs to establish a baseline of carbon emissions. This provides the foundation to analyze and decarbonize.
Creates transformative opportunities
More automation and real-time data communication means fewer people will be needed on the offshore platform, allowing them to operate systems remotely in safer environments, and in many cases allow upskilling of staff where manual tasks are no longer needed.
