A multi-sensor system for enhancing situational awareness in offshore training

Abstract

Real offshore operational scenarios are particularly risky. Training programmes involving specifically designed simulators constitute a promising approach for improving human reliability and safety in real applications. One of the world's most advanced providers of simulators for such demanding offshore operations is the Offshore Simulator Centre AS (OSC). However, even though the OSC provides powerful simulation tools, techniques for visualising operational procedures that can be used to further improve situational awareness (SA), are still lacking. In this work, an integrated multi-sensor fusion system is integrated with the OSC. The proposed system is designed to improve planning, execution and assessment of demanding maritime operations by adopting newly-designed risk-evaluation tools. Different information from the simulator scene and from the real world can be collected, such as audio, video, bio-metric data from eye-trackers, other sensor data and annotations. This integration is the base for research on novel SA assessment methodologies. A training methodology based on the concept of briefing/debriefing is adopted. By using this methodology, the efficiency of the proposed system is validated in a conceptual case study that considers the training procedure performed by Statoil and partners for the world's first sub-sea gas compression plant, in Aasgard, Norway.