Follow up question re two ROv ops. Flying Garages

Saab Seaeye untangles the underworld

Well, I’ve never been flying a TMS, only did 10 years of rockdump ROVs but I think they fly like a TMS.
The ROV in the picture below is the one (and only) ROV made by Engineering Business. It hangs on 3 armoured umbilicals and has 4 thrusters with vector control. It has an autoheading function (switched on all the time) and the pilot is able to fly it fore and aftwards.
Normally the vessel drags it through the water over a pipeline or cable, and the pilot only has to steer it port and startboard.
It’s also possible to have the ROV directly controlled from the survey (semi-autonomous). In this case the system keeps the ROV above the database line, offset 0.

Unless you are working at depth …. I canna see the reason for having a remotely operated TMS 😕
Saab have come out with a load of schpeel about using Controlled TMS’s to stop entanglement when several ROVs are in the water at the same time like say Jacket inspection ( canna see the point in that either ! )
In regards to Seaeye software , They have a TMS with CPU and TDC , The mind boggles why they don’t use their grey matter and put something useful on the TMS software and put depth and compass rose on it 🙄
A proper pilot would then know where the bloody entrance is to the garage and where the Tms is at depth after shift change ( Cause’ alot of "Muppets" don’t bother having a systems log or to type in the dive log when they drop or raise the TMS 😕 )
If you know what depth the TMS is at and you have nav screen , There is NO reason why you should get the Tethers entangled .Divers aside of course 🙂 If you have divers involved YOU WILL get entangled ’cause they are like ants ! 😯 They don’t think about things in the way until they need to go back to the bell ! They walk in ( What they think is a straight line ) Like migrating buffalo 😆 The go ahead not around ! 😀

Oceaneering have had thrusters fitted to garages for years, the first one I worked on was on a Magnum 24? (Transocean Leader) 1998. It had auto heading fitted using a poxy KVH compass.
I seem to recall it worked ok, until the novelty wore off and it was never used.

Our SeeTrack Offshore (www.seebyte.com) can be used to keep the ROV stationary relative to the seafloor (the system pilots the ROV so that it automatically compensates for the heave and currents). It can also be used to move the ROV in Cartesian coordinates with simple mouse point-and-click commands. In a set of experiments in the GOM we found that this made docking to a garage simpler even in substantial heave as the pilots needed to just concentrate on one moving part (the garage). If the garages were also fitted with thrusters and a SeeTrack Offshore unit the process should be very easy as both systems would be stationary as the unit would compensate for the heave and currents.

Note that for our system to work the ROV needs to be within Doppler range of the sea floor (depending on the Doppler this can be up to 300 ft or so).