UAS manufacturers are focusing on commercial applications of unmanned aircraft in the petroleum industry
Dyan Gibbens, Trumbull Unmanned, Houston
Businesses around the world are discovering the benefits and challenges of integrating Unmanned Aircraft Systems into their operations. The ability of UAS to increase efficiencies, reduce risk, and lower costs is increasing interest and propelling rapid growth in the UAS market.
As the unmanned aircraft industry manages this growth and expands beyond the defense market into commercial operations, it continues to search for the industry that its products can best serve. The UAS industry initially forecasted precision agriculture to comprise about 80% of the commercial market, and focused the majority of their efforts in that area. However, as more oil and gas companies research and explore the possibilities UAS can bring to their businesses, a significant percentage of expected market share is now shifting to this promising industry. Subsequently, UAS manufacturers are now tailoring their strategies to focus on the opportunities within oil and gas.
As the Federal Aviation Administration, which is responsible for overseeing and regulating commercial UAS operations, approves companies to operate commercially on a case-by-case basis, both the UAS and the petroleum industry are ready to realize the benefits afforded by UAS.
UAS, often referred to as "drones," are simply tools to collect data, and in many cases they can do so more efficiently and frequently than previously possible via other methods. While most people have seen video or images taken by UAS, those represent just one subset of the data they can rapidly acquire. Successful integration of UAS into the oil and gas industry will greatly depend on the data companies decide to collect and how they transform that data into actionable information.
To date, the majority of work performed in the oil and gas industry by UAS has been the small-scale monitoring of pipelines, inspection of critical infrastructure, and geological mapping. These initial applications spur continued development and miniaturization of high-definition imaging sensors. However, attractive opportunities exist to collect other types of data.
One area of interest for the oil and gas industry and regulators alike is methane detection and location around unconventional gas and oilfield production sites. Current methods for surveying, detecting, and locating leaks, are at times too inefficient and costly to conduct, potentially leaving many leaks unrepaired.
A continuing challenge in combatting these leaks is in finding an economical and efficient method to detect and precisely locate leaks for timely repair. Over time, companies have invested in mobile detectors in an effort to find and repair leaks proactively. Currently, Colorado is the only state with increased requirements, though individual state regulations may evolve. Since these detection systems are currently vehicle based, they are often limited in the areas they can be used and incur the additional costs of maintaining the vehicles. Until now, the limited size and power of most unmanned aircraft has made it impossible to integrate mobile sensing systems on these small aircraft at economically feasible prices.
Recently, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has presented a solution to this problem using a methane gas sensor built for the Mars Rover. NASA JPL has been developing and miniaturizing sensors for unmanned space exploration for decades and have branched out to find industries where their technologies can be used. An important component of JPL's decades of research has been in developing sensors for the detection and monitoring of key gases in our atmosphere, as well as the atmosphere of Mars.
In their effort to find commercial applications for their technology developed through this research, they have undertaken multiple projects to address the needs of the oil and gas industry. In one promising project, JPL used an advanced lightweight methane gas sensor derived from the Mars Rover and outfitted it on a Lockheed Martin-built small UAS (sUAS) called the Indago. Weighing less than five pounds, the Indago can orbit for almost an hour, fly manually like a remote-controlled helicopter, or operate completely autonomously.
To test the feasibility and usefulness of their methane-sensing sUAS, JPL, in collaboration with Chevron Energy Technology Company and Los Alamos National Laboratory, set up a series of experiments at the Rocky Mountain Oil Testing Center (RMOTC). During the weeklong test, JPL was able to demonstrate that their sUAS and miniature (<250g) tunable laser spectrometer could receive real-time, parts-per-billion sensitivity data to identify and locate the source of the methane leaks. This combination of previously existing sensors, paired with newly developed unmanned aircraft, is an example of the exciting opportunities to collect data more efficiently. JPL currently has similar carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide sensors and continues to investigate new crosscutting applications that address challenges within commercial industries.
Just as JPL revolutionized how we take pictures by inventing the CMOS chip (the sensor that allows for digital pictures to be taken) they may be on the verge of revolutionizing how the oil and gas industry goes about detecting and locating leaks. Trumbull Unmanned aims to collaborate with JPL and identify additional sUAS applications for their sensors to meet oil and gas needs.
Rapidly developing platforms and sensors like the Indago, and JPL's gas detectors make this an exciting time to explore the potential of UAS in the oil and gas industry. The efficiency, mobility, and speed of unmanned platforms allow companies the opportunity to collect data at scales previously not feasible, and recent advances in data analytics can compound the utility of UAS.
The challenge in successfully integrating UAS into businesses will be turning all of the data into useful and actionable information that provide a real return on the investment. Effectively doing this includes having a well thought-out integration plan that not only accounts for the data life cycle, but also factors in current FAA and industry regulations, risk mitigation processes, specific UAS safety protocols, environmental factors, logistical footprints, and maintainability.
Initial planning and early effort can lead companies to quickly realize many of the potential benefits of UAS that can differentiate them from their competitors. One way in which companies can successfully jumpstart UAS operations in a safe and cost-effective manner is to perform small-scale proofs of concept in low-risk environments. These exercises allow a company to explore the technology, identify areas with the greatest potential return on investment, develop safety protocols, and gain an understanding of the data requirements associated with an enterprise-wide operation.
Unmanned aircraft and the data they can collect provide an exciting opportunity for the oil and gas industry to realize new gains in efficiencies, increase safety, and reduce costs. Data acquisition, though important, is the first part of the data life cycle. The value proposition of UAS is enabling the process of turning acquired data into actionable information. Reaching the full potential of UAS will require collaboration. While no single platform meets all of the needs of the industry, exploring collaborative opportunities with entities like NASA JPL and Lockheed Martin is important to meet the growing needs and requirements of the oil and gas industry.
About the author
Dyan Gibbens is founder and president of Trumbull Unmanned. A US Air Force Academy graduate, she has more than a decade of aerospace integration and technical engineering experience supporting acquisitions and program management within the Department of Defense. She has experience in unmanned systems, engineering management, and supply chain and aviation logistics issues. She is a pilot and former USAFA Parachute Team member. For several years, her work and studies focused on UAS integration. Gibbens holds a BS degree in civil engineering from the USAF Academy, an MBA from Oklahoma State University, and she is currently a PhD candidate at Oklahoma State.
