Chance is a member of the international Fugro group of companies, with 200 offices in 45 countries. Since Kongsberg Simrad first installed their HiPAP positioning system on Stolt Comex Seaway's Seaway Harrier in the fall of 1997, the number of vessels and drilling rigs featuring HiPAP has steadily risen. According to Kongsberg Simrad, there will be approximately 20 HiPAP-equipped vessels working in Brazilian waters. Traditionally, underwater construction has been dependent on the LBL systems to report the coordinates of items through transponders during underwater construction. While this method is highly accurate and still widely used in deeper waters, a HiPAP system can offer exceptional accuracy at a lower cost.
Cost savings are significant when the two methods are compared.
The HiPAP system is simple to use and saves time and money because it requires only one transducer and one transponder to identify a three-dimensional position, rather than the placement of several subsea transponders. HiPAP interfaces with DGPS to supply global coordinates at the seabed. Statoil partially funded the development of the HiPAP system, which is currently in use by the company's subcontractors on vessels in the North Sea, including ROVs used in subsea construction and pipeline surveying. The spherical design of the system's transducer allows a 10-degree listening beam to be pointed in any direction below the vessel. Data from roll, pitch, and heading sensors are used to automatically compensate for movement of the vessel.