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Articles

1985: Vol. LXII, No. 2

Navigation and Positioning Requirements for Marine Survey Operations

Submitted
July 31, 2015
Published
2015-07-20

Abstract

The commercial Marine Survey industry, particularly in the North Sea and UK continental shelf areas, does not make as extensive use of satellite navigation systems as its investment in such might seem to show. This paper attempts to set out what are the requirements of the Marine Survey user, how these requirements are currently fulfilled, and what future satellite-based systems must provide in order to become competitive. Examples of typical survey operations are provided. The viewpoint is inevitably biased somewhat towards the requirements of the commercial survey contractor operating for the oil and gas industries, but as this is by far the largest sector of expenditure on navigation and positioning services in the UK Marine Survey sphere, the author feels that such bias is justified. This paper, then, examines not so much what the user’s expectations are from satellite navigation, but what his navigation requirements are in general, and what facilities satellite navigation must offer, and at what price, to provide a real service. In order to illustrate the requirements, let us first examine the systems currently in extensive use, with regard to cost, coverage and accuracy.