Hydromea’s LUMA Wireless High-Speed Underwater Communication System

Hydromea’s LUMA, a wireless high-speed underwater communication system, was successfully deployed by a leading subsea operator, during a subsea manifold installation project in the North Sea in November 2018.

LUMA was integrated with Ashtead Technology’s AMS+ (Autonomous Monitoring System) to deliver fast and reliable remote communication of heading, pitch, roll and other essential data in real time via a work class ROV to the construction vessel.

Typically, wide band acoustics can provide 5 second data update. With the LUMA optical modem the client obtained reliable data updates every 0.5 seconds without delay in what was deemed poor visibility by the ROV operators. Under these conditions reliable data throughput was achieved with the WROV monitoring from a distance of 3.5 meters from the AMS+ sensor package.

Ross McLeod, Technical Director, Ashtead Technology, said: “Conventionally underwater displays and/or acoustic modems are used to acquire the data from the AMS+. With the integration of the Hydromea LUMA wireless optical modem, the data rate, immediate response and reliability of communication were significantly improved over acoustics.”

“This project has proven that Hydromea’s LUMA wireless optical modems integrated with Ashtead’s data management systems can reduce risk and add value on many subsea monitoring applications where real time data access is critical across subsea construction and life of asset support operation.”