By Sven-Eric Brooks

As offshore wind farms expand in scale and complexity, so too does the need for efficient, safe, and data-driven operations. Service operation vessels (SOVs), crew transfer vessels (CTVs), and wind turbines must function as a unified ecosystem, yet connectivity challenges have long hindered real-time tracking and data consolidation.

ScanReach’s onboard wireless connectivity (OWC) platform is transforming this landscape, enabling seamless crew tracking, automatic turbine detection and gangway data sharing—all on a single, robust wireless network.

Wireless Mesh Network

Maintaining visibility of personnel across multiple offshore assets has historically relied on fragmented systems and manual logs. ScanReach’s OWC solves this challenge with a wireless mesh network that integrates vessels, turbines and offshore platforms, providing real-time tracking without relying on external infrastructure.

OWC integrates multiple data streams across different platforms for a unified operational overview. This technology enables operators to automatically detect turbine transfers. By using GPS correlation, OWC logs every personnel transfer between vessels and turbines, removing the need for manual records. Crew members can be continuously monitored as they move between CTVs, CSOVs and turbines. Wearable smart tags register when personnel cross gangways, enhancing safety and reporting accuracy. These capabilities not only enhance efficiency but also improve safety compliance by ensuring accurate personnel on board (POB) data in real time.

Automatic Turbine Detection: A Game Changer

One of the most impactful features of ScanReach’s OWC platform is its automatic turbine detection capability. By leveraging GPS data from the vessel’s NMEA node, the system automatically correlates a ship’s position with a wind turbine’s location, ensuring that drop-off points are logged instantly and accurately.

This innovation significantly reduces administrative workload. Each personnel movement is logged automatically, eliminating the potential for human error while ensuring that all transfers are accurately recorded. The system produces detailed reports for offshore wind operators, contextualizing walk-to-work transfers and fuel consumption per turbine visit. This level of transparency allows operators to better plan transfers, optimize routes and reduce unnecessary fuel expenditures.

Furthermore, the combination of turbine detection and crew tracking allows for enhanced safety monitoring. Should an emergency arise, operators can instantly determine where a worker is located—whether the person is still on a vessel or has transferred onto a turbine. This reduces emergency response times and provides instant accountability.

 

 

Auto turbine detection is now used by over a quarter of vessels also equipped with ScanReach’s ConnectPOB solution, a real-time personnel tracking system designed for offshore wind operations that uses wearable smart tags and a wireless mesh network to provide continuous visibility of crew members across vessels, turbines, and offshore platforms.

Companies already utilizing the auto turbine detection in daily operations include: REM Offshore AS, Olympic Subsea ASA, Norwind Offshore and Purus. It is also in use by vessels operating in more than 10 different wind farms, including Dogger Bank, Kaskasi and Gode Wind.

 

 

Gangway Data Sharing: Enhancing Safety, Compliance

Crew movements across gangways represent one of the most critical safety concerns in offshore wind operations. ScanReach’s OWC now provides an automated gangway tracking solution, ensuring that every crew member’s movements are recorded in real time.

With wearable smart tags, each crossing is automatically logged as personnel transition between a CTV and a wind turbine or an SOV. This eliminates the need for manual check-ins, which are prone to errors and delays. The data are then shared via API with wind farm operators, ensuring complete alignment between vessel operators and turbine maintenance teams.

ScanReach has already demonstrated this capability in real-world applications. On Norwegian offshore vessels servicing oil and gas fields, gangway data were successfully shared between vessels and the platform operator. This seamless data exchange improves logistical planning, enhances compliance with safety regulations, and ensures that offshore operators always have accurate crew status reports at their fingertips.

The Future of Offshore Wind Operations

Beyond individual vessels, ScanReach’s OWC extends its capabilities across entire fleets, enabling operators to aggregate data from multiple CTVs, SOVs and wind farms into a single, accessible platform. By consolidating these data, offshore wind operators gain unparalleled visibility into crew transfers, fuel consumption, and vessel activity, allowing for better operational planning and cost reductions.

With OWC, operators are able to monitor vessel performance and crew logistics in real time, optimize fuel usage by analyzing transit times and waiting periods, improve compliance by ensuring that POB data are accurate and readily available, and enhance safety by automating personnel tracking across multiple assets. The ability to correlate crew movement data with environmental conditions also opens the door to further efficiency improvements. For example, by linking motion sensors to OWC’s data platform, operators can predict unfavorable sea states and adjust scheduling to minimize seasickness among crew members.

As the offshore wind sector continues to grow, the need for seamless, automated and real-time data integration will only become more critical. ScanReach’s OWC platform has been developed through a decade of experience in maritime IoT, and its track record in wind farm logistics, personnel tracking and data consolidation has established ScanReach as a trusted partner for offshore wind operators worldwide.

 

Sven-Eric Brooks is the CEO of Scandinavian Reach Technologies AS (ScanReach).