VR and immersive environments for oil and gas exploration

Do you know what today’s immersive environments can provide to assist data analysis and interpretation? Wim Maes and Ken Hunter of Barco Presentation & Simulation offer this guide to what you can expect. Virtual Reality (VR) technology has exploded into a range of visualization tools that can be used by geoscientists, engineers, and other asset teams to enhance and speed up oil and gas exploration, drilling, and production. New emerging VR systems can be tailored into fit-for-purpose solutions offering operational integration for all asset teams from the rig to the office, and from office to office. A reasonable expectation is that a large-scale visualization capability reduces project costs and field errors by 5-10%. Return on investment is typically agreed to be less than one year. VR and immersive environments combine advanced technology with social interaction to analyze complex problems and to take quick and accurate decisions. Very powerful, their applications range from large-scale 3D collaborative viewing rooms over relocatable and portable environments, to fully immersive spaces completely surrounding the interpreters with their data. These large-screen visual display systems show large amounts of data - typically 2.5 to over 4 Mega pixels - on large flat or curved screens at the same time. They allow multi-disciplinary teams of up to 20 viewers to effectively visualize and evaluate geophysical data for oil and gas E&P in 3D. Applications by the world’s leading oil and gas companies include real-time visualization, analysis, and decision-making of seismic data, complex reservoir models, well logs, and geologic cross sections. Most systems are tailored to meet specific needs with the screen size, the depth of the system, and number and type of projectors customized to provide the optimum display solution. As a standard they offer stereoscopic visualization and include interactive whiteboards and integrated videoconferencing systems. Large presentation environments usually carry a high price tag, but are reported to provide maximum return on investment. Many of the world’s leading oil and gas companies use them in their headquarters and in important subsidiaries all over the world. Recent new high-resolution three-chip LCD projectors deliver 1920 x 1080 pixels enabling the building of a stereoscopic large screen display using only two projectors. As most advanced network centric concepts even include a built-in powerful upgradeable display server, all information available in the company can be retrieved via the network and displayed in multiple windows on the large VR workroom screen. These windows with mono or stereo content from the network or from diverse external sources (video or data) can be freely positioned and scaled. Teleconferencing windows can be added and several locations can be visually linked for efficient collaboration.Frequently used content can be saved on the projector’s hard disk and retrieved on demand. Easy intuitive operation through the familiar Windows XP desktop interface enables all team members to access all sources and to control all content by simply using the wireless mouse and keyboard. By adding optical tracking and mouse emulation technology, the VR workroom allows direct, wireless interaction with the data. Connecting several network centric VR workrooms to an existing network enables companies to visually link multiple off- and onshore facilities, saving expensive traveling time and increasing business efficiency. All information can be shared from a remote location on one large canvas. Such direct access to all information and collaborative viewing on a large canvas makes for accurate analysis and fast decisionmaking. The networked VR workrooms themselves can be centrally managed to ensure optimal use of the investment.