40 SUBSEA CONTROL
How artificial intelligence can be used to minimise well shut-down through integrated fault
detection and analysis. By E Altamiranda and E Colina.
While there might be
topside, there are currently
no tools for early
fault detection and
diagnosis in the subsea
control arena
intelligent subsea control
THE NEED TO operate
industrial plants in a smooth
and sound manner to ensure
compliance with technical
specifications and safeguard
product quality is heightened in
today’s increasingly competitive
globalised economy. Competitive
advantage can be gained by
reducing raw material and
energy consumption and energy
consumption costs, maximizing
plant throughput and by meeting
rigorous environmental
regulations.
The need for superior econo-
BP
mic control of plant operation
Control & Automation August/September 2007 www.theiet.org/control
is presently supported by the
general availability of modern
hardware and software resou-
rces in industrial processes.
More specifically the widespread
adoption of Distributed Control
Systems (DCSs) allows for data
acquisition and control strategy
implementation according to
plant design specifications.
One of the important
challenges facing control
system engineers is how to
design and implement
intelligent systems that may
assist supervision and decision
making such as abnormal
situation management (ASM),
start up and shut down,
controller performance
assessment and so on.
In engineering, supervision
becomes more and more
important in order to improve
reliability and safety. The
classical method is based on
monitoring important measura-
ble variables followed by alarm
triggering if certain tolerances
are exceeded. This limit value
based monitoring is simple and
reliable but it does not solve
the task of early fault detection
and diagnosis.
The experience of the last
20 years has shown that earlier
fault detection can be reached
by gathering information, espec-
ially by using the relationships
between several measurable
quantities in terms of mathem-
atical process models (by using
analytical redundancy).
Heuristic information such
as human operator observations
or process expert experience
is also very relevant for diagn-
osis. A complete fault diagnosis
therefore requires the systema-
tic treatment of both analytical
and heuristic symptoms.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The use of artificial intelligence
approaches such as neural
networks, genetic algorithms
and fuzzy logic has been incre-
asing in the last few years. These
approaches have potential for
developing reasoning strategies
for applications such as fault
detection, diagnosis, super-
vision and decision-making
among others. These techniques
have been successfully applied in
other oil industry related busin-
esses such as refinery and
petrochemical where the proce-
sses and control systems
involved have a very high
complexity.
Presently there are no tools
for early fault detection and
diagnosis in the subsea control
systems area. Troubleshooting
and fault finding are normally
‘Over the last decade,
there has been a huge
increase in the application
of subsea production
systems for the
production of oil and gas
from subsea wells’
performed with procedures
when the fault is already affec-
ting the system performance
and, in most cases finding the
root cause of the fault is not
straight forward. This fact
affects subsea operations and
does not provide any support
for maintenance plans.
Intelligent supervision, fault
detection and diagnosis
techniques successfully applied
to other oil industry related
processes are perfectly
applicable to subsea technology.
SUBSEA PRODUCTION
CONTROL
Over the last decade, there has
been a huge increase in the
application of subsea production
systems for the production of
oil and gas from subsea wells.
The subsea system comprises
a wellhead, valve tree (x-mas
tree) equipment, pipelines,
structures and piping systems
among others. In many cases a
number of wellheads have to
be controlled from a single
location. The control system
provides operation of valves
and chokes on subsea comple-
tions, templates, manifolds and
pipelines. The design of a
control system must also provide
a means for safe shutdown on
failure of equipments or loss of
electrical/hydraulic control
from the topside (a platform or
floating facility) and other safety
features that automatically
prevent dangerous events.
FAULT DETECTION AND
DIAGNOSIS
An overall scheme of a
knowledge based integrated
fault detection and diagnosis
system is presented in the
accompanying diagram. The
main tasks can be subdivided in
fault detection by analytic and
heuristic symptoms generation
and fault diagnosis
ANALYTIC SYMPTOMS
GENERATION
The analytical knowledge on
the process is used to produce
quantifiable, analytical
information based on measured
process variables and data
processing. This information
is used to generate first

CONTROL EQUIPMENT
Topside
Topside control system
equipment comprises a hydraulic
power unit (HPU), an electrical
power unit (EPU) and a well
control panel or master control
station (MCS). The HPU provides
high and low-pressure hydraulic
supplies and is usually powered
by electric motors, although
redundancy is sometimes
provided by air drives. The HPU
includes tanks, pumps, a
contamination control system and
hydraulic control valves. A
programmable logic controller
PLC or PC – based EPU may be
integrated with the platform
control system or it may be a self-
contained unit.
Umbilicals
An umbilical is a conduit between
the topside host facility and the
subsea control system and is used
for chemical and/or hydraulic
fluids, electric power and electric
control signals. The hydraulic
power control lines are individual
hoses or tubes manufactured
from steel or thermoplastic
materials and encased by the
umbilical outer sheath. The
electrical control cables supplying
power and control can be either
bundled with hydraulic lines or
laid separately.
Subsea
The production control system
provides control of all functions of
www.theiet.org/control August/September 2007 Control & Automation
41
the subsea production system.
Conventionally, subsea functions
include operation and control of:
down hole, safety valves, subsea
chokes, production valves
mounted on the x-mas tree and
utility functions such as monito-
ring of fluid characteristics,
pressure leakage, valve positions,
etc.
Control System Configurations
Distances between top side
production facilities and subsea
installations have generally
increased. Due to both multiple
well developments and water
depth, early methods using direct
hydraulic control of subsea valves
have become less feasible
because of the operational
limitations and the size and cost of
multi-core umbilicals required to
provide hydraulic and power
transmission. This has led to the
development of more advanced
and complex control methods
using piloted hydraulic systems,
sequential piloted systems and
electro-hydraulic systems (hard-
wired and multiplexed). The
complexity and performance
characteristics of subsea control
systems depend on the control
configuration used. The selection
is associated predominantly with
technical factors like distance
between control points (offset
distance between the platform
and the trees), water depth,
required response speed during
execution of subsea functions and
type of subsea installations (single
or multiple wellheads). The
significant costs associated with
the design, manufacture and
installation of subsea control
systems have provided incentives
to improve the existing systems
and to invest in research for new
systems. Some other trends still in
development are the subsea
powered autonomous remote
control systems (SPARCS) and the
integrated control buoy. These
reduce the overall cost of control
systems by removing the need for
umbilical and topside equipment
required for conventional
systems.
40 SUBSEA CONTROL
How artificial intelligence can be used to minimise well shut-down through integrated fault
detection and analysis. By E Altamiranda and E Colina.
While there might be
topside, there are currently
no tools for early
fault detection and
diagnosis in the subsea
control arena
intelligent subsea control
THE NEED TO operate
industrial plants in a smooth
and sound manner to ensure
compliance with technical
specifications and safeguard
product quality is heightened in
today’s increasingly competitive
globalised economy. Competitive
advantage can be gained by
reducing raw material and
energy consumption and energy
consumption costs, maximizing
plant throughput and by meeting
rigorous environmental
regulations.
The need for superior econo-
BP
mic control of plant operation
Control & Automation August/September 2007 www.theiet.org/control
is presently supported by the
general availability of modern
hardware and software resou-
rces in industrial processes.
More specifically the widespread
adoption of Distributed Control
Systems (DCSs) allows for data
acquisition and control strategy
implementation according to
plant design specifications.
One of the important
challenges facing control
system engineers is how to
design and implement
intelligent systems that may
assist supervision and decision
making such as abnormal
situation management (ASM),
start up and shut down,
controller performance
assessment and so on.
In engineering, supervision
becomes more and more
important in order to improve
reliability and safety. The
classical method is based on
monitoring important measura-
ble variables followed by alarm
triggering if certain tolerances
are exceeded. This limit value
based monitoring is simple and
reliable but it does not solve
the task of early fault detection
and diagnosis.
The experience of the last
20 years has shown that earlier
fault detection can be reached
by gathering information, espec-
ially by using the relationships
between several measurable
quantities in terms of mathem-
atical process models (by using
analytical redundancy).
Heuristic information such
as human operator observations
or process expert experience
is also very relevant for diagn-
osis. A complete fault diagnosis
therefore requires the systema-
tic treatment of both analytical
and heuristic symptoms.
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
The use of artificial intelligence
approaches such as neural
networks, genetic algorithms
and fuzzy logic has been incre-
asing in the last few years. These
approaches have potential for
developing reasoning strategies
for applications such as fault
detection, diagnosis, super-
vision and decision-making
among others. These techniques
have been successfully applied in
other oil industry related busin-
esses such as refinery and
petrochemical where the proce-
sses and control systems
involved have a very high
complexity.
Presently there are no tools
for early fault detection and
diagnosis in the subsea control
systems area. Troubleshooting
and fault finding are normally
‘Over the last decade,
there has been a huge
increase in the application
of subsea production
systems for the
production of oil and gas
from subsea wells’
performed with procedures
when the fault is already affec-
ting the system performance
and, in most cases finding the
root cause of the fault is not
straight forward. This fact
affects subsea operations and
does not provide any support
for maintenance plans.
Intelligent supervision, fault
detection and diagnosis
techniques successfully applied
to other oil industry related
processes are perfectly
applicable to subsea technology.
SUBSEA PRODUCTION
CONTROL
Over the last decade, there has
been a huge increase in the
application of subsea production
systems for the production of
oil and gas from subsea wells.
The subsea system comprises
a wellhead, valve tree (x-mas
tree) equipment, pipelines,
structures and piping systems
among others. In many cases a
number of wellheads have to
be controlled from a single
location. The control system
provides operation of valves
and chokes on subsea comple-
tions, templates, manifolds and
pipelines. The design of a
control system must also provide
a means for safe shutdown on
failure of equipments or loss of
electrical/hydraulic control
from the topside (a platform or
floating facility) and other safety
features that automatically
prevent dangerous events.
FAULT DETECTION AND
DIAGNOSIS
An overall scheme of a
knowledge based integrated
fault detection and diagnosis
system is presented in the
accompanying diagram. The
main tasks can be subdivided in
fault detection by analytic and
heuristic symptoms generation
and fault diagnosis
ANALYTIC SYMPTOMS
GENERATION
The analytical knowledge on
the process is used to produce
quantifiable, analytical
information based on measured
process variables and data
processing. This information
is used to generate first

CONTROL EQUIPMENT
Topside
Topside control system
equipment comprises a hydraulic
power unit (HPU), an electrical
power unit (EPU) and a well
control panel or master control
station (MCS). The HPU provides
high and low-pressure hydraulic
supplies and is usually powered
by electric motors, although
redundancy is sometimes
provided by air drives. The HPU
includes tanks, pumps, a
contamination control system and
hydraulic control valves. A
programmable logic controller
PLC or PC – based EPU may be
integrated with the platform
control system or it may be a self-
contained unit.
Umbilicals
An umbilical is a conduit between
the topside host facility and the
subsea control system and is used
for chemical and/or hydraulic
fluids, electric power and electric
control signals. The hydraulic
power control lines are individual
hoses or tubes manufactured
from steel or thermoplastic
materials and encased by the
umbilical outer sheath. The
electrical control cables supplying
power and control can be either
bundled with hydraulic lines or
laid separately.
Subsea
The production control system
provides control of all functions of
www.theiet.org/control August/September 2007 Control & Automation
41
the subsea production system.
Conventionally, subsea functions
include operation and control of:
down hole, safety valves, subsea
chokes, production valves
mounted on the x-mas tree and
utility functions such as monito-
ring of fluid characteristics,
pressure leakage, valve positions,
etc.
Control System Configurations
Distances between top side
production facilities and subsea
installations have generally
increased. Due to both multiple
well developments and water
depth, early methods using direct
hydraulic control of subsea valves
have become less feasible
because of the operational
limitations and the size and cost of
multi-core umbilicals required to
provide hydraulic and power
transmission. This has led to the
development of more advanced
and complex control methods
using piloted hydraulic systems,
sequential piloted systems and
electro-hydraulic systems (hard-
wired and multiplexed). The
complexity and performance
characteristics of subsea control
systems depend on the control
configuration used. The selection
is associated predominantly with
technical factors like distance
between control points (offset
distance between the platform
and the trees), water depth,
required response speed during
execution of subsea functions and
type of subsea installations (single
or multiple wellheads). The
significant costs associated with
the design, manufacture and
installation of subsea control
systems have provided incentives
to improve the existing systems
and to invest in research for new
systems. Some other trends still in
development are the subsea
powered autonomous remote
control systems (SPARCS) and the
integrated control buoy. These
reduce the overall cost of control
systems by removing the need for
umbilical and topside equipment
required for conventional
systems.
42 SUBSEA CONTROL 43
‘Artificial intelligent
techniques such
as neural networks
and fuzzy logic
have been
successfully used for
fault classification’
 characteristic values by wledge in the form of heuristic Faults
1) Limit value checking of direct process models (qualitative Analytical knowledge Analytic Process
Observed variables
Heuristic
symptoms symptoms
measurable signals. models), fault symptoms, Analytical process generation Measured variables generation

Characteristic values are causalities and weighting of model Data Operator

exceeded signal tolerances.
2) Signal analysis of direct
measurable signals, using signal
models like correlation
functions, frequency spectra,
autoregressive moving average
(ARMA). Characteristic values
are, for example, variances,
amplitudes, frequency or model
parameters.
3) Process analysis by using
mathematical process models
together with parameter
estimation, state estimation
and parity equation methods.
Characteristic values are
parameters, states variables or
residuals.
In some cases physical
features can be extracted from
characteristic values, such as
physical defined process
coefficients or special filtered or
transformed residuals. These
features are then compared
with the normal features of the
non-faulty process. For this,
methods of change detection
and classification are applied.
As analytic symptoms the
resulting changes (discrepa-
ncies) of the described direct
measured signals, signal models
or process models are
considered.
HEURISTIC SYMPTOMS
GENERATION
In addition to the symptoms
generation with quantifiable
information, heuristic sympto-
ms can be produced from human
experts and operators, and
observations and inspections
The process history in the
form of performed maintenance,
repair, former faults, life time,
load measures constitute a
source of heuristic information.
Statistical data achieved from
experience with the same or
similar processes can be added.
FAULT DIAGNOSIS
The task of fault diagnosis
consists of determining the type,
size and location of the fault,
as well as its time of detection
based on the observed analytical
and heuristic symptoms.
With the aid of heuristic kno-
effects different diagnostic
reasoning strategies can be
applied.
KNOWLEDGE
REPRESENTATION
In most applications, a certain
amount of knowledge about
the symptoms behaviour is
present. This should be exploited
when a diagnostic system is
created. Even if exact values
for thresholds are not known,
there usually is some insight
about the process, such as
physical understanding of
similar faults or similar effects
of faults on certain symptoms.
Furthermore, the selection
of the symptoms for the
diagnosis becomes a matter
of robustness.
The fault diagnosis, therefore,
must be based on the appropriate
subset of all available sympt-
oms. Different faults can be
categorized into larger groups if
their effect on the process is
similar. It is then advantageous
to find a classification system
for the larger groups first and
later separate the faults within
them. This leads to the concept
of a hierarchical diagnosis
system
Artificial intelligent
techniques such as neural
networks and fuzzy logic have
been successfully used for fault
classification. Neural networks
capabilities such as learning,
adaptation and information
distributed processing hybr-
idized with the linguistic
representation capabilities for
the description of a cause
symptom relationship of fuzzy
logic methods have provided
excellent potential to represent
heuristic and analytical
symptoms behaviour in an
integrated way for this kind of
applications.
Fault tree methods have also
been hybridized with intelligent
algorithms for hierarchical
diagnosis systems.
INTELLIGENT
SUPERVISION
Some difficulties associated
Filtering processing observations
estimation Characteristic values
Change detection Feature Process
classification extraction history
Features
Normal features
Change detection Process
classification statistics
Analytic symptoms Heuristic symptoms
Heuristic process
model Statistical United symptoms Integration of
symptoms
evaluation representation information
Fault symptoms
causalitics Unified symptoms
Fault
Weighting of Forward Backward Fault diagnosis
effects chaining chaining decision (inference
reasoning)
Heuristic knowledge Diagnosed faults
Fig 1: Integrated Fault Detection and Diagnosis Scheme
Supervisory control level with the supervision of complex A discrete event system, on
(Discrete control) dynamic processes are usually the other hand, represents a
Automaton related to multiple operational supervisor (automaton), which
Discrete control
patterns
Events domains due to the presence of reacts in the presence of genera-
nonlinear phenomena and ted events from the continuous
Events unpredictable or partially time process in order to fulfil
Translator Continuous control detector
patterns (Set points) known disturbances, which system specifications or support
affect the process performance. decision making tasks.
Regulatory control level In order to alleviate such It is considered the
(Continuous control) Regulatory
control
difficulties, it is important to supervisory control scheme
Deviations
incorporate strategies for philosophy presented in which
different operational domains. facilitates the decision making
Including adaptive capacities to task related to control actions
Process
Process variables information deal with uncertain situations in for improving the operation of
order to allow the coordination complex dynamics processes
Fig 2: Supervisory Control Scheme of distributed controllers and that may be composed of
decision making support for a interconnected subsystems,
Output variables satisfactory task assignment. A characterised by different
Subsea process and control system large number of industrial operational conditions and
processes operate on a usually subjected to external
Hydraulic r1
subsystem -+ continuous time base, and they disturbances.
model
are usually described in terms of The scheme is structured in
Communication r2 differential equations. two layers, named regulatory
Input subsystem -+ Other types of processes, control level and supervisory
variables model
of discrete time nature, may be control level. The regulatory
Electrical
subsystem -+
r3
represented using transition control level is related to the
model systems, for example the seque- process dynamics and is in
Electronic r4 ntial operation in the automo- charge of generating direct con-
subsystem -+ tive manufacturing, chemical trol action to be applied to the
model
processes where batch operation process. This level is governed
Instrumentation r5 is involved and changes in by a supervisor (automaton) in
subsystem -+
model operational regions related to a the supervisory level, which
Residuals continuous process are usually assigns discrete control patte-
described as discrete systems. rns, based on generated process
Fig 3: Residuals Generation for Fault Detection Scheme
In transition systems based events.
models; the process under The events related to the
Managment level scrutiny is described in terms continuous level may indicate
of discrete events. changes in the process behavi-
Discrete control patterns Supervisory level
Events
Supervisor (automaton) (Discrete event
domain)
The dynamic systems whose our or changes in the current
Sequencing control behaviour depends on the operational region that could
Intelligent
patterns
event detector
interaction between continuous impede the achievement of
time processes and discrete required process specifications.
Translator controllers are called hybrid The supervisory level contains
systems. In the process control a process representation based
Operational Integrated fault detection and diagnosis system Continuous area, the continuous time on operational regions and
decisions and process
warning messages level process of a hybrid system transitions among them.
for mantainance
tasks Subsea process and control system corresponds to the physical The event detector charact-
process itself, which must be erises the process behaviour
Fig 4: Intelligent Supervisory System controlled. and evaluates the performance

Control & Automation August/September 2007 www.theiet.org/control www.theiet.org/control August/September 2007 Control & Automation
42 SUBSEA CONTROL 43
‘Artificial intelligent
techniques such
as neural networks
and fuzzy logic
have been
successfully used for
fault classification’
 characteristic values by wledge in the form of heuristic Faults
1) Limit value checking of direct process models (qualitative Analytical knowledge Analytic Process
Observed variables
Heuristic
symptoms symptoms
measurable signals. models), fault symptoms, Analytical process generation Measured variables generation

Characteristic values are causalities and weighting of model Data Operator

exceeded signal tolerances.
2) Signal analysis of direct
measurable signals, using signal
models like correlation
functions, frequency spectra,
autoregressive moving average
(ARMA). Characteristic values
are, for example, variances,
amplitudes, frequency or model
parameters.
3) Process analysis by using
mathematical process models
together with parameter
estimation, state estimation
and parity equation methods.
Characteristic values are
parameters, states variables or
residuals.
In some cases physical
features can be extracted from
characteristic values, such as
physical defined process
coefficients or special filtered or
transformed residuals. These
features are then compared
with the normal features of the
non-faulty process. For this,
methods of change detection
and classification are applied.
As analytic symptoms the
resulting changes (discrepa-
ncies) of the described direct
measured signals, signal models
or process models are
considered.
HEURISTIC SYMPTOMS
GENERATION
In addition to the symptoms
generation with quantifiable
information, heuristic sympto-
ms can be produced from human
experts and operators, and
observations and inspections
The process history in the
form of performed maintenance,
repair, former faults, life time,
load measures constitute a
source of heuristic information.
Statistical data achieved from
experience with the same or
similar processes can be added.
FAULT DIAGNOSIS
The task of fault diagnosis
consists of determining the type,
size and location of the fault,
as well as its time of detection
based on the observed analytical
and heuristic symptoms.
With the aid of heuristic kno-
effects different diagnostic
reasoning strategies can be
applied.
KNOWLEDGE
REPRESENTATION
In most applications, a certain
amount of knowledge about
the symptoms behaviour is
present. This should be exploited
when a diagnostic system is
created. Even if exact values
for thresholds are not known,
there usually is some insight
about the process, such as
physical understanding of
similar faults or similar effects
of faults on certain symptoms.
Furthermore, the selection
of the symptoms for the
diagnosis becomes a matter
of robustness.
The fault diagnosis, therefore,
must be based on the appropriate
subset of all available sympt-
oms. Different faults can be
categorized into larger groups if
their effect on the process is
similar. It is then advantageous
to find a classification system
for the larger groups first and
later separate the faults within
them. This leads to the concept
of a hierarchical diagnosis
system
Artificial intelligent
techniques such as neural
networks and fuzzy logic have
been successfully used for fault
classification. Neural networks
capabilities such as learning,
adaptation and information
distributed processing hybr-
idized with the linguistic
representation capabilities for
the description of a cause
symptom relationship of fuzzy
logic methods have provided
excellent potential to represent
heuristic and analytical
symptoms behaviour in an
integrated way for this kind of
applications.
Fault tree methods have also
been hybridized with intelligent
algorithms for hierarchical
diagnosis systems.
INTELLIGENT
SUPERVISION
Some difficulties associated
Filtering processing observations
estimation Characteristic values
Change detection Feature Process
classification extraction history
Features
Normal features
Change detection Process
classification statistics
Analytic symptoms Heuristic symptoms
Heuristic process
model Statistical United symptoms Integration of
symptoms
evaluation representation information
Fault symptoms
causalitics Unified symptoms
Fault
Weighting of Forward Backward Fault diagnosis
effects chaining chaining decision (inference
reasoning)
Heuristic knowledge Diagnosed faults
Fig 1: Integrated Fault Detection and Diagnosis Scheme
Supervisory control level with the supervision of complex A discrete event system, on
(Discrete control) dynamic processes are usually the other hand, represents a
Automaton related to multiple operational supervisor (automaton), which
Discrete control
patterns
Events domains due to the presence of reacts in the presence of genera-
nonlinear phenomena and ted events from the continuous
Events unpredictable or partially time process in order to fulfil
Translator Continuous control detector
patterns (Set points) known disturbances, which system specifications or support
affect the process performance. decision making tasks.
Regulatory control level In order to alleviate such It is considered the
(Continuous control) Regulatory
control
difficulties, it is important to supervisory control scheme
Deviations
incorporate strategies for philosophy presented in which
different operational domains. facilitates the decision making
Including adaptive capacities to task related to control actions
Process
Process variables information deal with uncertain situations in for improving the operation of
order to allow the coordination complex dynamics processes
Fig 2: Supervisory Control Scheme of distributed controllers and that may be composed of
decision making support for a interconnected subsystems,
Output variables satisfactory task assignment. A characterised by different
Subsea process and control system large number of industrial operational conditions and
processes operate on a usually subjected to external
Hydraulic r1
subsystem -+ continuous time base, and they disturbances.
model
are usually described in terms of The scheme is structured in
Communication r2 differential equations. two layers, named regulatory
Input subsystem -+ Other types of processes, control level and supervisory
variables model
of discrete time nature, may be control level. The regulatory
Electrical
subsystem -+
r3
represented using transition control level is related to the
model systems, for example the seque- process dynamics and is in
Electronic r4 ntial operation in the automo- charge of generating direct con-
subsystem -+ tive manufacturing, chemical trol action to be applied to the
model
processes where batch operation process. This level is governed
Instrumentation r5 is involved and changes in by a supervisor (automaton) in
subsystem -+
model operational regions related to a the supervisory level, which
Residuals continuous process are usually assigns discrete control patte-
described as discrete systems. rns, based on generated process
Fig 3: Residuals Generation for Fault Detection Scheme
In transition systems based events.
models; the process under The events related to the
Managment level scrutiny is described in terms continuous level may indicate
of discrete events. changes in the process behavi-
Discrete control patterns Supervisory level
Events
Supervisor (automaton) (Discrete event
domain)
The dynamic systems whose our or changes in the current
Sequencing control behaviour depends on the operational region that could
Intelligent
patterns
event detector
interaction between continuous impede the achievement of
time processes and discrete required process specifications.
Translator controllers are called hybrid The supervisory level contains
systems. In the process control a process representation based
Operational Integrated fault detection and diagnosis system Continuous area, the continuous time on operational regions and
decisions and process
warning messages level process of a hybrid system transitions among them.
for mantainance
tasks Subsea process and control system corresponds to the physical The event detector charact-
process itself, which must be erises the process behaviour
Fig 4: Intelligent Supervisory System controlled. and evaluates the performance

Control & Automation August/September 2007 www.theiet.org/control www.theiet.org/control August/September 2007 Control & Automation
44 SUBSEA CONTROL
‘The subsystems are highly
interconnected and a fault
generated in one of them can be
propagated to other subsystems
affecting the whole control
system performance, subsea
operation and production’
 of the regulatory control
system monitoring the
deviations between process
variables and assigned set points
for basic controllers. This
information is translated to the
automaton in terms of discrete
events in order to yield discrete
control patterns, which will be
codified by a translator to the
regulatory control system in
terms of appropriate set points
for basic controllers, alarms and
messages to operators.

SUPERVISION, DETECTION
AND DIAGNOSIS
Conventional subsea production
control systems, with multipl-
exed electro-hydraulic confi-
guration can be subdivided into
the main following subsystems:
 Electrical subsystems.
Comprising the power supply
and electrical distribution
system; the hydraulic
subsystem including the
hydraulic supply, hydraulic
distribution and the subsea
hydraulic sub process inside
the subsea control modules;
the electronic subsystem
comprising the electronic
within the subsea control
modules and surface control
equipment, the communi-
cation subsystem which
comprises all the variables
that determine the commun-
ication quality which are
mainly connected with the
electrical subsystem when
communication on power is
used and the instrumentation
system including the external
and internal sensors and
actuators on the x-mas trees
and the control modules
respectively.
These subsystems are highly
interconnected and a fault
generated in one of them can
be propagated to other subsy-
stems affecting the whole
control system performance,
subsea operation and produ-
ction. Hence the importance
of developing integrated fault
detection, diagnosis methods
and appropriate supervision
tools to be able to perform
in a more efficient manner,
troubleshooting and fault
identification to support
subsea operation decision
making and maintenance
tasks.
 Diagnostic models.
Corresponding to the nominal
conditions for each subsystem
have to be achieved to genera-
te the analytical symptoms.
Cross interactions among
subsystems must be included
to obtain a reliable multivar-
iable model. Fig 3 represents a
residuals generation scheme
for fault detection incorpor-
ating the different subsystems
and the main interaction
between them.
FAULT DIAGNOSIS
The heuristic symptoms
generation considers process
observation from experts and
operators, process history and
process data. Then analytical
and heuristic symptoms are
integrated according to the
scheme presented in Fig 1.
A fault diagnosis task will
consider the heuristic knowle-
dge and the unified symptoms
according to the diagram
presented in Fig 1. Intelligent
techniques have to be incorp-
orated for classification and
fault identification as was
mentioned earlier.
INTELLIGENT
SUPERVISION
The proposed supervision
scheme is based on the philos-
ophy presented however, for this
application, that the discrete
control patterns will provide
information to support approp-
riate decision making for subsea
operations and warning messa-
ges to support troubleshooting
and maintenance tasks. Fig 4
illustrates the integrated
supervision scheme.
The continuous process level
represents all the production
control system which interacts
with the fault detection and
diagnostic system to generate
the faults identification when
they are produced. This
information is processed by an
intelligent event detector, which
allows mapping the identified
faults in discrete events. The
discrete events are used in the
supervisory system in order to
generate the appropriate discr-
ete control patterns for suppor-
ting troubleshooting, decision
making and maintenance tasks.
These patterns have to be
sequenced since it is a multiva-
riable process with several
subsystems. The translator
block will translate the discrete
control patterns in specific
decisions and messages for
subsea operation and mainten-
ance tasks. The supervisory
system must interact with
management levels to be able to
update the operational regions
in accordance with management
priorities.
CONCLUSION
The above approach provides
decision making support for
subsea operations and
maintenance tasks (preventive
maintenance) and also provides
more efficient mechanisms
for troubleshooting when faults
and events are generated. It
suggests the incorporation of
each subsystem (hydraulic,
electrical, electronic, communic-
ation and instrumentation) with
the corresponding interactions
for the diagnostic models in the
fault detection and diagnostic
scheme.
Information from managem-
ent levels is also highly valuable
to ensure the supervisor can
generate the appropriate
discrete patterns according to
operational and management
priorities. 

Control & Automation August/September 2007 www.theiet.org/control