In 2017 Shell Polymers selected Cyberhawk’s iHawk visualization platform as the foundation digital tool for managing the construction site. The two companies started to collaborate to develop a set of unique, differentiating capabilities to meet a wide range of challenges that the project team was facing.

iHawk, a cloud-based, IoT-enabled visualization interface, enables a community of 700 active users from Shell and 40+ execution contractors to work off the same baseline – in the office, in the field on mobile devices, and remotely. 45 interactive, touch-enabled screens have been deployed around the construction and in the future operation team’s offices, in meeting rooms and to collaboration areas. Everyone on the team has a direct, on the spot access to iHawk. The easily accessible smart screens foster collaboration and teamwork and have made iHawk an integral part of all planning and coordination meetings on the project.

Today iHawk combines visual data gathered by the UAVs (drones), ground 360 cameras with data from a myriad of field sensors and IoT devices enabling real-time equipment location tracking and performance monitoring, locating construction materials across five laydown areas using RFID technology, and more into a single visual interface for site planners, contractors and executives. According to the Shell IT director on the project, “iHawk has become an inseparable part of what we do, it is now part of the landscape for Pennsylvania Chemicals, and for all future Shell projects.”

Visual data management is not limited to drone imagery. Site inspection imagery, for example, taken in large volumes by quality inspectors and construction engineers, is notoriously difficult to gather, catalog, and manage centrally. On this project, Shell and Cyberhawk developed a simple self-service workflow for this kind of content to be captured, uploaded, linked to an equipment tag and assigned keywords in a few clicks, or screen taps on a mobile device. The images can then be instantly shared across the project team, for example, to report the need for remediation action.

The Site Master Plan module was developed in response to the needs of the main EPC contractor managing the site. The joint owner and EPC project management team relies on the high-resolution GIS data, developed from drone imagery, and enriched with layers of contextualized information, to plan heavy equipment moves and oversized deliveries, organize equipment staging, and to manage congested laydown area space across the busy 380-acre construction site.

Historically difficult to manage offline with Gannt charts, space planning clashes and constraints can be instantly detected and resolved in a visual domain. The ability to assign a physical area for a specific task and purpose, assign a responsible individual, and publish this information to the stakeholders, is crucial. Not only does iHawk put hundreds of real estate assignments on the timeline and make them visible to everyone on the team, but it also helps to drive personal accountability for the success of every task.

The team uses iHawk to track the position and usage of construction equipment – in this case, the dozens of heavy cranes deployed across the site by seamlessly integrating industry-leading IoT solutions.
The cranes are fitted with vibration sensors that report uptime and other telemetry data, which is aggregated in iHawk for interpretation and analysis, helping the area managers to derive the most value from the investment in the equipment.

The result

The collection of site imagery captured over time by 360-degree ground cameras and by drones has contributed to countless progress and cost reviews with the major contractors and subcontractors, making them factual, evidence-based, and ultimately transparent and fair.

iHawk empowers cross-functional teams to hold each other accountable every day, generating significant value. The monthly cumulative usage of the portal approaches 10,000 hours, exceeding the most optimistic targets and expectations. It is estimated, that every hour of iHawk’s usage translates in the equivalent, often even greater, efficiency gains in the field.

The FindAll module was developed to address one of the most significant challenges inherent to large, complex projects – finding the relevant information quickly. FindAll reaches across multiple databases and information sources, historically disparate, to locate and retrieve engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning documentation and data, up to 90% quicker than some of the traditional methods and tools, saving 3-5 minutes per search. Up to 50,000 searches are performed each month.

Customer testimonial

iHawk is a modular system that integrates with a wide spectrum of business and real-time systems via low-cost low-maintenance APIs. Amid 20 integration options available already, with the option to quickly deliver additional interfaces as the customer needs evolve, iHawk is strategically positioned in the heart of the IT architecture of this and future projects.

Commenting on the success of the project, Dmitry Gurevich, IT director Pennsylvania Chemicals at Shell, said:

“In the early days of the execution phase, we chose Cyberhawk to be our drone content management partner amid a rigorous competitive evaluation process, concluding that it was best in class solution for the needs of a multi-billion construction megaproject. The depth of knowledge and expertise the iHawk development team has, enabled Cyberhawk to provide a near real-time response to the evolving, challenging functional requirements, that the project team continues to come up against.

“Since the introduction of iHawk to the project back in 2017, we have seen an exponential increase in the usage of the GIS information across critical execution activities such as field engineering, site coordination, environmental monitoring, construction management, and workforce planning, materials management and many others.

“iHawk has enabled a digital revolution across the owner’s team and the contractor community. We see iHawk as a tool that offers opportunities for safety improvements through increased efficiency and improved visualization prior to work activities.

“The data collected throughout the execution phase is a resourceful legacy that will continue to empower the asset operations team for the entire plant-life.”

“It is exciting to see the platform has grown so much in capability in such a short period of time. We look forward to continuing our journey together with Cyberhawk. The strength of the team behind iHawk was the deciding factor that enabled Shell to install iHawk as the global standard for the project and asset visualization”

It’s important to remember that drones collect a huge volume of data, however a high-quality engineering report can make all the difference. This allows the client to easily assess the condition of the structure and plan any maintenance based on the data. The final reports provided 100% visual coverage of the dome with exact sizing of defects and a 3D model of the structure. This was delivered to AEP through Cyberhawk’s cloud based iHawk visual asset management system.

As a UAV company that has extensive experience within multiple projects and sectors, Cyberhawk’s pilots and engineers have a varied and very experienced skillset. This allows them to successfully undertake projects of challenging nature, that no one has attempted before.

READ MORE ABOUT THIS PROJECT AND WHAT AMERICAN ELECTRIC POWER THOUGHT OF THE RESULTS IN INSIDE UNMANNED SYSTEMS MAGAZINE.
https://www.neimagazine.com/features/featureeye-in-the-sky-6136284/

This technique allowed Cyberhawk to quickly and efficiently undertake a safe audit of the structure, which in turn meant the client could prioritise further contact inspection or maintenance work. The US coastguard (USCG) and a class certification body was there to witness the inspection as Cyberhawk was the only UAV inspection company that met the standards they set.

Utilising an internal UAV, Cyberhawk successfully completed the workscope delivering high quality inspection reports which enabled the client to understand the tank’s condition. The client reported the project was carried out efficiently, saving them standby time at the port, with over a million pounds in cost savings.

Cyberhawk’s solution not only mitigated the risks associated with confined space and working at height, but also provided a detailed inspection report on the condition of the asset. This allowed the client to prioritise maintenance decisions and thus minimise costs. Finally, there was minimal disruption to other work activities in the refinery during the drone operations.

Thanks to the skill and ability of Cyberhawk’s pilots, the inspection of the critical components was successfully completed within two days. This compares with rope access which would usually take weeks to complete the same workscope.

The detailed inspection report showed that the flare was in good condition, despite being in use for over 10 years. This helped the client to understand the status of deterioration, and avoid unnecessary maintenance costs.

Traditionally inspections of this nature would be complete by rope access, or if using scaffolding take months when considering set up and dismantling.

Cyberhawk successfully completed inspections over the course of two weeks, proving the speed and efficiency of UAV inspections and reinforcing that the technology can produce exceptional results in the harshest of offshore environments.

The coker’s environment presented a whole host of operational challenges to the Cyberhawk team. A built up coker absorbs light which affects the pilot’s line of sight – not only is it extremely dusty but there is also a high risk that the UAV could become trapped.

Cyberhawk’s previous success of working within confined spaces, along with the highly skilled pilots employed, saw the team emerge as the preferred provider for this difficult workscope.

Utilising Cyberhawk’s UAVs meant engineers were able assess the condition of the asset prior to de-coking which had not been previously possible by human entry due to the potential hazard of falling slabs of coke and resulted in the project being successfully completed in just one day.