Kelvin Hughes has supplied two SBS-800 SharpEye series radars for the Ichthys LNG project located 220km off the shore of Western Australia in the Browse basin.

The radars will be installed on both the Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel and the Central Processing Facility (CPF), the CPF and FPSO will be stationed about 3.5 km apart on the Ichthys field. The FPSO and CPF will be communicatively linked to each other through a dedicated fibre optic connection, the SBS 800 radars provide valuable sensor data for the SAAB V3000 VTS core.  The CPF is permanently moored to the seabed for the life of the project, the FPSO will process and store condensate from the CPF and periodically offload stabilised condensate to shuttle carriers for export directly to market. 336 m in length, it has been designed to hold 1 MMbbl of condensate and will have the capacity to accommodate a workforce of up to 200 people.

The SBS-800 radars, which will be providing a vital combined security surface picture and operational field situational awareness and shares the same capabilities of contemporary Vessel Traffic Services(VTS), features a number of important benefits for the CPF and FPSO. With its SharpEye technology, including X-Band frequency, pulse compression and Doppler processing, it is able to filter out sea and rain clutter without filtering out the targets of interest, leaving a clear and unambiguous radar picture even in the most severe conditions.

In addition, the solid state transceiver requires no maintenance and can be located upmast in the antenna turning unit thereby reducing the considerable signal loss normally found with downmast systems.

The complex design, integration and commissioning of the INPEX CPF and FPSO systems is being delivered by international VTS and platform protection system integrator Australian Maritime Systems (AMS). This system compliments other leading LNG projects in Australia with AMS delivering the SBS 800 radars to provide situational awareness, on field operations coordination and security to the Chevron Wheatstone platform as well as several major onshore port VTS installations.

The Ichthys field represents the largest discovery of hydrocarbon liquids in Australia in 40 years and will involve the construction of some of the most extensive offshore facilities in the industry as well as a state-of-the-art onshore processing facility and an 889 km pipeline. The field is being operated by INPEX, a leading independent worldwide oil and gas explorer and producer.