American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2015 - 150

JANUARY 2015
Upstream oil and gas applications
continue to be on the leading edge of visualization, says Maz Zaeefjou, senior
project development manager at CriticalSpace Solutions. As applications expand, the need for a broader strategy increases. "At first, companies put in a few
visualization centers that were single purpose," he recalls. "Now, it is more important to consider the range of potential
users and applications to determine the
best mix of technology."
Zaeefjou calls this vertical-focused
integration. "We are in the enviable position of having many choices in visualization," he asserts.
Fully Immersive
Caves provide the traditional immersive
experience. These centers feature rearprojection, high-resolution, and blended
displays onto three walls as well as the
floor. An individual standing in a cave is
immersed in the data and can interact
with them using a keyboard and mouse,
or tracked devices such as wands or more
recently, tablets. This kind of room requires
8-10 projectors and a lot of space, says
Zaeefjou.
Large, multiblended rear projection
visualization rooms provide a seamless,
continuous image on a curved screen or
flat screen. Zaeefjou says the user is surrounded by imagery, connected in a way
not possible in other environments. This
experience is ideal for intricate modeling
or interpretation, he says, adding that a
throw distance of 12-14 feet is required
for larger walls.

More recently, Zaeefjou observes,
smaller spaces have been designed for
simulation or training applications. At a
quarter of the cost of a large cave, he
says, these spaces require only three to
four projectors. "Companies can configure
three or four of these in an area for simultaneous individual training," he says.
"Virtual training has become a popular
application of immersive technology,"
Zaeefjou adds, explaining that in this
immersive environment, trainees can
move around a simulated offshore platform, oil tanker or drilling rig without
any risk. "This is great for walking
through a maintenance procedure or a
new job assignment, and trainees are
better prepared when they enter the real
environment."
Rear-projection cubes have a shorter
throw distance, requiring less free space
behind them, Zaeefjou continues. Each
cube has one three-foot projector and
can be combined with others in an array
both tall and wide. The resulting wall is
tuned to present a high-resolution, continuous blended image, and can optionally
support 3-D, he details. He says this
semi-immersive experience suits a collaborative team working with a dataset
that is best displayed without interruption.
Visualization walls also can be made
by combining QuadHD panels, Zaeefjou
mentions. He says these walls usually
take less space and expense than the projection alternative. High resolution data
are displayed across all panels, with a
small line between them. These lines in-

QuadHD flat panels are one of
the devices that have enabled
companies to move from the
traditional fully immersive
"caves" to smaller visualization
rooms. Panels enable companies to configure displays to
suit their applications, says
Christie Senior Sales Manager
Steven Lutz, who reports one
major oil company put more
than 150 such panels in socalled hives.

150 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

terrupt the continuous image and can be
an issue for certain applications, he allows.
Geophysicists, for example, do not want
a break in their reservoir models.
"Generally, users become accustomed
to the lines and no longer notice them,"
Zaeefjou comments.
LED displays are great for lobbies
and other spaces where there are large
distances between screen and viewer. Zaeefjou says these devices require less
power, generate less heat, can be as large
as 130 diagonal inches, and typically
have a wide viewing angle. The downside,
he points out, is that the viewer must be
far away from the screen to avoid seeing
the individual diodes. He predicts there
will be growing interest-and capability-
in this area.
Huddle Rooms
Zaeefjou notes many oil companies
are establishing hives or huddle rooms
that can be reserved and used by individuals or small groups. For this space, a
single, high-resolution display may be
just right. "QuadHD 4K displays are hot
now," he remarks. "The image is very
crisp, allowing users to get very close
without seeing pixilation."
These displays offer immersive experiences in sizes ranging from 28 to 98
inches, have four times the resolution of
high definition displays, and can be
viewed as close as three to four feet, Zaeefjou says, adding that at a fraction of
the cost for a full visualization wall,
huddle rooms are very practical and popular.
He says global companies are making
efforts to standardize these rooms so that
employees moving between locations do
not have to refamiliarize themselves with
the technology. Some companies also
are choosing to share larger huddle spaces
with emergency response teams. As needs
arise, higher priority applications claim
the space.
Operation centers typically require a
dedicated space and incorporate combinations of semi-immersive desktop displays and visualization walls, Zaeefjou
goes on. These centers range in responsibility from monitoring wells to controlling field operations and managing
whole supply chains.
He says one major service company
has established a global intelligence monitoring center, staffed with professionals

American Oil and Gas Reporter - January 2015

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