
Floating LiDAR buoy
We took traditional LiDAR technology and integrated it into a floating buoy with highly reliable renewable power, data storage and satellite communication capabilities. We gather and deliver accurate data your project can trust.
No Content Set
Exception:
Website.Models.ViewModels.Components.General.Banners.BannerComponentVm
Services
Technical services and consulting solutions for clients in the property, energy, transport, water, resources, defence and government sectors.
Advisory and management consulting
Communications, creative and digital
Design and development
Environment
Exploration and development
Health, safety and risk
Laboratories
Oceans and coastal
Planning and approvals
Project and program management
Training
Water services
Advisory and management consulting
RPS advisory and management consulting services for businesses and projects, including economics, due diligence, transaction advisory, ESG and more.
Communications, creative and digital
Communications, creative and digital solutions for governments and businesses including community engagement, design, research, data and software development.
Design and development
Technical and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure and cities including architecture, engineering, surveying, landscape architecture and urban design.
Environment
Environmental consulting solutions for responsible, resilient and sustainable development including impact assessment, ecology and contamination management.
Exploration and development
Technical services for energy projects including seismic operations, drilling and wellsite geology, reservoir management, independent reporting and more.
Health, safety and risk
From safety case development to emergency response strategy, discover services and expertise to reduce your risk profile and keep people safe.
Laboratories
Scientific analysis services for AgroScience, food safety, workplace exposure, environmental analysis and contaminants of concern in Europe and the UK.
Oceans and coastal
RPS technical solutions for marine infrastructure and offshore development including coastal engineering, marine biology metocean science, and emergency response.
Planning and approvals
Development strategy, planning and approval solutions for buildings, infrastructure, transport and city projects and investments.
Project and program management
Project management solutions for the most complex building, infrastructure, organisational change, and systems projects.
Training
Specialist training services, programs and accreditation for health, safety and risk, project management, and energy sector capability development.
Water services
Solutions for the water sector including quality monitoring, modelling, infrastructure design, engineering and asset management.
Sectors
World-leading technical and consulting solutions for clients in the property, energy, transport, resources, water, defence and government sectors.
Property
Energy
Transport
Defence and government services
Water
Resources
Property
Design, technical and advisory services for the property sector, including residential, commercial, retail, industrial, health, education and data centre projects.
Energy
Energy exploration, development and optimisation solutions for renewables, power and gas networks, energy storage, oil and gas and nuclear facilties.
Transport
Smart, safe and sustainable transport infrastructure development services and advice for rail, aviation, port and road clients and projects.
Defence and government services
Expertise for defence capability and infrastructure investments, security and safety projects, and information and telecommunications initatives.
Water
Discover our industry-leading strategy, design and management solutions for wastewater, groundwater, flooding, drainage and network infrastructure.
Resources
Commercial data, design advice and technical management solutions for safe and environmentally responsible resource exploration and operations.
Technical services and consulting solutions for clients in the property, energy, transport, water, resources, defence and government sectors.
Advisory and management consulting
Communications, creative and digital
RPS advisory and management consulting services for businesses and projects, including economics, due diligence, transaction advisory, ESG and more.
Project investment and finance
Explore Advisory and management consultingCommunications, creative and digital solutions for governments and businesses including community engagement, design, research, data and software development.
Creative, visualisation and immersive design
Data management, analytics and insights
Explore Communications, creative and digitalTechnical and consulting services for buildings, infrastructure and cities including architecture, engineering, surveying, landscape architecture and urban design.
Environmental consulting solutions for responsible, resilient and sustainable development including impact assessment, ecology and contamination management.
Acoustics, noise and vibration
Contaminated land and remediation
Environmental Impact Assessment
Environmental permitting and compliance
Sustainability and climate resilience
Explore EnvironmentTechnical services for energy projects including seismic operations, drilling and wellsite geology, reservoir management, independent reporting and more.
Asset and reservoir management
Drilling support and wellsite geology
Field development planning and operations
Reserves and independent reporting
Seismic operations management and support
Exploration and appraisal studies
Unitisation and equity determination
Unexploded ordnances (UXO) and Explosive remnants of war (ERW)
Explore Exploration and developmentFrom safety case development to emergency response strategy, discover services and expertise to reduce your risk profile and keep people safe.
Asbestos and hazardous materials management
Construction (design and management) principal designer
Health, safety, risk assessment and management
Explore Health, safety and riskScientific analysis services for AgroScience, food safety, workplace exposure, environmental analysis and contaminants of concern in Europe and the UK.
RPS technical solutions for marine infrastructure and offshore development including coastal engineering, marine biology metocean science, and emergency response.
Commercial fisheries advice and services
Marine site investigation and geoscience
24/7 response modelling and support services
Marine life mitigation - PSOs, MMOs and PAM
Metocean, Science and Technology
Explore Oceans and coastalDevelopment strategy, planning and approval solutions for buildings, infrastructure, transport and city projects and investments.
Project management solutions for the most complex building, infrastructure, organisational change, and systems projects.
Cost management / quantity surveying
Explore Project and program managementSpecialist training services, programs and accreditation for health, safety and risk, project management, and energy sector capability development.
Capability development and training for the energy sector
Explore TrainingSolutions for the water sector including quality monitoring, modelling, infrastructure design, engineering and asset management.
Water quality modelling and monitoring
Water and wastewater network modelling and asset management
Water and wastewater infrastructure design
Explore Water services
World-leading technical and consulting solutions for clients in the property, energy, transport, resources, water, defence and government sectors.
Design, technical and advisory services for the property sector, including residential, commercial, retail, industrial, health, education and data centre projects.
Energy exploration, development and optimisation solutions for renewables, power and gas networks, energy storage, oil and gas and nuclear facilties.
Smart, safe and sustainable transport infrastructure development services and advice for rail, aviation, port and road clients and projects.
Expertise for defence capability and infrastructure investments, security and safety projects, and information and telecommunications initatives.
Information and telecommunications
Explore Defence and government servicesDiscover our industry-leading strategy, design and management solutions for wastewater, groundwater, flooding, drainage and network infrastructure.
UK and Ireland regulated water asset management
Explore WaterCommercial data, design advice and technical management solutions for safe and environmentally responsible resource exploration and operations.
We define, design and manage projects that create shared value to a complex, urbanising and resource-scarce world.
Brilliant minds finding solutions to complex problems, made easy to understand. Making complex easy.
Following successful deployment of four LiDAR buoys in 2022, RPS was selected for a second project that year for the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy, via the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). Three additional buoys were mobilised to measure offshore wind data (including energy potential) and metocean conditions at Doordewind Wind Farm Zone offshore Netherlands.
Our first project for RVO achieved on-time delivery and deployment, and safe operations with no incidents, with over 95% data return. Read on for a recap of some exciting innovations, but also some thoughts on how advanced metocean technology can support the offshore wind and energy markets further – for example, new functionality and cost reduction.
A key development for the RPS team was establishing and growing our European metocean capability with a local base in Den Helder – located in the new ‘Blue Port Centre’, a site being redeveloped to support the Netherlands’ renewable energy transition.
Here, we built good relationships with a supportive maritime community that includes the Port Authority, Den Helder support services and the local community, receiving excellent support for our most recent bid. Our team also grew to include eight dedicated metocean specialists employed in the UK, who are all highly skilled and experienced in this field.
RPS’ Australian-built Floating LiDAR buoy is known for reliability and accuracy, which is down to a number of innovative features. These include real-time sensor monitoring, and redundancy features for both power and communications. In addition, the buoy runs off renewable energy and features a custom mooring design that avoids entanglement risk to wildlife while enabling accurate wave measurement.
For our recent Dutch projects, we also brought in a new capability. As a recipient of public funding, our client was keen to make project data publicly available. Via our OceansMonitor Web platform, visitors could see the location of the buoys, and view a wide range of metocean and wind data (including barometric pressure, wind speed, wave height, and current speed and direction). The data was returned in real-time with almost 100% coverage, providing a high degree of accuracy and detail for use in planning other offshore projects.
Another innovation was monitoring waves via satellite GPS GNSS sensors and accelerometers. A high precision GPS sensor was used to measure tides. The alternative to this is pressure sensor gauges placed on the seabed and anchored with the buoy mooring, but the data these collect can’t be checked until they are retrieved – usually at the end of the deployment. Instead, RPS installed new technology, adding to the buoy’s real-time data delivery capabilities. RPS was one of the first to integrate this feature – with the added benefit of lower power consumption – for the Dutch deployments. For those with ESG in mind, this feature needs less instrumentation and no need for battery packs. This technology has the added advantage of a more sophisticated battery management where we can remotely monitor individual cells to ensure improved reliability. (RPS has moved away from traditional lead acid batteries to more sustainable lithium rechargeable batteries with our new LiDAR model).
Remote operation capabilities like this are becoming increasingly popular with developers who wish to improve safety and cut their carbon footprint by reducing the need for operatives and vessels in the field. Real-time data delivery speeds up and increases access to study area data, while our ability to remotely reconfigure buoy systems can also reduce the need for site visits and repair work.
Related reads:
Celebrating a Floating LiDAR data milestone
As we add to the buoy’s innovations and capabilities, we’ve been thinking about other ways they could support our clients.
For RVO, we measured water quality parameters and dissolved oxygen, for which there are several benefits. These data can tell us about an environmental impact parameter for which there is currently a lack of existing long-term datasets. As such we’ll be able to provide baseline data to assess environmental changes in future. There are also cost-saving benefits for our client, given the cost of measuring this type of data in isolation; instead, a single LiDAR buoy could gather data on multiple parameters (such as ocean acidity, another example without an existing dataset. It’s easy to integrate new sensors to the RPS platform and great to work with a client like RVO, who are always receptive to measuring more ocean parameters).
With RVO at the forefront as the renewables industry looks to the future – and grows exponentially – there is increasing interest in generating different renewable energy sources on the same offshore sites. One suggestion is floating solar farms at offshore wind farms. We were recently asked about the potential for solar measurement using a Floating LiDAR buoy and were able to answer that this is something we already do. Since RPS’ LiDAR buoys run off wind and solar power, we already measure this data to understand the buoys’ power usage. In developing a LiDAR buoy, we have looked to innovate from the start; this advanced technology continues to expand its potential as industry needs evolve and grow.