Communication Architecture for Autonomous Power-to-X Platforms: Enhancing Inspection and Operation With Legged Robots and 5G

TL;DR

This paper proposes a communication architecture utilizing 5G for autonomous inspection and maintenance of offshore Power-to-X platforms, integrating quadruped robots to reduce human labor and improve operational efficiency.

Contribution

It introduces a novel communication framework for remote control of legged robots on Power-to-X platforms using 5G, enhancing inspection and maintenance capabilities.

Findings

High availability and low latency achieved with 5G network

Quadruped robot successfully performs autonomous inspection tasks

Remote teleoperation demonstrated with acceptable performance metrics

Abstract

Inspection and maintenance of offshore platforms are associated with high costs, primarily due to the significant personnel requirements and challenging operational conditions. This paper first presents a classification of Power to X platforms. Building upon this foundation, a communication architecture is proposed to enable monitoring, control, and teleoperation for a Power to X platform. To reduce the demand for human labor, a robotic system is integrated to autonomously perform inspection and maintenance tasks. The implementation utilizes a quadruped robot. Remote monitoring, control, and teleoperation of the robot are analyzed within the context of a 5G standalone network. As part of the evaluation, aspects such as availability and latency are recorded, compared, and critically assessed.