Virtual reality centres promise a new experience

The concept of a new virtual world is being advocated by SGI, a pioneer in establishing virtual reality centres. Srikanth R P looks at the potential of virtual reality centres and its impact in the real world

Dr Prasad Medhury says the success of virtual reality centres can be seen from the fact that more than 40 oil companies and seismic contractors use this technology in more than 125 centres

Oil exploration has traditionally been a slippery business with organisations needing vast amounts of patience, manpower and luck to extract oil and gas from the ocean floor. But recent technology developments have made oil exploration more precise, productive and more importantly, less expensive.

Take for instance ONGC’s decision to set up two virtual reality centres for speeding up the process of oil exploration. Using virtual reality centres, ONGC can drill down any surface in real time and analyse vast amounts of data and pinpoint the exact location to strike oil without even going on location.

Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI), which has helped set up the virtual reality centre for ONGC, claims that the success rate for prospecting can increase to 70 percent from a mere 10 percent earlier.

Welcome to the world of virtual reality, where the physical infrastructure of the real world is recreated on a computer. In a virtual reality centre immersive virtual environments communicate physical and abstract components to a human operator and provide a visual medium that presents an operator information wherever he or she looks. The surroundings also mimic the actual environment by way of large screens (both curved and flat), which give the operator the feeling of actually being on location. An operator can even experience a virtual world through sight, sound and touch by wearing a special stereo display helmet and gloves, which relay the operator’s actions.

While the concept is relatively new in India, oil and gas companies worldwide have been using virtual reality solutions from organisations like SGI for visualisation of oil reservoirs. The solutions have been paying off as the cost of hitting dry wells has come down drastically with the use of these solutions.

Oil companies have adopted reality centres from companies like SGI to improve their success rates in discovering economically viable petroleum reserves. Increased demand for fuel, high exploration and production costs, huge logistical implications and time frames involved have accentuated the need for accurate and efficient identification of fresh petroleum reservoirs. This identification relies on the collation and analysis of huge amounts of data gathered about the structural makeup of the earth’s surface and subsurface by a wide range of experts including geophysicists, geologists and the subsequent interpretation of this data by reservoir, production and drilling engineers. A reality centre is hence beneficial as it allows diverse teams to engage in interactive, real-time engineering and design reviews to process large amounts of data in real-time.

Says Dr Prasad Medhury, managing director, SGI India, “Use of a virtual reality centre can lead to improved drilling efficiency through greater accuracy gained in interpretation and analysis of subsurface data. Based on data comparing the 50- year average oil price ratio to well completion, it proves that the ratio of well completions has risen in the last 10 years, from 20 percent to more than 40 percent, due to the use of new technologies. Of these technologies, 3D imaging and directional drilling are the main components. Even a 20-30 percent increase in a field’s output can dramatically increase profits with comparatively little additional expenditure. The success of this solution can be seen from the fact that today more than 40 oil companies and seismic contractors use this technology in more than 125 reality centres.”

While reality centres offer the ability to process large amounts of data, the real benefit is the ability to visualise and interact with models and processes without the danger, impracticality or expense that would be encountered in the physical environment. That is the reason why virtual reality solutions are perhaps the best solutions for training personnel, without the inherent danger of the environment in defence and military operations.

The same concept can be extended to other sectors like the railways, where an organisation like Indian Railways can use this concept to train their motormen for running trains.

Oil companies are not the only organisations using the concept of reality centres. Automobile manufacturers conduct crash tests in these centres to study the impact of a crash on the driver and the vehicle. Additionally, manufacturers can use this concept for designing digital prototypes, design validation and product styling. Major users include BMW, Ford, GM, Daimler-Chrysler and our own Tata Engineering.

In the life sciences segment, this concept is being used for molecular modelling and drug discovery. In India, PSG College of Technology has a SGI reality centre for training students in the areas of molecular modelling, drug discovery, digital prototyping and industrial styling. BHEL has set up a reality centre for designing gas turbines.

While the concept holds great potential, only a few forward looking organisations like ONGC, BHEL, Tata Engineering and PSG College of Technology have adopted this technology so far.

To educate the market about the concept of virtual reality centres, SGI has been conducting a series of reality centre roadshows in India. If this concept attracts more organisations like ONGC, then businesses like oil exploration will never be a grimy sight again.