Microsoft HoloLens streamlines operations for Centrica Storage as they transition to net zero

A vision of the future

Frontline-worker support using mixed reality has been delivered on VISR’s FUSE frontline worker application running on the company’s VERTX platform. FUSE powered by VERTX is hosted on Microsoft Azure and the solution draws on a number of Azure mixed reality services, including Azure Remote Rendering, Azure Spatial Anchors and Azure Object Anchors.

Centrica engineers are able to create and add process and maintenance instructions, based on spatial anchor points around a physical location. Frontline workers can then access this information with instructions to guide them around the site and assist them in carrying out their day-to-day work.

“This project has been about proving use cases for mixed reality in key work processes,” says Stephen Ashley, “the approach enables experts to develop the processes and upload them to the platform largely by themselves. It fits really well with the concepts of smart assets and digital workers – so we can transform and improve the way things get done.”

FUSE powered by VERTX is hardware and software agnostic. From the process level at Centrica, it draws live plant information from Emerson process control systems as well as real-time sensor and telemetry data via Microsoft Azure IoT. Providing this live data in the operator’s field view adds real-world value. 

From a frontline worker perspective, the information can then be accessed via an app on a mobile device, such as a tablet or smartphone, or as an immersive mixed reality experience using HoloLens 2. Armed with these real-time insights as they move around the plant, field engineers can make more informed decisions and complete their work more safely.

Mixed reality with Microsoft HoloLens 2

Microsoft HoloLens 2 is an ergonomic, untethered and self-contained holographic device with enterprise-ready applications to increase user accuracy and output. 

“The logic of using HoloLens 2 is to connect frontline workers – people who need to use both hands when they’re doing a job – to digital and over-the-shoulder support,” explains Oliver Nicoll, CEO at VISR Dynamics, “using this accessible technology, we can tie together the frontline worker with the plant and the engineers who are high-value assets.” 

To ensure the device would be suitable for use in an ATEX level 2 environment, the VISR team chose to work with Trimble Field Technologies to deliver the mixed reality capabilities of the HoloLens 2 in a hardhat form factor.

Once frontline engineers put on the Trimble XR10 hardhat, they can quickly and securely login to their Microsoft HoloLens 2 device using Windows Hello, an iris-based biometric recognition solution associated with their usual Microsoft 365 identity using Azure Active Directory. This way, they can get straight to work without the need to type log-in credentials.

Choosing Microsoft HoloLens 2

The specific capabilities of Microsoft HoloLens 2 make it the best choice for a project of this kind, as Oliver Nicoll explains. 

“Because of the technological capabilities of Microsoft HoloLens 2, we can do more with it in the field,” he says, “we can offer holographic guidance for maintenance that is geared up with millimetre precision – and that’s vital on a plant like this. Without HoloLens 2, we wouldn’t have the precision, we wouldn’t have the spatial awareness and we wouldn’t be able to do it. The HoloLens 2 represents the best of what we can use at the moment. If that’s going to be the future, the industry needs to plan for it – because there are amazing things we can already do.”

The first Centrica engineers to use the application were based at the Easington Storage terminal in East Yorkshire. Throughout 2020, members of the engineering team worked with the VISR team to refine the solution, plot the plant and explore the benefits.

Mark Jenkinson, Asset Manager at Centrica’s Easington terminal, says, “Our team liked the flexibility of the solution, it was easy for them to wear, and it offers them a level of comfort of having access to a world of expertise over the wireless connection.”

Connectivity in onshore and offshore environments

Due to the complexity and scale of sites within the sector, connectivity was another major focus for the project.

Oliver Nicoll says, “When we took on this project, we identified ten different areas which we would need to work on in parallel – from developing a spatial map of the plant to create a digital ordinance to the connectivity to deliver voice and video to a location where there is very poor signal.”

The project explored multiple connection strategies, including working with Vodafone to build the first private industrial 5G network in Europe. The team also designed and delivered a custom radio modem based on LoRaWAN technologies. The latter has been extensively tested in the offshore environment and delivered excellent coverage of a three-jacket platform via a single base station. 

This facilitates one unexpected benefit: the recertification of offshore staff to ensure that all safety and regulatory approvals and training is up to date. An engineer can record their work using their Microsoft HoloLens 2, this is streamed over LoRaWAN to the edge device on the platform, before being synched to the cloud to be reviewed by the appropriate certifier. The expense and carbon footprint of flying people out to the offshore locations to deal with the recertification of engineers can thus be avoided. Each trip that is not required saves £10k – as well as reducing risk and increasing productivity.

“This wasn’t something we were looking to do,” admits Oliver Nicoll, “but it has turned out afterwards to be a real big win.”

Driving further operational improvements

 Having proven the solution’s benefit in terms of competency and certification, the next step for the Centrica team is to leverage the private 5G network that is now operational across the Easington site to provide troubleshooting and over-the-shoulder support.

“Often we need expert support from specialist vendors or specialist technical people who are somewhere else in the world,” explains Martin Scargill. “Now, within ten seconds of making a Remote Assist call via Microsoft Teams on HoloLens, we can have the vendor seeing what the problem is, giving advice and sharing information directly at the worksite.”

If there is an accessibility issue for any reason, external experts, Centrica’s internal technical support team or other colleagues working from home can provide support where it is needed.

“I would no longer have to call in a specialist from Germany, for example, to jump on a flight. Or wait two days for them to turn up, and pay for that privilege,” suggests Martin Scargill. The opportunity cost of a two-day delay like this would be significant, with thousands of pounds at stake. Now, cost savings are achieved alongside carbon savings with the need for flights and other travel completely minimised.

Martin Scargill says, “I can now have support contracts where there is a minimal cost; we just make call and our supplier’s experts can immediately help us with a problem.”

Mark Jenkinson agrees, “The next phase will be to use the solution as a day-to-day tool for all our maintenance and fault-finding work. As the drive to flexible and remote working increases, I want our team to tap into all our engineering resources who are working remotely. And that’s not just within Centrica, or our management structure. This solution enables us to patch people in so we can tap into a wealth of experience globally. The world becomes a small place when you put it on a virtual platform.”

He continues, “The HoloLens 2 really brings a problem to life. And they can fault find and work through problems and procedures using the virtual world to guide them.”

Supporting the transition to net zero

As well as guidance on existing processes, Oliver Nicoll also sees an opportunity to use mixed reality technologies for skills retention and skills transfer. The energy sector boasts many highly skilled engineers who need to be supported through the transition that the industry must make during the next few years. 

“We can’t simply turn off oil and gas any time soon,” admits Stephen Ashley, “and this project has shown mixed reality technologies can have huge benefit to those intrinsically dangerous environments. But they are also equally applicable to offshore wind, floating wind, green hydrogen, wave and tidal – where the experience of the specialist staff, the experience of working in difficult and dangerous environments and the integrity of assets is significantly transferable.” 

Efficiency and optimisation benefits

“There are many processes that people are accustomed to but with which they are also frustrated,” says Martin Scargill. “I would hope that, with this solution, within five years paper-based processes will be a thing of the past.”

“The ambition is that technicians use this for supporting their day-to-day activities – routine activities, breakdown, competency assurance,” agrees Mark Jenkinson. “We’d reduce downtime and improve reliability and productivity. People want to be with a company that’s ahead of the times and we could really be at the forefront of industry.” 

“In the future, I would hope that everybody, as a norm, will be wearing these glasses,” Martin Scargill proposes. “You join Centrica as a frontline worker and you get issued with Microsoft HoloLens 2 as your kit and you have many uses for it. Return on investment will no doubt come from the efficiency gains we’ve talked about. I’m also really excited about how much using this kind of technology will inspire the next generation of engineers in our industry and excite them about coming to work for Centrica.”

“There are so many use cases for us, it’s immense,” Martin Scargill continues. “For example, if we’re going to design a new part of the plant, we can go out as a team and talk about it and share the designs and work on it together in that location on the plant. We can get end user involvement before it becomes too expensive.”

The design stages of the Zero Carbon Humber project could be one such example. This project will establish the world’s largest hydrogen production plant in Humberside. All captured CO2 will be compressed at Centrica Storage’s Easington site before being stored under the southern North Sea using offshore infrastructure.

An infinite number of use cases

“With this project and with this technology, we are driving innovation and progress in our industry,” Martin Scargill says, “Centrica sees this as a long-term investment. There’s probably an infinite number of use cases for us.”

“We could see how this would enable operators to have generalists offshore who are guided by technical experts onshore,” concurs Stephen Ashley. “By minimising the number of people offshore, risk can be reduced. Furthermore, significant cost savings will be delivered because it is now unnecessary to fly technical experts offshore.” 

Stephen Ashley continues, “Working in a highly regulated environment can sometimes be a convenient excuse for being resistant to change, what this experience has shown is there are significant cost, safety and productivity benefits for adopting mixed reality in our industry.”

“This is accessible, it’s affordable and it can make tasks a lot easier,” affirms Oliver Nicoll. “Our platform will help the industry to move from ideation and proof of concepts to progress and scale up. They can do it from the Microsoft Azure cloud, from private stacks or at the edge. And they can scale with multi-user, security, encryption, authentication and all those wonderful things that can create headaches – it’s baked in for them using trusted Microsoft technologies.”

“Safety comes before everything in an energy environment – that’s why change is difficult,” reiterates Oliver Nicoll. “Change is more challenging, but the rewards are huge.”