Simulated Offshore Structure Monitoring System Using Global Positioning System (GPS) and Accelerometer

During design phase, an offshore structure may be assumed to experience certain degree of
environmental loads from wind, wave and current. In reality these environmental load
experienced by the platform or any other structures may differ from the above assumed values.
Therefore it is very crucial to monitor the responses of these environmental loads to ensure the
structural health of the structure, more so due to increasing in cost and size of these structures, it
is vital that any anomalies from the expected deflection are detected as soon as possible,
allowing immediate reaction to be taken, to prevent unwanted accident to occur. Of late Global
Positioning System (GPS) and accelerometer have been used to perform structural monitoring.
However both systems have their own limitations. GPS is limited by multipath and cycle slip,
low frequency of data, and also need to have good satellite coverage. Accelerometer are limited
due to the acceleration reading will drift over time. Therefore, the integration between these two
systems will result in eliminating the disadvantage of each other. This study presents the
combined use of GPS and accelerometer to monitor simulated offshore platform deformation
monitoring.