At Engineer Live, Invensys' Stan DeVries offers an interesting look at the advantages of using wireless technology on offshore oil rigs.

"Operating costs drop because fewer offshore personnel will be needed," DeVries writes. "Most drilling and production personnel would be able to perform their duties onshore, drawing on information from an expanded array of sensors and collaborating with a few platform workers via mobile video cameras. Fewer platform workers will mean less transport to and from the platform, minimising transportation costs, and reducing risk."

For a while, DeVries says, there's been a concern that wireless wasn't yet robust enough for such deployments -- but that's no longer true. Still, any wireless equipment used on an offshore platform does have to have EX hazardous environment classification.

While the article is in many ways a pitch for Invensys' services, it makes some interesting points. "A new, standards-based approach to wireless network systems management, combined with advances in reducing costs and operating in hazardous environments, makes wireless communications extremely feasible for offshore production platforms," DeVries writes.