- Markets
- Oil and gas
- Marine
- Nuclear
- Defence
- Transport and infrastructure
- Renewable energy
- Ports and terminals
- Construction
- Services
- Inspection and monitoring
- Lifting and handling
- Marine services
- Mooring and fendering
- Nuclear equipment and services
- Offshore support
- Design and engineering
- Submarine rescue
- Subsea
- Investors
- COVID-19
- Share price summary and chart
- Major shareholders
- Financial information
- Board of Directors
- Advisors and registrars
- AGM information
- Investor news (RNS)
- Governance
- Investor relations contact information
- Be ScamSmart
- Condition monitoring
- Construction plant productivity and safety
- Onshore geotechnical monitoring
- Load cells
- Marine safety systems
- Nuclear plant characterisations
- Offshore safety systems
- PyroSentry™
- Radiation detection equipment
- Strain rings
- Structural monitoring
- X-ray inspection systems
- Container Weight System™
- Crane overload monitoring
- Hose and umbilical reelers
- Lifting equipment
- Load links
- Load shackles
- Marine cranes
- Winches and hoists
- Fuels infrastructure
- Mermaid®
- Offshore personnel
- Offshore Wind Management System®
- Ship management services
- Ship-to-ship transfers
- Ship-to-Turbine™
- Shoreside support
- Surface preparation
- Vessel chartering
- Wind turbine blade inspections
- Site preparation
- Installation and commissioning
- Operations and maintenance
- Digital solutions
- Anchor and chain monitoring
- Deck and mooring equipment
- Fendering
- Flotation
- Line tension monitors
- Mooring load monitoring
- Towing load monitoring
- Building infrastructure and services
- Containerised systems
- Engineered containments
- Manipulators and tooling
- Mechanical and remote handling
- Radiation tolerant equipment
- Remote inspection systems
- Safety and control systems
- Shielded equipment and facilities
- Trials, training and simulation
- Artificial lift
- Compressors and breathing air compressors
- Centrifugal and positive displacement pumps
- Heat suppression
- Offshore equipment
- Offshore pipeline services
- Steam generators
- Safety slick joint
- Safety bails
- Well test support
- Aerospace engineering
- Fabrication
- Hazardous area design and engineering
- Marine projects
- Mechanical and electrical design
- Specialist engineering design
- Specialist structures consultancy
- Atmosphere sampler
- ELSS pods and bags
- Equipment assessment and support
- Flyaway ROV systems
- Inflatable freeboard extender
- Intervention targets
- James Fisher Submarine Rescue Service
- LR5 manned submersible
- Submarine escape training tower
- Submersible mating targets
- Subsea operations training
- Transfer under pressure systems
- Dive equipment
- Diving services
- Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs)
- Salvage
- Subsea excavation
- Subsea engineering
- Containerised deployment solutions
- Launch and recovery systems
- Swimmer delivery vehicles
- Special operations consultancy
- Special operations training
- Company reports, accounts and presentations
- Dividend centre
- Financial calendar
- Five year record
- Sector review
- Our stakeholders
- Committees
- Principal risks and uncertainties
- Business ethics, anti-bribery and corruption policies
- Modern slavery act transparency statement
- Gender pay report
- Tax strategy
- Health and safety
- Our people
- The Sir John Fisher Foundation
- Board changes - Remuneration
- James Fisher Renewables backs APAC offshore wind growth with six in-market appointments for Korea and Taiwan
- James Fisher and Abu Dhabi’s NMDC Group sign strategic agreement
- James Fisher Renewables commits to further investment in Taiwan to support local government
- JFD completes three consecutive Submarine Rescue Exercises in Quarter One 2022
- Archive
- JFD conducts a hydrostatic pressure test
- James Fisher increases offshore wind asset operations and maintenance (O&M) portfolio
- JFD hosts a dive tank test and demonstration
- JFD tests a submarine hull at their National Hyperbaric Centre
- Archive

Industry support for advanced visual positioning system
Return To Scene (R2S) has won significant funding to develop a ground-breaking visual positioning system to boost efficiencies in the oil and gas industry.
Return To Scene has won significant funding to develop a ground-breaking visual positioning system which uses mobile device cameras to accurately locate people and equipment on complex offshore platforms, helping to boost efficiencies in the oil and gas industry.
The system, called R2S VPS will enable users to easily identify, with a high degree of accuracy, where workers, robots or drones are situated on huge, maze-like offshore structures simply by capturing images from their cameras.
The existing method can be costly
Currently, the only way to accurately locate people and expensive equipment on offshore platforms is through manual recording or the use of extensive hardware, such as RFID tags or QR barcodes, which can be costly and time-consuming to set up.
The VPS captured images can be automatically matched up with the existing R2S survey of structures, in real-time to allow users to identify precisely what a camera is looking at and where it is.
Augmented reality
This allows users to see their surroundings through augmented reality which will enable them to easily navigate their way around any structure. Additional plant information can also be overlaid on any image allowing users to view important details such as the maintenance history of a piece of equipment, or its engineering drawings. This puts an unprecedented amount of invaluable real-time operational data at the user’s fingertips and means users will be able to co-ordinate activities more efficiently and immediately identify equipment and access detailed asset information.
Project funding secured
The funding for this project has come from the Oil and Gas Technology Centre (OGTC) a government backed association that aims to promote innovation in North Sea oil and gas. The award will enable the Return To Scene team to kick-start the development of the system to help it meet industry demands to increase automation on offshore platforms and deliver efficiency gains and savings.
Return To Scene’s managing director, Bob Donnelly says:
‘We are delighted to have won the support of the OGTC and BP to bring our R2S VPS concept to life’.
‘There is no other system like this. VPS will take asset visualisation to a new level by offering live feeds of activities on any platform, providing accurate data on the locations of people and work sites which can be coupled with extensive information on assets pulled from multiple sources.’
‘Efficiencies like this are incredibly important when you consider that a worksite like an offshore platform has can measure in 300m3, house a population of a small village and contain hundreds of miles of pipework.’
The visual information captured can also be stored and later used to enhance a composite visual map of the site which will ultimately enable personnel or even fully automatic robotic systems to identify their location anywhere on a complex offshore asset.
A specialist team
The project brings together a specialist team from Return To Scene’s development team with BP as industry partner, working with technical support from Microsoft and pioneering expertise from Aberdeen-based software developer, Codify, as well as augmented reality (AR) for enterprise specialist, Mozenix, and Edinburgh-based cloud consultant, Pulsant.
It is thought that VPS technology could potentially open up a huge array of opportunities in a variety of markets.
Bob adds:
‘This project has also caught the imagination of companies across the James Fisher group, and with collective operations across industries as diverse as nuclear and infrastructure we already see considerable transfer application.’
Further information
Read the original press release: OGTC project approved for Return To Scene
Other articles within Spring 2019
Submarine rescue upgrade for Korea
Expanding the reach and scope of the latest submarine rescue service technology with ...
48-years at sea for Captain Ahmad
Captain Mir Ahmad is going into retirement at the age of 70 after an amazing 48 years...
Industry support for advanced visual positioning s...
R2S has won significant funding to develop a ground-breaking visual positioning syste...
When the digging gets deep
RMSpumptools creates a record-breaking motor shroud for one of the world’s deepest ...
Under the surface with: Louise Brown
We meet Louise Brown Africa STS project manager for Fendercare Marine looking after a...
Stabilising Saudi Arabia’s urban forest
Strainstall's wireless monitoring system makes Saudi ‘urban forest’ safe.
New talent recruitment goes nuclear
James Fisher Nuclear's focus on diversity and inclusion has fostered new talent, incl...
Two-in-one efficiencies for the retirement of subs...
JFO partners with specialist marine and subsea lifting systems company, First Subsea,...
COBRA wins safety award at Subsea Expo
Another example of the JFD commitment to safety is evidenced by the recent safety awa...
Testing Orpheus in the underworld
JFNDT's portable corrosion-detection device set to transform routine inspections for ...
Life-saving volunteer motor-cyclists
James Fisher Warehousing and Distribution's warehouse manager, Dave Shipley is part o...
Kilimanjaro climb raises charity funds
More than £2000 has been raised for charity through a gruelling Mount Kilmanjaro cli...
Mimic award for Astute work
James Fisher Mimic has received a special commendation award from BAE Systems Submari...
Complex dive task completed for Premier Oil
JF Marine Services has been working closely with Premier Oil on a complex diving job ...
Barrow's local fundraising mission
Staff at James Fisher’s head office in Barrow-in-Furness got together for a fundrai...
Increased dive time for mine clearance
JFD is continuing to add to its range of reliable rebreathers by bringing out a new v...
JFMS Triton Knoll contract award
JF Marine Services has been awarded the contract to prepare the site of Innogy’s ne...