TGS is deploying Speedcast’s all-LEO connectivity across its seismic fleet, enabling sustained upload speeds of up to 1Gbit/s and near real-time transfer of datasets as large as 10TB a day. The move shifts more processing work from vessels to shore, changing how specialist teams and computing resources are managed offshore.
TGS has signed a multi-year agreement with Speedcast to deploy an all-LEO connectivity system across its fleet of specialist seismic streaming vessels and Ocean Bottom Node operations.
The system combines Starlink’s Dedicated Service with Eutelsat OneWeb and other LEO resilience networks through Speedcast’s SIGMA intelligent edge compute platform Elite version. During testing with eight Starlink Performance kits, Speedcast recorded peak upload speeds of 950 Mbps.
The connectivity allows TGS to transmit and process seismic datasets of up to 10 terabytes a day in near real time, replacing the traditional movement of physical media from vessels to shore.
That has practical implications for fleet management. TGS can reduce the amount of high-performance computing required onboard, while geophysicists can carry out processing onshore rather than working offshore rotations lasting several weeks.
“Digitalization at TGS is measured at the vessel, not in the strategy deck. The constraint has never been the data we can record; it’s the data we can move,” said Jérôme Cousin, Vice President Enterprise IT at TGS.
Cousin said the combination of connectivity and a cloud-first operating model allows TGS to “securely manage and process ever-larger seismic datasets at unprecedented speed”, while reducing reliance on physical media and enabling near real-time data delivery.
Speedcast said its Dedicated Service testing produced three to four times the performance of normal bonded Starlink Global Priority service. The company is deploying the connectivity across TGS’ globally dispersed operations, where reliable data transfer is essential to the work carried out onboard.
The case illustrates a wider operational issue for shipowners and ship managers. High-capacity connectivity can change where computing takes place, where specialist personnel are based and how quickly information generated at sea reaches teams onshore.
