据油气产品11月15日消息称，石油和天然气公司能够更密切地监控火炬堆，以最大限度地提高效率和产量，甚至是远程监控，这要归功于边缘计算技术支持的视频分析技术。

尽管目前可以通过流分析来远程监视火炬堆，但油气运营商仍要承担手动监控火炬活动的繁琐任务。更复杂的是，火焰有时还可以燃烧清除-使其在肉眼看不见的摄像机镜头中显得不可见。

物联网连接使得通过机器对机器(M2M)通信收集数据成为可能，并允许收集的数据与各种物联网设备共享，以获得可操作的见解。流数据分析确保实时处理持续的数据流，允许管理和监控实时音频和可视数据，从而产生准确的、可操作的见解。这些见解允许工厂经理做出明智的决定，如调整压力阀和主动解决设备维护需求，以优化大规模的操作。

实时视频分析需要安全、可靠的连接，以便及时将数据路由回集中的数据中心。没有这种连接性，实时视频分析就无法准确识别生产错误，确保工作环境的安全，并提高操作效率。不幸的是，石油和天然气设施往往位于偏远地区，那里几乎没有连接。由于连接不一致而错误地识别或未能识别错误会导致设备故障和生产停机。

然而，一个有希望的解决方案是在流媒体视频分析中加入边缘计算。诸如FogHorn Lightning之类的网络连接计算平台，能够“边缘化”深度学习神经网络，并允许它们在边缘设备上运行，而无需向云或数据中心发送视频。这也提供了有价值的见解，可以用于火炬气回收系统(FGRS)，提供噪音测量、热辐射和更多的分析。

通过边缘计算支持的视频分析可以在不连接到云的情况下运行，即使在石油和天然气设施所在的偏远地区也可以实现全天候监控。边缘计算的另一个好处是通过自动化提高了操作效率，减少了手工数据输入和人为错误。边缘计算还允许基于条件的监视，通过建立行业动态、预测故障和通过收集的数据计算资产的剩余寿命，从而降低维护成本、提高资产性能和最大化收益。边缘计算通过规定的维护提供了经济效益，通过在设备维护需求和问题成为灾难之前主动识别它们，显著降低了维护成本。

石油和天然气工业将继续在气候变化问题上发挥关键作用。边缘计算所提供的见解可以让石油和天然气组织对其运营负责，并积极预防灾难。此外，石油和天然气行业的维护需求将继续存在，同时还要承担监控和维修设备的巨额成本。边缘计算为维护需求提供了一个具有成本效益和前瞻性的解决方案，同时提高了生产力、操作效率和降低了风险。

曹海斌 摘译自 油气产品

原文如下：

Oil and gas operators maximize production and safety with video analytics

Oil and gas companies are able to monitor flare stacks more closely to maximize efficiency and production, even remotely, thanks to the use of edge computing enabled video analytics.

Although flare stacks can currently be monitored remotely through streaming analytics, oil and gas operators are not free from the tedious tasks of manually monitoring the flame's activity.

IoT connectivity enables the collection of data through machine-to-machine (M2M) communication and allows for the data to be collected and shared with a variety of IoT devices for actionable insights. Streaming data analytics ensures that the constant stream of data is being processed in real-time, allowing for the management and monitoring of live streaming audio and visual data to produce accurate, actionable insights. These insights permit plant managers to make informed decisions, such as adjusting the pressure valves and proactively addressing equipment maintenance needs, to optimize large scale operations.

Real-time video analytics require secure, reliable connectivity in order to route data back to a centralized data center in a timely manner. Without this connectivity, real-time video analytics cannot be used to accurately identify production errors, ensure the safety of work environments, and increase operational efficiency. Unfortunately, oil and gas facilities are often located in remote areas where little to no connectivity is available. Falsely identifying or failing to identify errors due to inconsistent connectivity can result in equipment failure and production downtime.

However, a promising solution awaits with the incorporation of edge computing within streaming video analytics. Edge computing platforms, such as FogHorn Lightning, have the ability to "edgify" deep learning neural networks and allow them to run on edge devices, without sending video feeds to the cloud or a data center. This also provides valuable insights that can be used for flare gas recovery systems (FGRS), providing analytics on noise measurements, thermal radiation, and more.

Video analytics powered through edge computing can operate without connectivity to the cloud, enabling 24/7 monitoring even in remote areas - where oil and gas facilities are often located. Another benefit edge computing offers is the increased operational efficiency through automation, reducing manual data entry and human error. Edge computing also allows for condition-based monitoring, which lowers maintenance costs, improves asset performance and maximize yields by establishing trends, predicting failure and calculating the remaining life of an asset through collected data. Edge computing offers a financial benefits through prescriptive maintenance, which significantly reduces maintenance costs by proactively identifying equipment maintenance needs and problems before they become a catastrophe.

The oil and gas industry will continue to be a key player in the issue of climate change. The insights edge computing provides can hold oil and gas organizations accountable for their operations, proactively preventing devastation. Additionally, maintenance needs of the oil and gas industry will continue to exist along with the hefty costs of monitoring and repairing equipment. Edge computing offers a cost-effective and proactive solution for maintenance needs while simultaneously increasing productivity, operational efficiency and reducing risk.