An Augmented Reality Platform for an Oil and Gas Enterprise

Iflexion developed an augmented reality platform for cooperation between on-site and remote oil and gas specialists. It allows the company’s field workers to connect with internal or external maintenance experts, share audio and video via their AR glasses, and receive step-by-step instructions regarding repair and maintenance of the company’s equipment.

The platform offers three major user roles, each with an individual set of permissions and responsibilities: 

1. Administrator/Operator (usually a shift engineer) can overview the platform operation, monitor system alerts, and create corresponding tickets. They can also decrypt and merge video and audio content transmitted from smart devices and save decrypted files to their desktop. 
2. Field technicians can start and terminate audio and video communication with remote experts, take photos and videos, and record them to the device’s internal storage. 
3. Remote experts can start and terminate audio and video communication with field technicians, send images and text messages, and share their computer screen to AR glasses.

To start a video session, the technician scans the QR code of the equipment in need of repair. After this, a remote expert receives an email with a link for joining the video conference. Before entering the call, the remote expert must pass the 2-factor identification via their mobile phone number. 

Iflexion’s team equipped the platform with the voice-first interface to free field workers’ hands. With speech commands, technicians can start remote broadcasting from their AR glasses, take high-resolution photos, and record HD and Full HD videos. 

Owing to high photo and video resolution, remote experts can view equipment in detail and accurately identify the problem. The platform also allows ‘freezing’ the virtual object so that technicians can better inspect it. The remote specialist’s instructions are broadcasted to the customer’s proprietary web server and displayed on the AR glasses screen in real time. 

Our developers also equipped the solution with chat functionality. In case internet connection is poor, the remote expert can send the field worker signal stickers, such as "right" if everything is done correctly or "stop" if the worker should stop what they are doing.

We integrated an end-to-end ticketing system into the platform, fully digitizing the remote assistance workflow. The feature provides the customer with a complete visibility into the issue resolution cycle, from equipment information verification to maintenance and repair cost assessment. The tickets also contain such details as: 

• Skills and qualifications of internal or external experts
• Who, when, and from whom obtained the corporate AR equipment
• System support specifics
• Consultation progress and results

One of the major concerns for the customer was the security of their confidential corporate information passing through AR-enabled devices. Due to this, the project had stringent security requirements. 

To protect the confidential information shared during a video conference and prevent its covert distribution, all data channels are encrypted with certificates issued by the customer’s corporate center. In addition, each video session has a unique temporary access ID and a time-limited HTTPS link. 

At the end of each video call, the recordings are encrypted and stored in the device’s private data area and then saved to the SD card and the desktop. 

To increase process visibility, Iflexion’s software engineers have developed a Python-based utility that decrypts records, in case equipment is mishandled and an investigation is required. When the operator/administrator saves video and audio records to the computer, the utility automatically decrypts and processes the files. The utility also allows for merging several short video files into a single one and adding an audio track to the video file. 

Finally, to protect the customer’s information from rooting-caused exploits, we built an automated testing script for the AR app. If a field worker activates AR glasses and the device is identified as rooted, all data, including audio and video files, chat messages, and screenshots, together with the Android application are automatically deleted.

Within four months, Iflexion developed an augmented reality remote collaboration platform for the oil and gas enterprise, which includes media and web servers, a web app, and an Android AR app for smart headsets. The solution facilitates high-quality real-time communication between field technicians and in-house or remote experts via video, audio, and chat. 

Fitted with robust features, the solution allowed the customer to: 

• Improve production line performance
• Reduce equipment downtime
• Lower maintenance costs by up to $10K per job
• Continuously address maintenance-related skill gaps 

After the solution release, Iflexion’s team moved on to provide ongoing maintenance and support of the AR platform, introducing smaller improvements to increase its efficiency for the customer and their end users.