Bryan Keller is a Senior Party Chief in the Service Excellence – Geoscience and Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Surveys department at Oceaneering’s Broussard, Louisiana, facility.
Prior to joining Oceaneering in 2021, Bryan earned his bachelor’s degree in computer science, his master’s degree in oceanography, and accumulated 12 years of offshore survey experience, primarily in AUV operations. His experience extends to shallow- and deep-water applications, pipeline inspections, pre-lay surveys, site surveys, search and recovery, and environmental surveys.
As Senior Party Chief, Bryan is Oceaneering’s offshore representative for AUV projects. He manages and carries out tasks in the field for AUV and geophysical survey projects, as requested by the manager or project-specific manager and client representatives for the project’s field activities.
“I ensure client needs are effectively met during field activities and that all tasks are performed efficiently, responsibly, and per safe work procedures.”
He also works extensively on the testing and development of Oceaneering’s Freedom™ AUV and its proprietary software, COMPASS, and performs AUV offshore operations with the Freedom™ AUV, namely, pipeline inspections.
Freedom is the most advanced, resident-capable underwater robotic solution on the market today. It delivers vessel-supported rapid, true single-pass pipeline, flowline, and umbilical inspections. While a traditional AUV may require two to three passes over the same pipeline to collect data, Freedom precisely tracks an asset in a single pass, performing close proximity inspections as low as 3-5m altitude.
“My involvement with the Freedom project has allowed me to work with the new product development teams to develop a next-generation AUV system that uses advanced autonomous behaviors to perform ‘normal’ survey tasks more effectively.”
With Freedom’s development and testing operations based in Tau, Norway, Bryan travels there several times a year.
“When in Norway, a typical day involves mission planning and review, vehicle maintenance, new feature and bug fix testing, AUV operations, and demonstrating Freedom system and capabilities to clients.”
Bryan also works on testing, reporting, and writing requirements for the vehicle’s user interface design. He helps develop the control software from an operator’s perspective.
His advice to new recruits is to not judge a book by its cover.
“While the size of the Oceaneering company may seem overwhelming, it still feels like a small company where people and departments work closely together, and decisions are made at all levels with guidance from all involved parties.”
Oceaneering offers the opportunity to build interesting careers in an industry where innovation and problem-solving are the order of the day.