An array of seismic streamers towed by a towing vessel comprising: (a) a plurality of streamer positioning devices on or inline with each streamer, at least one of the streamer positioning devices having a wing; (b) a global control system transmitting location information to at least one local control system on the at least one streamer positioning device having a wing, the local control system adjusting the wing. view more

NA

An apparatus comprising: (a) an array of streamers each having a plurality of streamer positioning devices there along; (b) a control system configured to use a control mode selected from a feather angle mode, a turn control mode, a streamer separation mode, and two or more of these modes. view more

The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the control mode is the feather angle mode, and the controlling comprises the control system attempting to keep each streamer in a straight line offset from a towing direction by a feather angle.

The apparatus of claim 18 wherein the towing comprises ending one pass, turning a towing vessel having the streamers attached thereto while throwing out the streamers before beginning another pass, with the control mode in the turn control mode during the turning and throwing out. view more

NA

An array of seismic streamers towed by a towing vessel comprising: (a) a plurality of streamer positioning devices on or inline with each streamer; (b) a prediction unit adapted to predict positions of at least some of the streamer positioning devices; and (c) a control unit adapted to use the predicted positions to calculate desired changes in positions of one or more of the streamer positioning devices. view more

NA

A seismic streamer array tracking and positioning system comprising:</claim-text> a towing vessel for towing a seismic array; a seismic streamer array comprising a plurality of seismic streamers; an active streamer positioning device (ASPD) attached ch seismic streamer for positioning each seismic streamer; a master controller for issuing vertical and horizontal positioning commands to each ASPD for maintaining a specified array geometry; an environmental sensor for sensing environmental factors which influence the towed path of the towed array; a tracking system for tracking the streamer horizontal and vertical positions versus time during a seismic data acquisition run; an array geometry tracking system for tracking the array geometry versus time during a seismic data acquisition run, wherein the master controller compares the vertical and horizontal positions of the streamers versus time and the array geometry versus time to desired streamer positions and array geometry versus time and issues positioning commands to the ASPDs to maintain the desired streamer positions and array geometry versus time. view more

NA