Automated lateral control of seismic streamers
First Claim
1. A method, comprising:
- towing a plurality of streamers behind a vessel in a body of water, wherein the streamers have an existing orientation, and wherein the streamers include deflecting devices that are configured to apply forces to the respective streamers;
a control system receiving information relating to crosscurrents in the body of water;
the control system determining a desired orientation of the streamers based on the received information, wherein the desired orientation includes a desired feather angle that is determined to maintain a sum of the respective forces applied by at least a subset of the deflecting devices below a threshold value; and
the control system adjusting the streamers based on the desired orientation.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
In the field of marine geophysical surveying, systems and methods for controlling the spatial distribution or orientation of a geophysical sensor streamer or an array of geophysical sensor streamers towed behind a survey vessel are provided. Various techniques for changing the spatial distribution or orientation of such geophysical sensor streamers in response to changing conditions are provided. For example, crosscurrent conditions may be determined based on configuration data received from positioning devices along the length of a streamer, and a new desired orientation for the streamer may be determined based on the crosscurrent conditions. The new desired orientation may include a new desired feather angle for the streamer.
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Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method, comprising:
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towing a plurality of streamers behind a vessel in a body of water, wherein the streamers have an existing orientation, and wherein the streamers include deflecting devices that are configured to apply forces to the respective streamers; a control system receiving information relating to crosscurrents in the body of water; the control system determining a desired orientation of the streamers based on the received information, wherein the desired orientation includes a desired feather angle that is determined to maintain a sum of the respective forces applied by at least a subset of the deflecting devices below a threshold value; and the control system adjusting the streamers based on the desired orientation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A method, comprising:
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towing a plurality of streamers behind a vessel in a body of water, wherein the streamers have a plurality of deflecting devices arranged therealong; receiving information regarding forces exerted by the plurality of deflecting devices; automatically determining a desired feather angle based on the received information regarding the forces, wherein the desired feather angle is determined to maintain a sum of the forces exerted by at least a subset of the plurality of deflecting devices below a threshold; and automatically adjusting at least one of the plurality of streamers, via the plurality of deflecting devices, to follow the determined desired feather angle. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A streamer control apparatus, comprising:
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at least one processor; wherein the streamer control apparatus is configured to communicate with a plurality of positioning devices arranged along a plurality of streamers towed behind a vessel in a body of water, the plurality of positioning devices being configured to apply respective forces to the plurality of streamers; wherein the streamer control apparatus is configured to determine state information corresponding to the plurality of positioning devices, the state information being indicative of crosscurrent conditions; wherein the streamer control apparatus is configured to determine, based on the state information, a desired orientation for the plurality of streamers that includes a feather angle that is determined to maintain a sum of at least a subset of the respective forces below a threshold value; and wherein the streamer control apparatus is further configured to adjust the plurality of positioning devices based on the desired orientation. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification