Method of accurately determining positions of deployed seismic geophones

• US 20040037165A1
• Filed: 08/21/2002
• Published: 02/26/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WesternGeco LLC
• Original Assignee: WesternGeco LLC
• Inventors: Lemenager, Erwann, Wong, Richard Voon Choong, Cooper, Carl Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 6,944,096 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 367/37
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/16 Receiving elements for seismic signals; Arrangements or adaptations of receiving elements

Abstract

A method is provided for accurately determining the physical location of a deployed seismic geophone used in seismic investigations by using a portable navigational satellite receiver to obtain a set of navigational satellite measurements providing the position of the deployed geophone at the time of deployment of the geophone into the earth. A method is provided for automatically and accurately identifying and determining the physical location of a deployed geophone used in seismic investigations by using one or more portable navigational satellite receivers and an automatic geophone identification and tracking system at the time of geophone deployment.

Claims

1. A method of determining the location of a geophone used in a land-based seismic survey comprising:

deploying a geophone having a unique identification code into the earth;

recording the unique identification code of the deployed geophone; and

obtaining the position at which the geophone is deployed into the earth using at least one navigational satellite receiver.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the geophone is deployed manually and the geophone deployment position is obtained by obtaining the position of the person deploying the geophone.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the unique identification code of the geophone is transmitted to a geophone data receiver for electronic recording.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the geophone data receiver is portable.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein the transmission of the unique identification code of the geophone automatically occurs upon deployment of the geophone into the earth.

6. A system for determining the position of geophones used in a land-based seismic survey comprising:

at least one geophone having a unique identification code;

a portable navigational satellite receiver for providing a set of positional measurements of the geophone upon deployment; and

a means for recording the unique identification code of the geophone and the positional measurements of the geophone.

7. The system of claim 6 further comprising:

a transmitter disposed in the geophone for transmitting a signal containing the unique identification code; and

a receiver for receiving the unique identification code.

8. The system of claim 6 further comprising:

a stationary navigational satellite receiver in a known position for obtaining a benchmark navigational satellite measurement within a defined time of the positional measurements of the geophone;

wherein the positional measurements of the portable navigational satellite receiver are corrected by differencing them with respect to the benchmark measurements from the stationary navigational satellite receiver.

9. The system of claim 6 further comprising:

a moving navigational satellite receiver for obtaining a benchmark navigational satellite measurements within a defined time of the positional measurements of the geophone;

wherein the positional measurements of the portable navigational satellite receiver are corrected by differencing them with respect to the benchmark measurements from the moving navigational satellite receiver, the position of which is determined in the manner described in claim 8.

10. The system of claim 6 further comprising:

a broadcasted radio or satellite signal providing a navigational satellite corrections within a defined time of the positional measurement of the geophone;

wherein the positional measurements of the portable navigational satellite receiver are corrected by subtracting the broadcast corrections from the measurements.

11. The system of claim 6, further comprising a portable high frequency radio receiver for receiving a high frequency radio signal containing the unique identification code of the geophone.

12. A system for recording the position of geophones for a land-based seismic survey, comprising:

at least one geophone having a unique identification code and a means for transmitting a signal providing the unique identification code;

a portable receiver for receiving the signal containing the unique identification code of the geophone;

a portable navigational satellite receiver for obtaining positional measurements of the geophone; and

means for recording the unique identification code, and the positional measurements.

13. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

means for determining the location of a geophone.

14. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

means for compensating the positional measurements for error attributable to atmospheric interference.

15. The system of claim 12, further comprising:

means for compensating the positional measurements for error attributable to electromagnetic interference.

16. The system of claim 14

wherein the means for compensating the positional measurements of the geophone comprises a stationary or moving navigational satellite receiver on a known or estimated position, wherein the corrected location of the deployed geophone is determined by correlating the portable navigational satellite receiver measurements taken at the time of deployment with those from the stationary or moving navigational satellite receiver on a known or estimated location and by adjusting the raw navigational satellite measurements by the portable navigational satellite receiver by the difference thereof.