ROTARY LASER POSITIONING FOR GEOPHYSICAL SENSING

• US 20070258325A1
• Filed: 05/02/2006
• Published: 11/08/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mark Grasmueck
• Original Assignee: Mark Grasmueck
• Inventors: Grasmueck, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 8,941,816 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 367/59
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 1/003 Seismic data acquisition in general, e.g. survey design G01V1/3808, G01V1/42 take precedence

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to positioning for geophysical sensing and provide a method, system and apparatus for rotary laser positioning in geophysical sensing. In an embodiment of the invention, a geophysical sensing data processing system can be provided to include multiple laser energy sources disposed about a target scene, and a mobile sensor unit. The mobile sensor unit can include at least one laser energy source sensor coupled to a laser positioning system, and one or multiple geophysical sensor communicatively linked to the laser positioning system. In one aspect of the invention, the laser positioning system can be a Rotary Laser Positioning System (RLPS). Complementary positioning sensors further can be provided.

Claims

1. A geophysical sensing data processing system comprising:

a plurality of laser energy sources disposed about a target scene; and

,

a mobile sensor unit comprising a positioning sensor coupled to a laser positioning system, and a geophysical sensor communicatively linked to the laser positioning system.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the laser energy sources comprise each of a rotary laser beam source and an infrared strobe.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the laser positioning system is a rotary laser beam source.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising a complementary positioning sensor selected from the group consisting of a laser sensor, an infrared sensor, an optical sensor, an inertial sensor, and a global positioning system (GPS) sensor.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the geophysical sensor is ground penetrating radar.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the geophysical sensor is a sensor selected from the group consisting of an electromagnetic sensor, a magnetic sensor, an electric sensor, a gravimetric sensor, an optical sensor, and an acoustic sensor.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile sensor unit further comprises a guidance system coupled to a mobile computing platform, and further coupled to the laser positioning system.

8. The system of claim 7, wherein the mobile computing platform is coupled to the geophysical sensor on the mobile sensor unit and comprises program code enabled to fuse and process geophysical and corresponding positioning data to produce surface and sub-surface imagery of the target scene.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising a base station wirelessly linked to the mobile sensor unit in addition to a plurality of other mobile sensor units, the base station comprising program code enabled to merge, fuse and process data subsets of sensed geophysical and corresponding positioning data from the mobile sensor unit and the other mobile sensor units to produce surface and sub-surface imagery of the target scene.

10. A geophysical sensing method comprising:

traversing a target scene while collecting both positioning data computed from laser energy received from laser energy sources disposed about the target scene, and geophysical data sets computed from signals received from a geophysical sensor;

fusing the positioning data with the geophysical data; and

,

rendering an image of the target scene from the fused positioning data and geophysical data.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein traversing the target scene further comprises navigating a traversal path across the target scene utilizing the positioning data.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein fusing the positioning data with the geophysical data comprises correlating positioning data with the geophysical data responsive to trigger signals communicated either to the geophysical sensor from the positioning sensor or from the geophysical sensor to the positioning sensor.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein fusing the positioning data with the geophysical data comprises correlating positioning data with the geophysical data according to time stamps applied to each of the positioning data and the geophysical data.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein rendering an image of the target scene from the fused positioning data and geophysical data, comprises:

real-time processing the fused data; and

,

rendering a real-time view of sub-surface features of the target scene using the real-time processed and fused data.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

post-processing the real-time fused positioning data and geophysical data; and

,

producing export data sets.

16. A computer program product comprising a computer usable medium having computer usable program code for geophysical sensing, the computer program product including:

computer usable program code for traversing a target scene while collecting both positioning data computed from laser energy received from laser energy sources disposed about the target scene, and geophysical data sets computed from signals received from a geophysical sensor;

computer usable program code for fusing the positioning data with the geophysical data; and

,

computer usable program code for rendering an image of the target scene from the fused positioning data and geophysical data.

17. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer usable program code for traversing the target scene further comprises computer usable program code for navigating a traversal path across the target scene utilizing the positioning data.

18. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer usable program code for fusing the positioning data with the geophysical data comprises computer usable program code for correlating positioning data with the geophysical data responsive to trigger signals communicated either to the geophysical sensor from the positioning sensor or from the geophysical sensor to the positioning sensor.

19. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer usable program code for fusing the positioning data with the geophysical data comprises computer usable program code for correlating positioning data with the geophysical data according to time stamps applied to each of the positioning data and the geophysical data.

20. The computer program product of claim 16, wherein the computer usable program code for rendering an image of the target scene from the fused positioning data and geophysical data, comprises:

computer usable program code for real-time processing the fused data; and

,

computer usable program code for rendering a real-time view of sub-surface features of the target scene using the real-time processed and fused data.

21. The computer program product of claim 20, further comprising:

computer usable program code for post-processing the real-time fused positioning data and geophysical data; and

,

computer usable program code for producing export data sets.