AERIAL DRONE FOR WELL-SITE AND SIGNAL SURVEY

• US 20150356482A1
• Filed: 06/09/2015
• Published: 12/10/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/10/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WellAware Holdings, Inc.
• Original Assignee: WellAware Holdings, Inc.
• Inventors: Jeirath, Nakul, Sisk, David Allen, Lee, Cody James, Whipple, John, Archer, Cameron, Gray, Stephen, Gonzalez, Jesus Jr., Wilmes, Theodore
• Granted Patent: US 10,192,182 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06313 Resource planning in a project environment
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 50/06 Energy or water supply

Abstract

Implementations are directed to surveying equipment and/or signals at well sites using an aerial drone. In some implementations, actions include receiving data provided from the aerial drone, the data including signal measurement data, location data, and one or more of image data and video data associated with a well-site, processing the data to provide one or more of a signal survey and a well-site survey associated with the well-site, the signal survey indicating a strength of a signal at multiple locations of the well-site, the well-site survey indicating one or more pieces of equipment located at the well-site, and providing the one or more of the signal survey and the well-site survey to provide an equipment schedule, the equipment schedule identifying equipment to be installed at the well-site and, for at least one piece of equipment, a location to install the at least one piece of equipment.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method for surveying equipment and/or signals at well sites using an aerial drone, the method being executed using one or more processors and comprising:

receiving, by the one or more processors, data provided from the aerial drone, the data comprising signal measurement data, location data, and one or more of image data and video data associated with a well-site;

processing, by the one or more processors, the data to provide one or more of a signal survey and a well-site survey associated with the well-site, the signal survey indicating a strength of a signal at multiple locations of the well-site, the well-site survey indicating one or more pieces of equipment located at the well-site; and

providing, by the one or more processors, the one or more of the signal survey and the well-site survey to provide an equipment schedule, the equipment schedule identifying equipment to be installed at the well-site and, for at least one piece of equipment, a location to install the at least one piece of equipment.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing the one or more of the signal survey and the well-site survey to a mobile computing device for display of a graphical representation of the well-site based on the one or more of the signal survey and the well-site survey.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the graphical representation comprises a signal map that indicates signal strengths at locations within the well-site.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the signal map comprises a heat map including a plurality of regions.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation comprises a multi-dimensional representation of the well-site.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the graphical representation comprises one or more labels, each label identifying a type of equipment at the well-site, and being automatically determined based on processing the data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein processing the data to provide one or more of a signal survey and a well-site survey comprises processing the data based on one or more well-site models to identify at least one piece of equipment located at the well-site.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the equipment schedule comprises communications equipment that is to be installed at the well-site to enable one or more of remote monitoring and remote control of the well-site.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the signal comprises a random phase multiple access (RPMA) signal.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium coupled to one or more processors and having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations for surveying equipment and/or signals at well sites using an aerial drone, the operations comprising:

receiving data provided from the aerial drone, the data comprising signal measurement data, location data, and one or more of image data and video data associated with a well-site;

processing the data to provide one or more of a signal survey and a well-site survey associated with the well-site, the signal survey indicating a strength of a signal at multiple locations of the well-site, the well-site survey indicating one or more pieces of equipment located at the well-site; and

providing the one or more of the signal survey and the well-site survey to provide an equipment schedule, the equipment schedule identifying equipment to be installed at the well-site and, for at least one piece of equipment, a location to install the at least one piece of equipment.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein operations further comprise providing the one or more of the signal survey and the well-site survey to a mobile computing device for display of a graphical representation of the well-site based on the one or more of the signal survey and the well-site survey.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the graphical representation comprises a signal map that indicates signal strengths at locations within the well-site.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the signal map comprises a heat map including a plurality of regions.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the graphical representation comprises a multi-dimensional representation of the well-site.

15. A system, comprising:

a computing device; and

a computer-readable storage device coupled to the computing device and having instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the computing device, cause the computing device to perform operations for surveying equipment and/or signals at well sites using an aerial drone, the operations comprising;

receiving data provided from the aerial drone, the data comprising signal measurement data, location data, and one or more of image data and video data associated with a well-site;

processing the data to provide one or more of a signal survey and a well-site survey associated with the well-site, the signal survey indicating a strength of a signal at multiple locations of the well-site, the well-site survey indicating one or more pieces of equipment located at the well-site; and

providing the one or more of the signal survey and the well-site survey to provide an equipment schedule, the equipment schedule identifying equipment to be installed at the well-site and, for at least one piece of equipment, a location to install the at least one piece of equipment.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein operations further comprise providing the one or more of the signal survey and the well-site survey to a mobile computing device for display of a graphical representation of the well-site based on the one or more of the signal survey and the well-site survey.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the graphical representation comprises a signal map that indicates signal strengths at locations within the well-site.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the signal map comprises a heat map including a plurality of regions.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the graphical representation comprises a multi-dimensional representation of the well-site.