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Systems and methods for distributed interferometric acoustic monitoring

  • US 7,946,341 B2
  • Filed: 11/02/2007
  • Issued: 05/24/2011
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2007
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A method for monitoring a wellbore, a reservoir or a pipeline for occurrences which generate acoustic perturbations therein, comprising:

  • transmitting a monitoring signal through a fiber optic cable, wherein the monitoring signal comprises a pulse of a coherent beam of electromagnetic radiation and a coherence time of the coherent beam of electromagnetic radiation is equal to or longer than a duration of the pulse, and wherein the fiber optic cable is disposed along or is disposed appurtenant to at least a section of the wellbore, the reservoir or the pipeline;

    detecting coherent Rayleigh noise generated by the transmission of the coherent beam of radiation through the fiber optic; and

    processing the detected coherent Rayleigh noise to identify a said acoustic occurrence in the section of the wellbore, the reservoir or the pipeline.

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