Automated lateral control of seismic streamers
First Claim
1. A system, comprising:
- a plurality of streamers that include deflecting devices configured to apply forces to respective streamers;
a vessel configured to tow the streamers in a body of water; and
a control system configured to;
determine a desired orientation of the streamers based on information relating to crosscurrents in the body of water, wherein the desired orientation includes a desired feather angle that is determined to maintain a sum of respective forces applied by at least a subset of the deflecting devices below a threshold value; and
adjust the streamers based on the desired orientation.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
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.
110 Citations
24 Claims
-
1. A system, comprising:
-
a plurality of streamers that include deflecting devices configured to apply forces to respective streamers; a vessel configured to tow the streamers in a body of water; and a control system configured to; determine a desired orientation of the streamers based on information relating to crosscurrents in the body of water, wherein the desired orientation includes a desired feather angle that is determined to maintain a sum of respective forces applied by at least a subset of the deflecting devices below a threshold value; and adjust the streamers based on the desired orientation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
-
-
10. A method of generating a geophysical data record, comprising:
-
towing a plurality of streamers behind a vessel in a body of water, wherein the streamers have a plurality of deflecting devices arranged therealong, and wherein the streamers further include one or more geophysical sensors; receiving information regarding forces exerted by the plurality of deflecting devices; automatically determining a desired feather angle based on information regarding forces exerted by the plurality of deflecting devices, 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 value; automatically adjusting at least one of the plurality of streamers, via the plurality of deflecting devices, to follow the determined desired feather angle; and during the towing, generating the geophysical data record, the geophysical data record including a record of signals detected by the one or more geophysical sensors stored in a manner suitable for later interpretation. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
-
-
19. A streamer control apparatus, comprising:
-
at least one processor; wherein the at least one processor is configured to communicate with a plurality of positioning devices arranged along a plurality of streamers towed in a body of water, the plurality of positioning devices being configured to apply respective forces to the plurality of streamers; wherein the at least one processor is further configured to determine, based on state information indicative of crosscurrent conditions, 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 at least one processor is further configured to adjust the plurality of positioning devices based on the desired orientation. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
Specification