Systems and methods for seismic data acquisition

A seismic data acquisition unit, comprising:

• a housing, and disposed within the housing:
• circuitry configured to detect and digitize seismic signals;
• power receiver circuitry comprising a coil, and configured to:
• receive, via the coil, an oscillating current induced in the coil by an oscillating magnetic field generated external to the housing;
• apply the oscillating current to charge an energy storage device that powers the seismic data acquisition unit;
• and
• extract, from the oscillating current, a location value that uniquely identifies a physical location of the seismic data acquisition unit;
• and
• communication circuitry comprising:
• a first transmitter plate adjacent a wall of the housing;
• and
• a driver coupled to the first transmitter plate;
• wherein the communication circuitry is configured to:
• communicate the digitized seismic signals to a data retrieval unit that is external to the data acquisition unit via a capacitor formed by the first transmitter plate, the wall of the housing, and a receiver plate external to the housing;
• and
• append the location value to seismic data acquisition unit identification information to be transmitted to the data retrieval unit via the first transmitter plate.

A data retrieval unit, comprising:

• a plurality of slots, each of the slots configured to receive a data acquisition device and retrieve digitized seismic signals from the data acquisition device;
• wherein each of the slots comprises:
• a first receiver plate;
• a receiver coupled to the first receiver plate;
• power transmitter circuitry comprising a power transmission coil, and configured to:
• generate an oscillating magnetic field about the power transmission coil;
• and
• encode in the oscillating magnetic field a location value that uniquely identifies a physical location of the slot;
• and
• an alignment structure configured to:
• align the first receiver plate and a first transmitter plate of the data acquisition device;
• wherein aligning the first receiver plate and the first transmitter plate forms a capacitor in which a housing of the data acquisition device serves as a dielectric layer between the first receiver plate and the first transmitter plate;
• and
• align the power transmission coil with a power reception coil of the data acquisition device;
• wherein the receiver is configured to receive, via the capacitor, the location value extracted from the oscillating magnetic field by the data acquisition device and the digitized seismic signals.