Inertial augmentation of seismic streamer positioning

Abstract

The present invention provides an improved method and apparatus for positioning seismic arrays. The method comprises determining a first position of an array, deploying the array, collecting inertial data at a plurality of points on the array once the array is at least partially deployed, and determining a second position of the array by augmenting the first position with the inertial data. The apparatus comprises a seismic array, an inertial sensor mounted on the seismic array and capable of gathering inertial data, and a computing device adapted to receive and analyze the inertial data to determine a position for the seismic array from the inertial data.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.