Imaging subsurface formations while wellbore drilling using beam steering for improved image resolution

A system for imaging rock formations while drilling a wellbore, comprising:

• a drill collar configured to be coupled within a drill string;
• a plurality of acoustic emitting transducers mounted in the drill collar at angularly spaced apart locations and oriented to emit acoustic energy at least one of laterally away from the drill collar and longitudinally away from the drill collar;
• a plurality of arrays of receiving acoustic transducers arranged longitudinally along the drill collar and angularly spaced apart from each other, each transducer in the plurality of arrays oriented in a direction normal to a longitudinal axis of the drill collar, an angular spacing between adjacent arrays selected to provide lateral beam steered receiving response having a selected main lobe width and side lobe response for a plurality of rock formation acoustic velocities;
• and
• a controller for selectively actuating the emitting acoustic transducers at selected times, the controller configured to beam steer response of the plurality of arrays of transducers laterally to detect reflected acoustic energy from the emitting acoustic transducers.