Back to results
US 2018/0001977 A1Published application
Performing geophysical surveys using unmanned tow vessels
AssigneePGS Geophysical AS
InventorRune Toennessen
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Techniques are disclosed relating to towing source elements and geophysical sensors through a body of water using one or more unmanned tow vessel. In some embodiments, a plurality of unmanned tow vessels are configured to tow one or more signal sources and/or one or more streamers. The plurality of unmanned tow vessels may, in some embodiments, traverse various sail paths along a surface of a body of water in order to acquire geophysical data relating to formations disposed below the bottom of the body of water.
Claims35
A system, comprising:
- a plurality of unmanned tow vessels, including:
- a first unmanned tow vessel that is configured to tow one or more source elements;
- and
- a second unmanned tow vessel that is configured to tow one or more streamers;
- wherein the plurality of unmanned tow vessels are configured to:
- traverse a first sail path in a first formation, wherein the first formation includes a first ordering of the plurality of unmanned tow vessels;
- while traversing the first sail path in the first formation, actuate at least one of the one or more source elements and collect first data via at least one of the one or more streamers;
- turn toward a subsequent sail path;
- traverse the subsequent sail path in a second formation, wherein the second formation includes a second, different ordering of the plurality of unmanned tow vessels;
- and
- while traversing the subsequent sail path in the second formation, actuate at least one of the one or more source elements and collect second data via at least one of the one or more streamers.
8 more elements
A method, comprising:
- a plurality of unmanned tow vessels traversing a first sail path in a first formation, wherein the first formation includes a first ordering of the plurality of unmanned tow vessels in a direction perpendicular to the first sail path, and wherein the plurality of unmanned tow vessels includes:
- a first unmanned tow vessel that is configured to tow one or more source elements;
- and
- a second unmanned tow vessel that is configured to tow one or more streamers;
- while traversing the first sail path, the plurality of unmanned tow vessels actuating at least one of the one or more source elements and collecting first data via at least one of the one or more streamers;
- the plurality of unmanned tow vessels turning from the first sail path to a subsequent sail path;
- traversing, by the plurality of unmanned tow vessels, the subsequent sail path in a second, different formation, wherein the second, different formation includes a second, different ordering of the plurality of unmanned tow vessels in a direction perpendicular to the subsequent sail path;
- and
- while traversing the subsequent sail path, the plurality of unmanned tow vessels actuating at least one of the one or more source elements and collecting second data via at least one of the one or more streamers.
6 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a plurality of unmanned tow vessels positioned in a crossline direction to form a survey spread, wherein the plurality of unmanned tow vessels are configured to traverse a sail path while towing one or more streamers and a set of source elements, including:
- a subset of high-frequency source elements towed at a first source density relative to a width of the survey spread;
- a subset of mid-frequency source elements towed at a second source density relative to the width of the survey spread;
- and
- a subset of low-frequency source elements towed at a third source density relative to the width of the survey spread, wherein the third source density is lower than at least one of the first source density or the second source density.
2 more elements
A system, comprising:
- a plurality of unmanned tow vessels distributed in a crossline direction to form a survey spread;
- wherein the plurality of unmanned tow vessels are configured to traverse a sail path along a body of water while towing a plurality of streamers and a plurality of plurality of source elements that includes one or more low-frequency source elements and one or more high-frequency source elements, wherein a number of low-frequency source elements towed by the plurality of unmanned tow vessels is different than a number of high-frequency source elements towed by the plurality of unmanned tow vessels;
- and
- wherein the plurality of unmanned tow vessels are further configured to actuate one or more of the plurality of source elements and collect data via one or more of the plurality of streamers while traversing the sail path.
1 more element
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.