Continuous Trajectory Calculation for Directional Drilling

A method of monitoring a well drilling operation while actively drilling said well, the method comprising comprising:

• collecting a set of measurements from a plurality of downhole, environmental sensors vibrationally isolated within a bottom hole assembly (BHA);
• processing the set of measurements into a real time evaluation a current location of the environmental sensors by comparing data collected while actively drilling said well with data collected when the well drilling operation is not actively drilling the well.

A downhole instrument package for use with a well drilling apparatus, the downhole instrument package comprising:

• a. at least three sensors including an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a gyroscope;
• b. the accelerometer, the magnetometer, and the gyroscope being mounted in an elongate configuration along with a signal processing device, the elongate configuration being supported by shock absorbers between a drill string associated with said well drilling apparatus and a drill face of a drill bit;
• c. the signal processing device applying a set of algorithms to data collected from the at least three sensors, the collected data and the results of applying said set of algorithms to the data collected being stored as stored data by said signal processing device.

A downhole instrument package for use with a well drilling apparatus, the downhole instrument package comprising:

• a. at least three sensors including an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a gyroscope;
• b. the accelerometer, the magnetometer, and the gyroscope being mounted in an elongate configuration along with a signal processing device, the elongate configuration being supported by shock absorbers between a drill string associated with said well drilling apparatus and a drill face of a drill bit;
• c. the signal processing device applying a set of algorithms to data from the at least three sensors to determine a calculated position of the downhole instrument package.