Waveform generator
AssigneePhillips Petroleum Company
InventorJames E. Layton
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A waveform generator is provided which is capable of generating simultaneously a plurality of electrical signals which have different waveforms. The waveform generator is completely battery operated and is particularly useful in testing multichannel devices where power is not available for standard waveform generators. A voltage regulation circuit is provided which provides a regulated voltage from a battery pack for use by the waveform generator. The forward voltage-current characteristics of the base emitter junction of a silicon transistor are used as the basis for the generation of a reference voltage for the voltage regulation circuit to thereby substantially minimize the battery drain caused by the use of a voltage regulation circuit.
Claims35
In a seismic system for geophysical exploration comprising:
- a plurality of remote geophone monitoring means, each of said remote geophone monitoring means being adapted to receive electrical signals from at least one geophone means;
- and
- a central control means for generating electrical signals for initiating the operations of said plurality of remote geophone monitoring means;
- each of said plurality of remote geophone monitoring means comprising:
- a plurality of means for sampling electrical signals, provided from at least one geophone means, and for converting the sampled electrical signals into digital seismic data;
- and
- means for transmitting said digital seismic data to said central control means;
- said central control means comprising:
- means for transmitting commands to said plurality of remote geophone monitoring means;
- and
- means for receiving data from said plurality of remote geophone monitoring means;
- means for testing said plurality of means for sampling geophone monitoring means, comprising:
- means for generating simultaneously a plurality of output signals which each have a different waveform;
- means for supplying power from a battery pack to said means for generating simultaneously a plurality of output signals to thereby supply all of the power required by said means for generating simultaneously a plurality of output signals;
- and
- means for simultaneously supplying respective one of said plurality of output signals from said means for testing said plurality of means for sampling electrical signals to respective ones of said plurality of means for sampling electrical signals to thereby test said plurality of means for sampling electrical signals.
A method for testing a plurality of data acquistion channels associated with a remote geophone monitoring means which is controlled from a central control means comprising the steps of:
- generating simultaneously a plurality of output signals which each have a different waveform using only battery power to supply power for generating said plurality of output signals;
- and
- supplying respective ones of said plurality of output signals to respective ones of said plurality of data acquistion channels to thereby test said plurality of data acquistion channels.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.