System and method for seismic survey design

1 . A method for designing a seismic survey, the method comprising:

(a) selecting a seismic survey grid as a basis for a seismic survey design;

(b) generating off-the-grid locations by imposing spatial or temporal constraints on on-the-grid locations;

(c) mapping the off-the-grid locations from a physical domain to a pre-selected domain by applying a multidimensional transform to the off-the-grid locations;

(d) mapping the pre-selected domain to a rank-revealing domain using a pre-selected operator;

(e) applying a pre-selected process to minimize a rank of the off-the-grid locations in the pre-selected domain;

(f) updating the seismic survey design based on which of the off-the-grid locations has the minimum rank;

(g) repeating steps (b)-(f) for a number of iterations until a pre-selected threshold is met indicating an optimal seismic survey design;

(h) generating survey control data, utilizing the optimal seismic survey design, that specifies off-the-grid source-receiver locations and initial shot times for a seismic survey acquisition system;

(i) transmitting the survey control data to a control system that utilizes a processing system in cooperation with a source controller and a synchronization unit to synchronize seismic sources with a data acquisition system to implement the off-the-grid source-receiver locations and initial shot times;

(j) constraining the minimizing of the rank of the off-the-grid locations by ensuring that no two of the seismic sources are activated within a pre-selected distance from each other by using spatial location constraints;

(k) acquiring seismic data using the optimal seismic survey design; and

(l) displaying the seismic data from the seismic survey.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the spatial or temporal constraints include a range of pre-selected offsets from the on-the-grid locations, the off-the-grid locations being configured to collect ocean-bottom nodal (OBN) sparse data.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein;

the pre-selected domain is a wavenumber domain or a sparsity promoting domain; and

the multidimensional transform is a Fourier transform when the pre-selected domain is the wavenumber domain.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-selected process comprises:

(1) computing first and second singular values from the rank-revealing domain; and

(2) estimating a spectral ratio as a ratio of the first and second singular values.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the number of iterations is based on a heuristic process.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the seismic data is acquired from a regular or irregular grid with random time or space dithers, the regular or irregular grid having a corresponding seismic source.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the seismic sources are activated in activation patterns that are extended to more than two of the seismic sources.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the seismic sources are deployed in a marine environment as single seismic sources or as a plurality of seismic sources from single vessel- or multiple vessel-configurations for marine environments and used to acquire the seismic data.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein a plurality of the seismic sources are deployed in a land environment.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the optimal seismic survey design includes regular or irregular grid locations with time dithers using an optimization scheme for both the seismic sources and seismic receivers in a pre-selected number of directions.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein;

seismic receivers are deployed in water along towed streamers or within waterbottom nodes;

the seismic receivers are geophones deployed on land; or

the seismic receivers are deployed in wells.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the seismic data from seismic receivers are obtained through distributed acoustic sensors using fiber optics cables.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the seismic sources are activated together or separated in time along with one or more of random or periodic time dithers with respect to each other.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the optimal seismic survey design enables acquiring simultaneous or sequential seismic data.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:

the spatial or temporal constraints for a source activation process include a quiet time between seismic source activations; and

the quiet time includes setting a cap on a minimum or maximum randomized time interval between consecutive shots.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the seismic data includes measurements of one or more of: pressure, particle velocity, displacement, or acceleration wavefields or any subset of these.

17 . A computing system comprising at least one processor, at least one memory, and one or more programs stored in the at least one memory, the programs comprising instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor, are configured to perform a method comprising:

(a) selecting a seismic survey grid as a basis for a seismic survey design;

(b) generating off-the-grid locations by imposing spatial or temporal constraints on on-the-grid locations;

(c) mapping the off-the-grid locations from a physical domain to a pre-selected domain by applying a multidimensional transform to the off-the-grid locations;

(d) mapping the pre-selected domain to a rank-revealing domain using a pre-selected operator;

(e) applying a pre-selected process to minimize a rank of the off-the-grid locations in the pre-selected domain;

(f) updating the seismic survey design based on which of the off-the-grid locations has the minimum rank;

(g) repeating steps (b)-(f) for a number of iterations until a pre-selected threshold is met indicating an optimal seismic survey design;

(h) generating survey control data, utilizing the optimal seismic survey design, that specifies off-the-grid source-receiver locations and initial shot times for a seismic survey acquisition system;

(i) transmitting the survey control data to a control system that utilizes a processing system in cooperation with a source controller and a synchronization unit to synchronize seismic sources with a data acquisition system to implement the off-the-grid source-receiver locations and initial shot times;

(j) constraining the minimizing of the rank of the off-the-grid locations by ensuring that no two of the seismic sources are activated within a pre-selected distance from each other by using spatial location constraints;

(k) acquiring seismic data using the optimal seismic survey design;

(l) displaying the seismic data from the seismic survey; and

(m) generating or transmitting a signal that causes a wellsite action to be performed based at least on the seismic data.

18 . The computing system of claim 17 , wherein:

the pre-selected domain is a wavenumber domain or a sparsity promoting domain; and

the multidimensional transform is a Fourier transform when the pre-selected domain is the wavenumber domain.

19 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which has stored therein one or more programs, the one or more programs comprising instructions for designing a seismic survey, the instructions comprising:

(a) selecting a seismic survey grid as a basis for a seismic survey design;

(b) generating off-the-grid locations by imposing spatial or temporal constraints on on-the-grid locations, the spatial or temporal constraints comprising a range of pre-selected offsets from the on-the-grid locations, the off-the-grid locations being configured to collect ocean-bottom nodal (OBN) sparse data;

(c) mapping the off-the-grid locations from a physical domain to a pre-selected domain by applying a multidimensional transform to the off-the-grid locations, the pre-selected domain being a wavenumber domain or a sparsity promoting domain, the multidimensional transform being a Fourier transform when the pre-selected domain is the wavenumber domain;

(d) mapping the pre-selected domain to a rank-revealing domain using a pre-selected operator;

(e) applying a pre-selected process to minimize a rank of the off-the-grid locations in the pre-selected domain, the pre-selected process comprising:

(1) computing first and second singular values from the rank-revealing domain; and

(2) estimating a spectral ratio as a ratio of the first and second singular values;

(f) updating the seismic survey design based on which of the off-the-grid locations has the minimum rank;

(g) repeating steps (b)-(f) for a number of iterations until a pre-selected threshold is met indicating an optimal seismic survey design, the number of iterations being based on a heuristic process;

(h) acquiring seismic data using the optimal seismic survey design, wherein:

the seismic data is acquired from a regular or irregular grid with random time or space dithers, the regular or irregular grid having a corresponding seismic source,

multiple seismic sources are activated in activation patterns that are extended to more than two of the seismic sources,

the seismic sources are deployed in a marine environment as single seismic sources or as a plurality of seismic sources from single vessel- or multiple vessel-configurations for marine environments and used to acquire the seismic data,

the rank minimization is constrained by ensuring that no two of the seismic sources are activated within a pre-selected distance from each other by using spatial location constraints,

the optimal seismic survey design includes regular or irregular grid locations with time dithers using an optimization scheme for both of the seismic sources and seismic receivers in a pre-selected number of directions,

the seismic receivers are deployed in water along towed streamers or within waterbottom nodes, or the seismic receivers are geophones deployed on land, or the seismic receivers are deployed in wells,

the seismic data from the seismic receivers are obtained through distributed acoustic sensors using fiber optics cables,

the seismic sources are activated together or separated in time along with random and/or periodic time dithers with respect to each other,

the optimal seismic survey design enables acquiring simultaneous or sequential seismic data,

the spatial or temporal constraints for a source activation process include a quiet time between source activations, the quiet time comprising setting a cap on a minimum or maximum randomized time interval between consecutive shots, and

the seismic data includes measurements of one or more of: pressure, particle velocity, displacement, or acceleration wavefields;

(i) generating survey control data, utilizing the optimal seismic survey design, that specifies off-the-grid source-receiver locations and initial shot times for a seismic survey acquisition system;

(j) transmitting the survey control data to a control system that utilizes a processing system in cooperation with a source controller and a synchronization unit to synchronize the seismic sources with a data acquisition system to implement the off-the-grid source-receiver locations and initial shot times;

(k) enabling processing and displaying the seismic data from the seismic survey; and

(l) enabling performing a wellsite action based at least on the seismic data.