Deployment and recovery of autonomous underwater vehicles for seismic survey

1. A method for performing a marine seismic survey of a subsurface, the method comprising:

deploying under water, from a deploying vessel, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV);

recording with seismic sensors located on the AUV seismic waves generated by an acoustic source array;

instructing the AUV to surface at a certain depth relative to the water surface;

recovering the AUV by bringing the AUV on a recovery vessel; and

transferring recorded seismic data to the recovery vessel.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

measuring and recording a position of the AUV after landing on the ocean bottom.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein an acoustic underwater positioning and navigation (AUPN) system is used to measure the position of the AUV.

4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:

sending from the AUPN system a wake-up signal to the AUV to resurface.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

towing with a shooting vessel at least a source array; and

shooting the source array for generating the seismic waves.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

preparing the AUV on the recovery vessel for a next launch.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the step of preparing further comprises:

replacing or charging a battery of the AUV;

transferring the recorded data to the recovery vessel through a connection; and

checking the AUV.

8. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:

uploading new mission data on the AUV for the next deployment.

9. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

swapping positions of the recovery vessel with the deployment vessel to continue the seismic survey.

10. A method for performing a marine seismic survey of a subsurface, the method comprising:

deploying under water, from a first deploying and recovery vessel, an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV);

recording with seismic sensors located on the AUV seismic waves generated by an acoustic source array;

instructing the AUV to surface at a predetermined depth relative to the water surface;

recovering the AUV by bringing the AUV on a second deploying and recovery vessel; and

transferring recorded seismic data to the second deploying and recovery vessel.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

measuring the position of the AUV with an acoustic underwater positioning and navigation (AUPN) system.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

sending from the AUPN system a wake-up signal to the AUV to resurface.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

towing with a shooting vessel at least a source array; and

shooting the source array for generating the seismic waves.

14. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

preparing the AUV on the recovery vessel for a next launch.

15. The method of claim 14 , wherein the step of preparing further comprises:

replacing or charging a battery of the AUV;

transferring the recorded data to the recovery vessel through a connection; and

checking the AUV.

16. The method of claim 14 , further comprising:

uploading new mission data on the AUV for the next deployment.

17. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:

swapping positions of the recovery vessel with the deployment vessel to continue the seismic survey.

18. A system for performing a marine seismic survey of a subsurface, the system comprising:

a deploying vessel having a deploying device configured to deploy under water an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV);

the AUV includes seismic sensors and is configured to record with the seismic sensors seismic waves generated by an acoustic source array;

a recovery vessel having an acoustic system configured to instruct the AUV to surface at a certain depth relative to the water surface, and having a recovery device configured to bring the AUV on the recovery vessel; and

a communication system configured to transfer recorded seismic data from the AUV to the recovery vessel.

19. The system of claim 18 , further comprising:

an acoustic underwater positioning and navigation (AUPN) system configured to measure a position of the AUV.

20. The system of claim 19 , wherein AUPN system is configured to send a wake-up signal to the AUV to resurface.