System and method for using controlled vibrations for borehole communications

1. A system for producing controlled vibrations within a borehole comprising:

a vibration mechanism for generating an impact to produce a plurality of vibration beats, wherein the vibration mechanism is located substantially near a bottom hole assembly within the borehole; and

a damping mechanism for selectively damping the plurality of vibration beats to encode information therein, wherein the damping mechanism is located remotely from the vibration mechanism along a drill string of the bottom hole assembly, wherein the damping mechanism is configured to selectively damp the vibration beats to a plurality of levels to encode the information therein.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the vibration mechanism is configured to use mechanical energy provided by a mechanical energy source to enable translational movement of a first surface relative to a second surface to allow the first surface to repeatedly impact the second surface to produce the plurality of vibration beats.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of vibration beats occur at a fixed frequency.

4. The system of claim 1 , wherein the vibration damping mechanism is further configured to dampen a particular vibration beat below a detection threshold to skip the particular vibration beat while encoding information.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein defined amplitude values of the vibration beats are bounded by a first amplitude value representing a full impact of the first and second surfaces and a second amplitude value that is below a detection threshold.

6. The system of claim 1 , wherein the damping mechanism is further configured to reduce a frequency of the plurality of vibration beats to a desired frequency by damping the plurality of vibration beats at a selected frequency.

7. The system of claim 1 further comprising:

a sensor positioned to detect the vibration beats; and

a controller coupled to the sensor and configured to control the damping mechanism based on the plurality of vibration beats detected by the sensor.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of levels includes at least one of a completely suppressed level and a partially suppressed level.

9. A method for producing controlled vibrations within a borehole comprising:

generating, at a location substantially near a bottom hole assembly within a bore hole, a plurality of vibration beats using an impact force; and

selectively damping the plurality of vibration beats to a plurality of levels to encode information therein at a location on the drill string remotely located from the bottom hole assembly.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of generating further comprises generating translational movement of a first surface relative to a second surface to allow the first surface to repeatedly impact the second surface to generate the plurality of vibration beats.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of generating further comprises generating the plurality of vibration beats at a fixed frequency.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of damping further comprises selectively damping a particular vibration beat below a detection threshold to skip the particular vibration beat while encoding information.

13. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of generating further comprises generating the plurality of vibration beats having define amplitude values bounded by a first amplitude value representing a full impact of the first and second surfaces and a second amplitude value that is below a detection threshold.

14. The method of claim 9 , wherein the step of damping further comprises selectively damping the plurality of vibration beats at a selected frequency to reduce a frequency of the vibration beats to a desired frequency.

15. The method of claim 9 further comprising:

detecting the plurality of vibration beats with a sensor; and

controlling the damping mechanism based on the plurality of vibration beats detected by the sensor.

16. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plurality of levels includes at least one of a completely suppressed level and a partially suppressed level.

17. A system for producing controlled vibrations within a borehole comprising:

a vibration mechanism, located substantially near a bottom hole assembly within the borehole, to produce a plurality of vibration beats at a constant frequency, wherein the vibration mechanism is configured to use mechanical energy provided by a mechanical energy source to produce the plurality of vibration beats; and

a damping mechanism for selectively damping the plurality of vibration beats to encode information therein, wherein the damping mechanism is located remotely from the vibration mechanism along a drill string of the bottom hole assembly, wherein the damping mechanism is further configured to reduce a frequency of the plurality of vibration beats to a desired frequency by damping vibration beats at a selected frequency.

18. The system of claim 17 , wherein the damping mechanism is configured to selectively damp the plurality of vibration beats to a plurality of levels to encode the information therein.

19. The system of claim 18 , wherein the plurality of levels includes at least one of a completely suppressed level and a partially suppressed level.

20. The system of claim 17 , wherein the vibration damping mechanism is further configured to dampen a particular vibration beat below a detection threshold to skip the particular vibration beat while encoding information.

21. The system of claim 17 , wherein defined amplitude values of the vibration beats are bounded by a first amplitude value representing a full impact of the first and second surfaces and a second amplitude value that is below a detection threshold.

22. The system of claim 17 further comprising:

a sensor positioned to detect the plurality of vibration beats: and

a controller coupled to the sensor and configured to control the damping mechanism based on the plurality of vibration beats detected by the sensor.

23. A method for producing controlled vibrations within a borehole comprising:

generating, at a location substantially near a bottom hole assembly within a borehole, translational movement of a first surface relative to a second surface to allow the first surface to repeatedly impact the second surface to generate a plurality of vibration beats at a fixed frequency; and

selectively damping the plurality of vibration beats to encode information therein and selectively damping the plurality of vibration beats at a selected frequency to reduce a frequency of the plurality of vibration beats to a desired frequency at a location on the drill string remotely located from the bottom hole assembly.

24. The method of claim 23 , wherein the step of damping further comprises selectively damping the plurality of vibration beats to a plurality of levels to encode the information therein.

25. The method of claim 24 , wherein the plurality of levels includes at least one of a completely suppressed level and a partially suppressed level.

26. The method of claim 23 , wherein the step of damping further comprises selectively damping a particular vibration beat below a detection threshold to skip the particular vibration beat while encoding information.

27. The method of claim 23 , wherein the step of generating further comprises generating the plurality of vibration beats having define amplitude values bounded by a first amplitude value representing a full impact of the first and second surfaces and a second amplitude value that is below a detection threshold.

28. The method of claim 23 further comprising:

detecting the plurality of vibration beats with sensor; and

controlling the damping mechanism based on the plurality of vibration beats detected by the sensor.