System and method for surface steerable drilling

1. A method for displaying toolface orientation data, comprising:

receiving, by a surface steerable system coupled to a drilling rig, toolface orientation data from a bottom hole assembly (BHA) over a period of time;

generating, responsive to the toolface orientation data, a circular chart representing current and historical toolface orientation data, the current and historical toolface orientation data represented as a circumferential arc indicator defined on the circular chart illustrating a range in degrees of the current and historical toolface orientations; and

displaying the circular chart represent the current and historical toolface orientation data on a display associated with the surface steerable system.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating further comprises the step of generating a plurality of visual indicators illustrating toolface orientation over a period of time.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating further comprises generating an error indicator to indicate a magnitude and direction of error of a drill bit position from a planned path.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating further comprises the step of generating a marker indicating an ideal slide direction.

5. The method of claim 1 further including generating a band associated with the circular chart, the band including the arc indicator of the current and historical toolface orientations and providing an indication of a center of energy relative to a target.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the arc indicator further include a first arc indicator indicating a highest level of activity of the current and historical toolface orientations and a second arc indicator indicating a lowest level of activity of the current and historical toolface orientations.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the indicators further include at least one third arc indicator for showing transitions between the first arc indicator and the second arc indicator.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the first arc indicator covers a first number of degrees within the band and the second arc indicator covers a second number of degrees within the band.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of generating further includes generating the circular chart to include a slide indicator to indicate a beginning of a next slide or an ending for a current slide.

10. An apparatus for displaying toolface orientation data, comprising:

a surface steerable system for controlling drilling direction of a bottom hole assembly (BHA), the surface steerable system configured to receive toolface orientation data from the BHA and generate display data responsive thereto; and

a circular chart display generated responsive to the display data from the surface steerable system, a current and historical toolface orientation data represented as a circumferential arc indicator defined on the circular chart illustrating a range in degrees of the current and historical toolface orientations.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein circular chart display further comprises a plurality of visual indicators illustrating toolface orientation over a period of time on the circular chart display.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the step of generating further comprises generating an error indicator to indicate a magnitude and direction of error of a drill bit position from a planned path.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the step of generating further comprises the step of generating a marker indicating an ideal slide direction.

14. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the circular chart display further includes a band associated with the circular chart, the band including the arc indicator of the current and historical toolface orientations and providing an indication of a center of energy relative to a target.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the arc indicator further include a first arc indicator indicating a highest level of activity of the current and historical toolface orientations and a second arc indicator indicating a lowest level of activity of the current and historical toolface orientations.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the indicators further include at least one third arc indicator for showing transitions between the first arc indicator and the second arc indicator.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the first arc indicator covers a first number of degrees within the band and the second arc indicator covers a second number of degrees within the band.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the circular chart display further includes a slide indicator to indicate a beginning of a next slide or an ending for a current slide.

19. An apparatus for displaying toolface orientation data, comprising:

a surface steerable system for controlling drilling direction of a bottom hole assembly (BHA), the surface steerable system configured to receive toolface orientation data from the BHA and generate display data responsive thereto; and

a circular chart display generated responsive to the display data from the surface steerable system, a current and historical toolface orientation data represented as a circumferential arc indicator defined on the circular chart illustrating a range in degrees of the current and historical toolface orientations and providing an indication of a center of energy relative to a target, the circular chart display further including a band including the arc indicator of the current and historical toolface orientations.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the step of generating further comprises generating an error indicator to indicate a magnitude and direction of error of a drill bit position from a planned path.

21. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the step of generating further comprises the step of generating a marker indicating an ideal slide direction.

22. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the arc indicator further include a first arc indicator indicating a highest level of activity of the current and historical toolface orientations and a second arc indicator indicating a lowest level of activity of the current and historical toolface orientations.

23. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the indicators further include at least one third arc indicator for showing transitions between the first arc indicator and the second arc indicator.

24. The apparatus of claim 22 , wherein the first arc indicator covers a first number of degrees within the band and the second arc indicator covers a second number of degrees within the band.

25. A method for displaying toolface orientation data, comprising:

receiving, by a surface steerable system coupled to a drilling rig, toolface orientation data from a bottom hole assembly (BHA);

generating, responsive to the toolface orientation data, a circular chart representing current and historical toolface orientation data, the current and historical toolface orientation data represented as a circumferential arc indicator defined on the circular chart illustrating a range in degrees of the current and historical toolface orientations and providing an indication of a center of energy relative to a target, the arc indicator further include a first arc indicator indicating a highest level of activity of the current and historical toolface orientations and a second arc indicator indicating a lowest level of activity of the current and historical toolface orientations; and

displaying the circular chart representing the current and historical toolface orientation data and the visual indicators on a display associated with the surface steerable system.

26. The method of claim 25 , wherein the step of generating further comprises generating an error indicator to indicate a magnitude and direction of error of a drill bit position from a planned path.

27. The method of claim 25 , wherein the step of generating further comprises the step of generating a marker indicating an ideal slide direction.

28. The method of claim 25 further including generating a band associated with the circular chart, the band including the arc indicator of the current and historical toolface orientations.

29. The method of claim 25 , wherein the indicators further include at least one third arc indicator for showing transitions between the first arc indicator and the second arc indicator.

30. The method of claim 25 , wherein the first arc indicator covers a first number of degrees within the band and the second arc indicator covers a second number of degrees within the band.