Wireless exploration seismic system

1. A method for use in seismic data acquisition, comprising the steps of:

disposing, in series, a plurality of seismic data acquisition modules that are operative to wirelessly communicate acquired seismic data, wherein said acquisition modules define a wireless serial data transfer path for relaying data from upstream acquisition modules to downstream acquisition modules and a data collection unit;

assigning a first acquisition module in said serial data transfer path a first multiplexing signature sequence, wherein in successive transmission periods, the first acquisition module advances sequentially through a first plurality of multiplexing signatures of the first multiplexing sequence; and

assigning a second acquisition module in said serial data transfer path a second multiplexing signature sequence, wherein in successive transmission periods, the second acquisition module advances sequentially through a second plurality of multiplexing signatures of the second multiplexing sequence;

wherein the first acquisition module and the second acquisition module are spatially distributed with respect to said wireless serial data transfer path, and wherein said first acquisition module advances from a first multiplexing signature to a second multiplexing signature within said first multiplexing signature sequence at substantially the same time as said second acquisition modules advances from a third multiplexing signature to a fourth multiplexing signature within said second multiplexing signature sequence.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

first transmitting, using the first multiplexing signature of the first plurality of multiplexing signatures, seismic data from the first acquisition module to at least one downstream acquisition module; and

second transmitting, using the third multiplexing signature from the second plurality of multiplexing signatures, seismic data from the second acquisition module to at least one downstream acquisition module.

3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the first multiplexing signature sequence and the second multiplexing signature sequence comprise a random sequence of multiplexing signatures.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first multiplexing signature is the same as the third multiplexing signature.

5. The method according to claim 2 , wherein at least a portion of the first transmitting and at least a portion of the second transmitting occur simultaneously during a common transmission period.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the first multiplexing signature sequence and the second multiplexing signature sequence comprise the same pseudo-random sequence of multiplexing signatures.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein the first acquisition module and the second acquisition module operate in phase with respect to the shared pseudo-random sequence of multiplexing signatures.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the multiplexing signatures comprise a plurality of different frequencies.

9. The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:

assigning the same pseudo-random signature sequence to a third data acquisition module, wherein the third data acquisition module is spatially distributed with respect to the first and second data acquisition module;

wherein the third data acquisition module advances in the same pseudo-random sequence at the same time as the first and second acquisition modules advance in the same pseudo-random sequence.

10. A method for use in seismic data acquisition, comprising:

disposing a plurality of seismic data acquisition modules in an array, wherein each seismic data acquisition module is operative to wirelessly communicate with at least one other seismic data acquisition module in said array to define at least a first serial data transmission path;

assigning each of said plurality of seismic data acquisition modules in said first serial data transmission path a multiplexing signature sequence for use in transmitting said seismic data;

during a first common transmission period, transmitting seismic data from a first data acquisition module in said first serial data transmission path using a first multiplexing signature and transmitting seismic data from a second seismic data acquisition module in said first serial data transmission path using a second multiplexing signature, wherein at least a portion of the transmitting from the first data acquisition module during the first common transmission period and at least a portion of the transmitting from the second data acquisition module during the first common transmission period occur simultaneously; and

advancing said first and second seismic data acquisition modules in their respective multiplexing signature sequences at substantially the same time such that said first seismic data acquisition module is assigned a third multiplexing signature and said second seismic data acquisition module is assigned a fourth multiplexing signature, wherein said third multiplexing signature is different than said first multiplexing signature and said fourth multiplexing signature, and said fourth multiplexing signature is different than said second multiplexing signature and said third multiplexing signature;

during the second common transmission period, transmitting seismic data from said first data acquisition module using said third multiplexing signature and transmitting seismic data from said second seismic data acquisition module using said fourth multiplexing signature, wherein at least a portion of the transmitting from said first data acquisition module during the second common transmission period and at least a portion of the transmitting from the second data acquisition module during the second common transmission period occur simultaneously.

11. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the multiplexing signature sequences are random sequences of multiplexing signatures.

12. The method according to claim 10 , wherein the multiplexing signature sequence is a pseudo-random sequence.

13. The method according to claim 12 , wherein the multiplexing signature sequence for the first seismic data module and the second seismic data module is the same.

14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the first seismic data module and the second seismic data module are out of phase with respect to the multiplexing signature sequence.

15. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first acquisition module and the second acquisition module are positioned in non-overlapping collision domains.

16. The method according to claim 15 , wherein the first acquisition module and the second acquisition module are spaced apart by a distance greater than the transmission range of either the first or second acquisition module.

17. A method for use in seismic data acquisition, comprising the steps of:

disposing, in series, a plurality of seismic data acquisition modules that are operative to wirelessly communicate acquired seismic data, wherein each of said acquisition modules receives data from only one upstream acquisition module and transmits data to only one downstream acquisition module thereby defining a serial data transfer path;

first transmitting seismic data from a first acquisition module in said wireless serial data path to a first downstream acquisition module in said wireless serial data path; and

second transmitting seismic data from a second acquisition module in said wireless serial data path to a second downstream acquisition module in said wireless serial data path;

wherein at least a portion of the first transmitting and second transmitting occur simultaneously, and wherein interference between said first and second transmitting is avoided by using a unique multiplexing signature at the said first acquisition module and said second acquisition module, respectively.