Granted Patent B2

US 12,560,073 · App. 18/585,127 · Granted Feb 24, 2026

Inventors: Samba Ba (Houston, TX); Mustapha Rhazaf (Abingdon, GB); Qiuhua Liu (Houston, TX); Prateek Goel (Houston, TX); Jinsoo Kim (Houston, TX)

Assignee: Schlumberger Technology Corporation

E21B44/00E21B47/12

Abstract

Claims (46)

1 . A method of monitoring a downhole tool implemented in a wellbore, comprising:

transmitting, based on modulating surface parameters at a surface of the wellbore, a surface downlink from the surface of the wellbore to the downhole tool positioned in the wellbore, wherein the surface downlink indicates a downlink identifier (ID) for a downlink command for the downhole tool to implement to change one or more downhole operation parameters of the downhole tool;

based on identifying the downlink command from the surface downlink, determining an expected behavior for the downhole tool, the expected behavior including a set of expected downhole operation parameters for the downhole tool corresponding to the downlink command;

after transmitting the surface downlink, receiving downhole telemetry data from the downhole tool, wherein the downhole tool transmits a plurality of data channels including a toolface angle data channel, a steering mode data channel, a steering ratio data channel, and a downlink ID data channel, and wherein said receiving the downhole telemetry data includes receiving only a subset of data channels of the plurality of data channels transmitted by the downhole tool;

comparing the subset of data channels of the downhole telemetry data to the set of expected downhole operation parameters;

based on the comparing, confirming that the downhole tool received the surface downlink based on determining that a threshold number of data channels of the subset of data channels are in agreeance with the set of expected downhole operation parameters;

determining a status of the downhole tool indicated by the surface downlink based on the confirming that the downhole tool received the surface downlink;

transmitting via the surface parameters, a second surface downlink from the surface to the downhole tool;

after the transmitting of the second surface downlink, indicating a blind mode operation based on determining that the downhole telemetry data is unreliable; and

based on the blind mode operation, determining an updated status of the downhole tool from the second surface downlink.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the surface parameters include one or more of a standpipe pressure; a flow rate, or a rotational speed (RPM) implemented at the surface, and said transmitting the surface downlink includes transmitting a downlink bit pattern encoded into the surface parameters by modulating the one or more of the standpipe pressure, the flow rate, or the RPM.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said receiving only the subset of data channels of the plurality of data channels is based on one or more of signal noise or resolution limitations preventing one or more data channels of the plurality of data channels from being received at the surface.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of data channels of the downhole telemetry data is sent to the surface of the wellbore from the downhole tool through one or more of mud pulse telemetry, electromagnetic telemetry, acoustic telemetry, or wired telemetry.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said determining the status of the downhole tool includes determining an operation mode of the downhole tool.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein said determining the operation mode is based on a previous downlink.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the set of expected downhole operation parameters includes determining an operation mode of the downhole tool and identifying, from a set of downlink definitions for the determined operation mode, a downlink definition for the surface downlink that defines the set of expected downhole operation parameters for the downhole tool to implement with respect to the determined operation mode.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein said determining the set of expected downhole operation parameters is based on identifying previous operation parameters of the downhole tool indicated by a previous status of the downhole tool.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the downhole tool is a steering tool and said determining the status of the downhole tool includes determining a steering mode and associated steering parameters of the steering tool.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said confirming that the downhole tool received the surface downlink includes comparing the downlink ID data channel to the downlink ID of the surface downlink.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the downhole tool operates in one or more operation modes including one or more of a manual steering mode, an automatic vertical hold mode, an automatic inclination hold mode, an automatic inclination hold and azimuth hold mode, or an automatic curve mode.

12 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more downhole operation parameters includes one or more of a toolface angle, a steering ratio, a target inclination, an inclination nudge size, a target azimuth, an azimuth nudge size, an azimuthal steering ratio, a dog leg severity, or a rate of penetration (ROP).

13 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining the status of the downhole tool in real time based on confirming receipt of the surface downlink by the downhole tool in real time.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more downhole operation parameters include a toolface angle and a steering ratio for the downhole tool, and the downlink command indicates for the downhole tool to change the one or more downhole operation parameters to a target steering ratio and a target toolface angle.

15 . A system of monitoring a downhole tool implemented in a wellbore comprising:

a processor;

memory accessible by the processor; and

processor-executable instructions stored in the memory and executable to instruct the system to:

transmit, based on modulating surface parameters at a surface of the wellbore, a surface downlink from the surface of the wellbore to the downhole tool positioned in the wellbore, wherein the surface downlink indicates a downlink identifier (ID) for a downlink command for the downhole tool to implement to change one or more downhole operational parameters of the downhole tool;

based on identifying the downlink command from the surface downlink, determine an expected behavior for the downhole tool, the expected behavior including a set of expected downhole operation parameters for the downhole tool corresponding to the downlink command;

after transmitting the surface downlink, receive downhole telemetry data from the downhole tool, wherein the downhole tool transmits a plurality of data channels including a toolface angle data channel, a steering mode data channel, a steering ratio data channel, and a downlink ID data channel, and wherein the receiving of the downhole telemetry data includes receiving only a subset of data channels of the plurality of data channels transmitted by the downhole tool;

compare the subset of data channels of the downhole telemetry data to the set of expected downhole operation parameters;

based on the comparing, confirm that the downhole tool received the surface downlink based on determining that a threshold number of data channels of the subset of data channels are in agreeance with the set of expected downhole operation parameters; and

determine a status of the downhole tool indicated by the surface downlink based on the confirming that the downhole tool received the surface downlink;

transmitting via the surface parameters, a second surface downlink from the surface to the downhole tool;

after said transmitting the second surface downlink, indicating a blind mode operation based on determining that the downhole telemetry data is unreliable; and

based on the blind mode operation, determining an updated status of the downhole tool from the second surface downlink.

16 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that when executed by a computer, which includes a processor performs a method, the method comprising:

identifying, based on modulating surface parameters at a surface of a wellbore, a surface downlink from the surface of the wellbore to a downhole tool positioned in the wellbore, wherein the surface downlink indicates a downlink identifier (ID) for a downlink command for the downhole tool to implement to change one or more downhole operation parameters of the downhole tool;

based on identifying the downlink command from the surface downlink, determining an expected behavior for the downhole tool, the expected behavior including a set of expected downhole operation parameters for the downhole tool corresponding to the downlink command;

after transmitting the surface downlink, receiving downhole telemetry data from the downhole tool, wherein the downhole tool transmits a plurality of data channels including a toolface angle data channel, a steering mode data channel, a steering ratio data channel, and a downlink ID data channel, and wherein said receiving the downhole telemetry data includes receiving only a subset of data channels of the plurality of data channels transmitted by the downhole tool;

comparing the subset of data channels of the downhole telemetry data to the set of expected downhole operation parameters;

on the comparing, confirming that the downhole tool received the surface downlink based on determining that a threshold number of data channels of the subset of data channels are in agreeance with the set of expected downhole operation parameters; and

determining a status of the downhole tool indicated by the surface downlink based on said confirming that the downhole tool received the surface downlink;

transmitting via the surface parameters, a second surface downlink from the surface to the downhole tool;

after said transmitting the second surface downlink, indicating a blind mode operation based on determining that the downhole telemetry data is unreliable; and

based on the blind mode operation, determining an updated status of the downhole tool from the second surface downlink.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (50)