Method and apparatus for seismic data acquisition
View Patent ↗A marine seismic exploration method and system comprised of continuous recording, self-contained ocean bottom pods characterized by low profile casings. An external bumper is provided to promote ocean bottom coupling and prevent fishing net entrapment. Pods are tethered together with flexible, non-rigid, non-conducting cable used to control pod deployment. Pods are deployed and retrieved from a boat deck configured to have a storage system and a handling system to attach pods to cable on-the-fly. The storage system is a juke box configuration of slots wherein individual pods are randomly stored in the slots to permit data extraction, charging, testing and synchronizing without opening the pods. A pod may include an inertial navigation system to determine ocean floor location and a rubidium clock for timing. The system includes mathematical gimballing. The cable may include shear couplings designed to automatically shear apart if a certain level of cable tension is reached.
1. A storage system for storing seismic data recorder units, said system comprising:
a plurality of seismic data recorder units, each unit comprising a geophone, a battery, local memory and an external interface; and
a rack having at least two rows of slots and at least two columns of slots, each of said slots shaped to receive a seismic data recorder unit, wherein each of said slots includes an interface to retrieve data from a seismic data recorder unit disposed therein and to charge the batteries within said seismic data recorder unit, said interface positioned in the slot so as to be adjacent the interface of a seismic data recorder unit inserted into the slot.
2. A storage system for storing seismic data recorder units, said system comprising:
a plurality of seismic data recorder units, each unit comprising a geophone, a battery, local memory and an external interface; and
a rack having at least two rows of slots and at least two columns of slots, each of said slots shaped to receive a seismic data recorder unit, wherein each of said slots includes an interface to provide communication to a seismic data recorder unit disposed therein, said interface positioned in the slot so as to be adjacent the interface of a seismic data recorder unit inserted into the slot.
3. A storage system for seismic data recorder units, the storage system comprising:
a plurality of seismic data recorder units, each comprising a geophone, a battery, local memory and an external interface;
a storage rack, said storage rack having a plurality of adjacent slots wherein each slot is capable of receiving a seismic data recorder unit and wherein each slot includes a communications portal to permit communication between the seismic data recorder unit and a power source capable of supplying power to seismic data recorder units disposed in each slot.
4. The storage rack of claim 3 wherein the power source is capable of supplying power to a battery of the seismic data recorder unit.
5. The storage rack of claim 3 wherein the communications portal comprises a hard wire link for communicating with the seismic data recorder unit.
6. The storage rack of claim 3 wherein the communications portal comprises an infrared port for communicating with the seismic data recorder unit.
7. A storage, deployment, and retrieval system comprising:
a plurality of seismic data recorder units, each comprising a geophone, a battery, local memory and an external interface;
a storage rack with a plurality adjacent seats wherein each seat is disposed for receiving a seismic data recorder unit and wherein each seat includes a portal to permit communication with the seismic data recorder unit and capable of supplying power to a seismic data recorder unit disposed in each seat; and
a master control station for communicating with each of the seismic data recorder units disposed in a seat.
8. A storage, deployment, and retrieval system comprising:
a plurality of seismic data recorder units, each comprising a geophone, a battery, local memory and an external interface and each with seismic data recorded thereon;
a master control station; and
a storage rack with a plurality of adjacent seats configured in a row and defined thereon, wherein each seat is capable of receiving a seismic data recorder unit and wherein each seat includes at least one interface to permit communication between the seismic data recorder unit and the master control station.
9. The storage, deployment, and retrieval system of claim 8 , further comprising an interface at each seat capable of providing power to recharge batteries on a seismic data recorder unit.
10. The storage, deployment and retrieval system of claim 9 wherein the interface for communication and the interface for providing power is the same.
11. The storage, deployment and retrieval system of claim 8 further comprising a plurality of rows of seats, arranged to form at least one column of seats, wherein a column is defined as a vertical row of seats.
12. The storage, deployment and retrieval system of claim 8 wherein said row is vertical such that said seats are vertically arranged in relation to one another.
13. The storage, deployment and retrieval system of claim 8 wherein said row is horizontal such that said seats are horizontally arranged in relation to one another.