Can Real-time Wireless Recording Systems be Robust, Reliable and Scalable? Mick Lambert President & C.O.O. Wireless Seismic Inc.
Wireless'Seismic'Inc.' HQ in Houston Engineering office near Boulder Sales offices worldwide Funded by: Delivers the industry's only fully-scalable wireless seismic recording systems - with real-time seismic data transmission to the central recorder Conventional seismic recording systems Passive seismic monitoring systems surface and buried arrays 1 channel & 3 channel recording units 80+ fulltime staff
Wireless'Seismic'Inc.' Onshore seismic industry has been dominated by cabled recording systems for decades Autonomous nodal systems have been gaining market traction for last few years Wireless Seismic has introduced RT System 2 to compete with both technologies We believe RT System 2 is a blend of the advantages of both technologies System is now being used regularly by 10 clients Technology has been proven at scale Company is growing rapidly expanding internationally
Cabled'Seismic'Systems' Difficult to transport Labor intensive HSE-challenged Difficult to maintain a single cable break can be very disruptive Costly to repair
Cabled'Seismic'Systems''' Difficult to deploy Major Advantage - Real-time Data Transmission
Autonomous'Nodal'Seismic'Systems'(Nodes)' Record data locally into each remote unit Advantages: Quick to deploy Do not need to communicate with each other or a control center Generally, higher crew productivity than with cabled systems
Nodal'Seismic'Systems..' 1) You must manually collect the seismic data 2) Seismic data needs transcription into SEG formats 3) Limited quality control during acquisition 4) Cannot view all the seismic data while recording
Nodal'Seismic'Systems..' 5) Large trailers and expert staff needed for data transcription Conclusion nodes overcome several of the major limitations of cabled systems but introduce several new limitations
RT'System'2' 'Real?@me'and'Cable?Free' Rugged, 2.4-GHz, high gain antenna Rugged, stackable aluminum case Internal GPS w/antenna 7 Status Indicator lights Dual, hot swappable Li-ion batteries Industry standard geophone connector
Cables' 'Bulky'&'Heavy'
RT'System'2'?'Compact'&'Lightweight'
Wireless'Seismic'Architecture:'In?lines' Each Wireless Remote Unit (WRU) acts as seismic acquisition station & radio relay Operates without frequency interference at 2.4 GHz Robust and automated Operates at ultra-low power for long battery life Transmits Long Distances One Short Hop at a Time
Wireless'Seismic'Architecture:'Cross'Lines' Customized commercial backhaul solutions: 5.8 GHz high capacity radios Fiber-Optic cable
Real?Time'Data'Transmission'with'Full'QC/QA'
Typical'RT'System'2'Configura@on' A complete RT system consists of: Wireless Remote Units Backhaul (collects data from in-lines and transmits to the Central) Central recording system Data is delivered to the Central in real time Line( Central( Backhaul( WRU(
Key Questions about RT System 2 Is the system stable, reliable and robust? Can the radio telemetry penetrate trees and thick ground vegetation? Is the system scalable to thousands of live channels?
Is RT System 2 Stable, Reliable and Robust? 10 commercial clients operate RT System 2 on a regular basis Frac Monitoring RT System 2 has been deployed on over 20 production monitoring projects Some projects have run for >30 days, with 24/7 operations RT System 2 has averaged significantly less downtime than comparable projects using cabled systems Conventional Seismic Dozens of commercial projects in all types of terrains and environments Reduced crew headcounts High margin operations RT System 2 has a verifiable track record with multiple clients
Is RT System 2 scalable to thousands of live channels?
Is RT System 2 Scalable? Current 8,000 channel deployment in Kurdistan, Iraq 270 sq. km. 3D survey Mountainous, desert terrain Single vibroseis fleet Production of 250 VPs per day is being achieved (1,000+ sweeps) Minimal system downtime mostly waiting on vibrators 4,700 to 6,264 channels in the live recording patch World record for real-time cable-free recording 14 lines 336 to 446 channels per line Crew operated by Asian Oilfield Services Ltd.
Kurdistan Summer 2013
Kurdistan Summer 2013
Kurdistan Summer 2013
Is the radio telemetry of RT System 2 able to penetrate trees and thick vegetation?
Radio Range Tests Recent test deployment in Sam Houston National Park Passive seismic test project 44 WRUs laid out Objective test RT System 2 radio performance in thick vegetation and dense trees Radio link quality tests Radio range tests Square patch 400 group interval (approx. 125m)
Radio Range Tests
Radio Range Tests
Radio Range Tests
Radio Range Tests Good radio comm. quality was established between all 44 stations at 400 1 station was disabled = auto-skip-heal to 800 interval (250 m) Radio links were maintained as WRUs auto-adjusted their power levels 2 stations were disabled = auto-skip-heal to 1,200 interval (375 m) Radio links were slightly degraded but seismic data would still transmit to the central Conclusions: RT System 2 radio telemetry will consistently penetrate through trees and thick vegetation at normal group intervals and maintain solid seismic data throughput RT System 2 is well suited for forested or jungle environments
Summary & Conclusions The limitations of cabled systems are well understood Nodal systems overcome several limitations of cabled systems but have introduced new limitations that cabled systems don t have RT System 2 is a radio-based system that delivers a full-featured solution for a cable-free seismic world RT System 2: has been successfully deployed in a wide range of environments and terrains has been proven stable, reliable and robust on dozens of commercial projects has been validated at a large scale on a major production project in Kurdistan radio telemetry will reliably penetrate trees and thick vegetation 10 commercial clients now operate RT System 2 on a regular basis RT System 2 has demonstrated that a real-time radio-based system is now commercially competitive Wireless Seismic is in growth mode expanding internationally RT System 2 roadmap includes scaling to 50,000 channel deployments in the foreseeable future
More information www.wirelessseismic.com mlambert@wirelessseismic.com info@wirelessseismic.com