Wireless geophone networks for high-density land acquisition: Technologies and future potential

Abstract

Cable-based land seismic acquisi-tion systems often make large, high-density acquisition designs im-practical. Cables impose constraints on survey design that affect grid size and acquisition geometry. Since these systems rely on telemetry cables to handle remote-control commands and to collect data from remote sensors, they may require hundreds of kilometers of cabling, linked by thousands of connectors. The excess weight intro-duced by cables may account for up to 20% of the operational cost of a typical land survey.