Patent ID: 11899152
Assignee: ION GEOPHYSICAL CORPORATION
Field: Measurement (Instruments)
Classification: CPC G | IPC G

Claim 0:
1. A system comprising:
a plurality of acoustic receivers configured to receive acoustic signals; and
a plurality of acoustic transmitters, wherein each of the acoustic transmitters is configured to transmit a ranging pulse on a respective one of the acoustic signals, over one of a plurality of channels; and
a processor configured to define a respective predefined limited range for each of the acoustic receivers, wherein a subset of the acoustic transmitters is defined within the respective predefined limited range thereof, and wherein each acoustic transmitter of the respective subset is configured to transmit the ranging pulse on the respective acoustic signal over a different one of the plurality of channels;
wherein, during an acoustic ranging cycle, the plurality of acoustic transmitters are each configured to initiate transmission of the ranging pulses on the respective acoustic signals at a substantially same time, such that propagation of the ranging pulses on each of the acoustic signals is substantially simultaneous;
wherein the plurality of acoustic receivers are each configured to detect the ranging pulses transmitted by the respective subset of the acoustic transmitters within a time window defined by the respective predefined limited range; and
wherein a cycle time of the acoustic ranging cycle starts with initiation of transmission of the ranging pulses on the respective acoustic signals by each of the acoustic transmitters at the substantially same time, and ends upon expiration of the time window defined by a longest of the respective pre-defined limited ranges.