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

Claim 8:
9. A method comprising:
defining a respective limited listening distance for each acoustic receiver in each of respective pluralities of acoustic receivers, wherein each acoustic receiver in each of the respective pluralities of acoustic receivers is configured to receive acoustic signals from selected acoustic transmitters spaced within the respective listening distance thereof; and
during an acoustic ranging cycle:
providing a synchronizing signal to each of the acoustic transmitters and to each acoustic receiver in each of the respective pluralities of acoustic receivers;
in response to receipt of the synchronizing signal, initiating transmission of a ranging pulse on a respective acoustic signal from each of the acoustic transmitters at a substantially same time, wherein the ranging pulses transmitted on each of the respective acoustic signals propagate substantially simultaneously; and
in response to receipt of the synchronizing signal, substantially simultaneously determining for each acoustic receiver a respective acoustic range to the selected acoustic transmitters within the respective listening distance, based on propagation time of the ranging pulses on the respective acoustic signals from the selected acoustic transmitters;

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 acoustic transmitters at the substantially same time, and ends upon expiration of a time window defined by a longest of the respective limited listening distances.