Patent ID: 9140815
Filing Date: 2015-09-22
Classification: G01V

Abstract:
1. A method for obtaining information about a subsurface formation from acoustic signals that contain information about the subsurface formation, comprising: a) providing a plurality of received optical signals resulting from the transmission of an optical signal into a fiber optic cable that includes a sensing apparatus comprising a plurality of substantially parallel fiber lengths whereby each received optical signal comprises a portion of the optical signal that has been backscattered from a segment of a different fiber length; b) processing the received optical signals from the segments of the different fiber lengths so as to effectively align the segments with one location of interest along the sensing apparatus before proceeding to step c), wherein the different segments together correspond to a single selected location along the sensing apparatus; and c) on a processor, processing the received optical signals so as to obtain information about an acoustic signal received at the different segments there by obtaining practically simultaneous multiple detections by the different segments of the acoustic signals at the single selected location along the sensing apparatus.