Associate Prof. Stephen Weis and undergraduate assistant Brad Beadle '97 engineered a way with Rockbit International to make drilling for that black gold more efficient. Problem is, the temperature even 1,000 feet below can become a toasty 350 degrees, the pressure upon the bit 40 times greater than gravity, the torque enough to twist wildcatters' dreams into nightmares. With those kind of odds, oil companies could always use another ace in their holes. And that's what engineering Associate Prof. Stephen Weis, along with undergraduate assistant Brad Beadle '97, dealt, thanks to a grant from Rockbit International. The idea is not new, said Rockbit CEO Marvin Gearhart, but the technology and performance level is.
Current devices transmit information uphole at about two bits per second.
And as Gearhart points out, horizontal drilling efforts, where this modem will be used, use more than 20 sensors measuring temperature, pressure, torque, direction, rock type and other factors. Gearhart also believes the modem will reduce the time to process the reams of data from two to three years to less than six months. The number 5675674 now belongs to Weis, at least the patent it refers to, but that's not what pleases the modest professor most. It's the student he saw become an engineer before his very eyes. Beadle was, and as a senior worked five six-hour days a week to make the fiber optic modem a reality.