Patent ID: 8472282

Claim:
A method of data transmission along in an oil well environment, the oil well having a subterranean wellbore extending from the surface into the earth, the oil well having an acoustic transmission channel along which acoustic transmissions travel, the method comprising the steps of: providing an acoustic transmitter at a position along the acoustic channel; providing an acoustic receiver having a series of acoustic sensors, the sensors spaced apart from one another along the acoustic channel; the transmitter and receiver spaced apart along an acoustic transmission channel and electrically isolated from one another; transmitting a series of acoustic transmitted signals, the series of acoustic transmitted signals comprising a repeated, time-delayed versions of a selected signal, the series of acoustic transmitted signals transmitted from the transmitter, along the acoustic channel, where the acoustic transmitted signals are distorted by ambient noise; sensing the series of distorted acoustic transmitted signals at the series of acoustic sensors, each signal corresponding to a sensor, each signal arriving at its corresponding sensor simultaneously; then creating a plurality of sensor output signals corresponding to the series of acoustic transmitted signals; and combining the sensor output signals to provide a combined signal being less distorted than any of the distorted acoustic transmitted signals.