Patent ID: 8223585

Claim:
A method for positioning one or more streamers behind a survey vessel, comprising: towing a first actual streamer equipped with lateral steering devices at spaced apart locations along the length of the streamer; defining an imaginary streamer having a shape and position behind the survey vessel; determining the shape and position of the first actual streamer; defining a target lateral separation between the imaginary streamer and the first actual streamer; sending lateral steering commands to the lateral steering devices to drive the first actual streamer toward the target lateral separation from the imaginary streamer; towing a plurality of actual streamers laterally offset from the first actual streamer and equipped with lateral steering devices at spaced apart locations along the lengths of the streamers; determining the shapes and positions of the actual streamers; defining target lateral separations of each of the plurality of actual streamers from another one of the actual streamers, including the first actual streamer; sending lateral steering commands to the lateral steering devices to drive the plurality of actual streamers toward the corresponding target lateral separations.