Development and prospect of the nodal cable-free seismograph: a review

Abstract

The performance of seismic exploration instruments directly affects the quality of acquired seismic data as well as the efficiency of seismic survey operation. Consequently, they play a pivotal role in oil/gas and mineral resource exploration. Compared with traditional cabled seismic acquisition systems, nodal seismic acquisition systems have the advantages of light weight, small size, low capital and operational cost, reduced health safety and environment risk and strong adaptability to complex terrain environment. Therefore, they have been widely used in seismic exploration and have shown a trend of accelerated development. The major manufacturers have carried out research and development of nodal instruments, and various types of nodal seismographs have appeared. Based on the investigation of influential nodal seismographs, we summarize the research status of nodal seismographs. Based on different wireless monitoring capabilities and data harvesting modes, we classify the nodal seismographs into a shoot-blind system, semi-blind system, real-time system and enhanced real-time system. We discuss structural principles and key technologies of the four types of nodal seismographs, analyze their characteristics and predict their future development directions. Focusing on node data quality monitoring, we discuss the application of communication technologies, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Long Term Evolution, and satellites in nodal seismographs in detail. Furthermore, we analyze and evaluate three main networking architectures including planar multi-hop networks, hierarchical cluster networks and hybrid networks, and sum up the research progress of wireless routing algorithms and large-scale seismic data real-time harvesting methods. Finally, the latest applications of nodal seismographs in energy and mineral resource exploration, geological environment monitoring, urban subsurface space survey and novel seismic technologies are covered. As research on the application of micro-electro-mechanical systems technology, cloud computing, 5G, Internet of Things, edge computing, machine learning and robotics in nodal systems deepens, the performance of nodal seismographs will be greatly promoted.

Fleet’s Geode: A Breakthrough Sensor for Real-Time Ambient Seismic Noise Tomography over DtS-IoT

“…Modern nodal geophones typically utilise either a 5 Hz or 10 Hz high-sensitivity geophone along with a low-noise digitiser with built in programmable gain [ 20 ]. The choice of geophone element (and seismic sensor more broadly) is dictated by the frequency and the amplitude of the signal you wish to record.…”

“…Another drawback of ambient noise tomography with blind nodal technology is the long turnaround time from data acquisition to 3D model, since the seismic data can only be accessed after harvesting. Although some blind nodal systems offer real-time wireless quality control or real-time data transmission to a central site [ 2 , 19 , 20 ], the requirements for ambient seismic noise tomography are considerably different to active seismic imaging from an acquisition time, sampling rate and bandwidth perspective. The low data rates for ambient noise tomography lends itself well to long-range low-power Internet of Things (IoT) networks.…”

A highlight removal method for autonomous recovery of cable-free seismographs in field environments

“…More importantly, the cable-free seismographs use wireless communication to transmit data without the constraint of transmission cables compared to traditional cable seismographs, which results in better portability, adaptability, and flexibility. As a result, the cable-free seismographs are widely used in seismic exploration tasks in field environments [6][7][8]. However, current seismic exploration instruments still require manual arrangement and recovery, which greatly increases exploration tasks' time, labor, and material costs while reducing operational efficiency.…”