Advancing autonomous seismic data acquisition with robotic solutions

Abstract

Seismic data acquisition is a labor-intensive process. Leveraging advances in robotics and automation we are able to significantly reduce the environmental footprint of an acquisition crew. This paper presents technologies that have been developed and that are under development to enable an autonomous seismic data acquisition system for land exploration. Saudi Aramco’s Geophysical Robot (SAGR) utilizes unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to scan the surface and provide an accurate scouting report. This information is used to deploy a swarm of custom UAVs equipped with an onboard seismic sensing system which is called Autonomous Seismic Acquisition Device (ASAD). It is also supported by an autonomous seismic source vessel to enable a fully autonomous acquisition system. We present the strides that have been made over the past years to support this vision alongside some field results of the various components of the autonomous acquisition system.