SEISBIT® 3D: the new Seismic While Drilling data acquisition system

The acquisition of 3D seismic data, while drilling, requires an ad hoc recording system because of the specific operative conditions. The main requested features are: a large number of channels (400-500) with a complex layout geometry of the seismic lines; long recording times (up to 60 minutes) with the necessity to manage on-line a huge amount of bytes; real time processing of the seismic data to be integrated with other information, like the mud-logging parameters. The SEISBIT® 3D system is the evolution of the 2D system. Multiple control units have been introduced for the synchronised acquisition of seismic data and a specific software package has been realised to process not standard signals. The SEISBIT® 3D has to grant a flexible management of the data acquisition because the recording cannot be repeated and the data must be registered following the drilling progress when the bit reaches the depths programmed for the acquisition.