INOVA Geophysical
INOVA’s Quantum nodal system1 was recently deployed successfully on a seismic survey in the Middle East. The objective was to stress test the performance of Quantum on a high density, high productivity vibroseis survey in a desert environment, as well as to confirm Quantum operation would not constrain source effort, enabling a next level of productivity.
The project area was 82 square kilometers. The survey consisted of 178 receiver stations per square kilometer and 3,188 vibe points per square kilometer. Total vibe points were 260,674 and the crew maintained an average source production rate of 37,239 vibe points per day. This production rate required a maximum of 1,376 Quantum nodes to be rolled to the front of the spread each day.
Quantum’s light weight and extended runtime enabled the field crew to roll the spread efficiently, staying ahead of source production and avoiding any impact to the pace of operation. Quantum node management was accomplished using six small pickup trucks each with a three person crew (including driver). Data download and transcription utilized INOVA’s iX1 software and hardware with one operator and three equipment handlers. Total data download cycle time for 240 Quantum nodes was 15 minutes including loading nodes into the download rack, downloading data and unloading nodes from the rack.
The survey demonstrated the operational efficiency of both Quantum and iX1. With a limited crew size of ~26 people, source production was not constrained by receiver operations and enabled the crew to achieve a record production level of 52,444 vibe points in a single 24 hour period.