Patent · US Active

DRA DAS system

US11366243B2 · kind B2 · utility

2Cited by
1References
17Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 22, 2016
Grant dateJun 21, 2022
Priority date
Expiry dateApr 14, 2038

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01V2210/1429
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

Disclosed is a system and method for improving the performance of downhole Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) systems by simultaneous use of co-propagating and counter-propagating Distributed Raman Amplification (DRA). It uses a surface DRA system with a surface DAS system to combine their laser sources where the distal end of the downhole sensing fiber use uses a Wavelength Division Multiplexer (WDM) to optically split the DRA and DAS signals onto two optical fibers. The DAS fiber/signal is terminated with a low reflectance termination to minimize a potential back reflection whereas the DRA fiber is terminated with a high reflectance termination causing all the light to reflect back up the sensing fiber. This arrangement allows for simultaneous co and counter-propagating DRA of the DAS signals, both the transmitted pulse and the back scattered light, thus creating the maximum amount of gain possible.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.