Patent · US Expired

Methods and apparatus for determining error in formation parameter determinations

US5661696A · kind A · utility

29Cited by
5References
26Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateAug 11, 1995
Grant dateAug 26, 1997
Priority date
Expiry dateAug 11, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01V1/48
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for generating an error bar (variance) log for a formation parameter are disclosed. According to the method, acoustic waveforms are detected at a plurality (M) of detectors which are a function of a source signal which has interacted with the formation and noise, and the detected waveforms are sampled and processed in order to obtain a semblance or a normalized mean square error. Using the semblance or the NMSE which is related to the semblance, a signal to noise ratio 2E/N.sub.0 can be found by recognizing that the semblance function has a non-central beta distribution whose mean is a function of the signal to noise ratio 2E/N.sub.0, the time-bandwidth product N, and M. The signal to noise ratio is then used to find the Cramer-Rao lower bound which is taken as an estimate of the variance. An error bar log is formed by repeating these steps at a plurality of locations along the borehole. The method of the invention can be used in conjunction with both attenuating and non-attenuating waves. The apparatus of the invention relates closely to the method.

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