Patent · US Expired

Method and system for radio-imaging underground geologic structures

US6593746B2 · kind B2 · utility

54Cited by
28References
15Claims
0Family size

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateJan 15, 2002
Grant dateJul 15, 2003
Priority date
Expiry dateJan 15, 2022

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01V3/12
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

A coal bed anomaly detection and imaging system comprises a synchronous transmitter and receiver that are separated by a geologic structure with embedded and hidden anomalies. The transmitter sends out two signals from magnetic dipole antennas. Such signals are widely separated in frequency but synchronized internally in the transmitter to one another. The higher frequency is used to make phase shift and attenuation measurements at the receiver by synchronous detection. The lower frequency is used at the receiver to synchronize the receiver to the transmitter. The higher frequency signal is measurably affected by anomalies in the intervening geologic structure. The lower frequency signal is fixed low enough so it is not substantially affected by the intervening geologic structure. Geologic modeling tools are preferably downloaded by geoscientists to their personal computers. The total attenuation and phase shift measurements are plugged into a full-wave inversion code (FWIC) process. A hypothetical model is uploaded for processing by a forward solver so the nature of the anomalous geologic structure can be estimated. A resulting reconstructed image of the anomalies in silhouette is…

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