oa Research Note: The accuracy of self-assigned land seismic node positions

During land seismic acquisition, the sources and receivers are commonly referenced to what is effectively a local grid. Assignment of nodes to this grid can be done by programming the node directly during deployment, or by recording its position and serial number. Although a seemingly insignificant part of the process, this can still represent 20–30% of the time spent deploying the nodes. A better alternative is to use the internal GPS position recorded by the node to assign the line and point number. This study has derived both theoretical and practical methods for determining the accuracy of the self-assignment of nodes to their planned positions. I have also developed an assignment methodology, ordered-assignment, which is significantly more accurate than simply assigning a node to the closest point. I show that the misassignment rate for 4 m spaced nodes can be as low as 3% with the rate decreasing exponentially with node separation. On this basis I conclude that self-assignment will be sufficiently accurate for all but the most high-resolution surveys.