f Expanding the role of cable-less equipment in seismic operations

Cable-less technology for seismic acquisition has evolved and grown over the last few years. As of Jan 2012, it is estimated that there are over 170,000 cable-less seismic acquisition nodes at work worldwide on over 40 systems. Cable-less seismic equipment poses new challenges in operations, not because it is more difficult to use but because the systems require crews to learn new skill sets and view equipment optimization in a new light. Experience is growing with cable-less systems in the fields of improving operation efficiency, designing more flexible surveys, and meeting tighter project management deadlines. The role of cable-less seismic acquisition equipment is expanding with increased confidence gained by successes in production work, leading toward a brighter future for cable-less seismic hardware systems. This paper will investigate the concerns surrounding system design, the benefits and trade-offs, and the critical factors that made cable-less systems the best solution for some recent successful projects.