Cooperative underwater mission: Offshore seismic data acquisition using multiple autonomous underwater vehicles

Abstract

Offshore seismic surveys are an indispensable part of the offshore oil and gas exploration, they provide an image of Earth's subsurface that can be used to determine the location and the size of the oil and gas reservoirs. The actual offshore seismic surveys are done with specific vessels towing up to ten kilometers of cables where the seismic sensors are attached, this technology have many disadvantages, such as the high cost for operating the vessel, maneuverability limitations in very shallow water and geometric inflexibility of the sensors. In this paper we present a novel technology for offshore seismic surveys based on autonomous underwater vehicles. A centralized formation control approach is adopted combined with a centralized localization and communication systems in order to validate the proof of concept of this technology.