Method and apparatus for positioning a center of a seismic source

Abstract

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for positioning a center of a seismic source. The method includes determining a desired center-of-source of the seismic source and selecting one of a first and a second plurality of guns to form the seismic source based upon the desired center-of-source, a center-of-source of the first plurality being different than a center-of-source of the second plurality.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for acquiring seismic data, comprising:
 deploying a plurality of cables having a plurality of guns disposed thereon, each gun being coupled to a positioning device configured to provide positional information of a gun coupled thereto;   determining a geometric center of the plurality of guns such that a vector sum of vectors from the geometric center of the plurality of guns to each positioning device is minimized to about zero; and   actuating the plurality of guns if the geometric center substantially lies along a desired sail line.   
     
     
         2 . A method for acquiring seismic data, comprising:
 deploying a plurality of cables having a plurality of guns disposed thereon, each gun being coupled to a positioning device configured to provide positional information of a gun coupled thereto;   determining a geometric center of the plurality of guns based on a predetermined distance between each positioning device and the geometric center, wherein the predetermined distance is along a direction approximately parallel to the cables; and   actuating the plurality of guns if the geometric center substantially lies along a desired sail line.