ASAD: Autonomous Seismic Acquisition Device

Modern land seismic acquisition is known for its complexity in terms of the number of equipment utilized, logistics, labor intensity and often harsh weather conditions. To solve some challenges and supplement conventional seismic exploration procedures, such as near-surface characterization, seismic-while-drilling, acquisition infill, we developed Autonomous Seismic Acquisition Device (ASAD). This robot is a quadrotor equipped with a special mechanism for coupling seismic sensors to the ground surface. The data from three orthogonal geophones and a 3-component accelerometer are recorded by developed onboard data acquisition module. The ASAD operator sets the starting position and density of recording points for the seismic exploration mission using a ground station that communicates with the robot via Wi-Fi. The seismic data collected by the ASAD is similar to those obtained using conventional wired seismic data acquisition system. The results of field tests in desert conditions showed stable data recording with a 2 ms sampling rate and a small clock drift up to 0.01 ms.