Professional Documents
Culture Documents
20140611-IBJ Mini-Trace II Hardware Introduction
20140611-IBJ Mini-Trace II Hardware Introduction
Hardware Manual
MARINE SURVEY SYSTEMS
Hardware Manual
Of
MINI-TRACE II
By Ivan de Jong
Revised April 2014
Copyright GEO Marine Survey Systems
GEO Marine Survey Systems b.v.
Sheffieldstraat 8
3047 AP Rotterdam, The Netherlands
tel 00 31 104155755
fax 00 31 104155351
[email protected]
www.geomarinesurveysystems.com
CONTENTS
PREFACE
GEO Marine Survey Systems and Equipment .................................................................................iv
Confidentiality and Copyright ..........................................................................................................iv
Disclaimer ....................................................................................................................................... v
Read this Manual ............................................................................................................................ v
Continuous Improvement and Suggestions ..................................................................................... v
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 1
Mini-Trace II acquisition system 1
Geo-Sense mini-streamers 1
COMPUTER REQUIREMENTS AND SET-UP ............................................................................... 2
Software installation and downloads 2
Computer requirements 2
User dongle 3
Updating the Software 3
Setting-up the Hardware 4
6
FIGURES
Figure 1 : Mini-Trace II front ............................................................................................................ 4
Figure 2: Mini-Trace II rear .............................................................................................................. 5
PREFACE
……………………..
All information contained in this manual is confidential and is to be used exclusively by the
Client.
Any form of reproduction of this manual, except for internal use by the Client, would be
considered a violation of GEO Marine Survey Systems' copyrights and would therefore affect
our support of the equipment/software and could also lead to legal action.
Disclaimer
The technical information, procedures and recommendations contained in this manual are
given to the best of our knowledge.
In view of continuous improvement, the content of this manual has been updated for the
relevant unit. Make sure you have the manual that relates to the unit you are using.
This a printed version, the software is continuously being upgraded, so use the online
manual for the exact procedures and make sure you have the latest version.
In no circumstances can GEO Marine Survey Systems be held liable for any omission, or
erroneous interpretation or understanding, of the content of this manual, or for any damage
or accidents that are directly or indirectly related to the use of the equipment.
Continuous Improvement
We welcome all comments that we can use for future improvements.
Please visit our dedicated software website for the latest news
www.geo-suite.com
Tel: 00 31 104155755
Fax: 00 31 104155351
[email protected]
www.geomarinesurveysystems.com
INTRODUCTION
A complete Geo Marine Survey Systems sparker spread normally consists of four main sub-
systems
Geo-Spark pulsed power supply,
Geo-Source sustainable multi-tip sparker,
Geo-Sense ultra hi-res mini-streamer,
Mini-Trace II acquisition/processing system with Geo-Suite Acquisition software.
Geo-Sense mini-streamers
The Geo-Sense mini-streamers are very sensitive acoustic receivers with active lengths of 2.4 m
for the 8-element hydrophone array, and up to 7.5 m for the 24-element array. (Please note that we
can configure the active lengths according to your specifications.)
Selection of the streamer type depends on many factors, but one of the most important is the
actual water depth: deeper water justifies the use of a longer streamer. However, an 8-element
mini-streamer has been used successfully in water depths down to 2000 m.
In sea conditions with significant swell, one may get be much better data with a short streamer
than a long streamer, since it is less affected by the wave action.
At the end the most important factor remains the noise from the vessel. A noisy vessel will
significantly reduce the effective penetration since the seismic signal will be simply lost in the
noise.
If the streamer is towed in the wake of the vessel, noise will simply kill the seismic signal.
Therefore, the need to use of an outrigger to tow the streamer out of the wake cannot be over
emphasized
Further details on how to deploy the streamer and how to reduce noise are given in the Mini-
Streamer manual.
The Mini-Trace II is a 24 bit dual channel system with two independent triggers within one unit.
It integrates all features required for a VHR seismic survey: analogue LC filter; signal amplification;
internal trigger generation; and synchronization with an external trigger, input and logging of
navigation data and other sensors
Input of the navigation data is implemented via the LAN / internet input on your PC – laptop.
Note for the older installations we still maintain the option of navigation input via a RS 232 cable
and the 9 pin D-connector on the back of the Mini-Trace II.
The quality of the raw data is monitored online through a set of dedicated windows:
You can process your single channel data online or offline.
You can output data to hard disk, via LAN, or to any USB or Firewire peripheral.
You can plot online printouts via the Printrex, thermal plotter. You can use any Windows OS
printers for offline printouts.
You can output the standard SEG Y output format but also the XTF format meeting all demand
for easy data exportation to any other system
The same SEG Y or XTF can be seamlessly imported in GeoSuite Allworks for fast and efficient
post-processing / interpretation
Computer requirements
Geo-Suite Acquisition requires an up-to-date (laptop) computer in order to acquire and/or process
data.
The choice of the computer is very important, since it will determine equally the stability and
performance of the overall system.
We recommend the use of a rugged machine, conceived for humid, hot and vibrating environment.
As everybody knows the development in PC’s and Laptop’s is a never ending race for better faster
and more.
Usually the ideal specs of yesterday will be outdated tomorrow.
Fortunately, this is not the case for your Mini-Trace II, AD interface, which has the advantage to be
relatively timeless since it is using the well-known sigma-delta AD technology.
This technology has been the state-of-the-art standard for the last decade.
More specifically,
T530, built for performance (quadcore and hi-res screen) https://www.bluelink.nl/search?q=t530
T530, built for performance (quadcore and hi-res screen) 4https://www.bluelink.nl/search?q=t540
User dongle
For the real-time data acquisition and processing you must insert a user registered dongle in a
USB port of the laptop /PC
WARNING the dongle itself is worth the purchase price of the software package. A replacement
dongle will only be given at cost if the faulty dongle is returned.
Self-test
When you switch on the 220 V mains the green LED will come up and the other LEDs will make the “night
rider” self test (all LEDs will turn on and off in sequence). The self test will stop after the USB connection
between Mini-Trace 11 interface and laptop has been made and recognized.
8 9 10 11
4 5 6 7
1 2 3
CHANNEL 1
4) Key In (trigger for slave mode) BNC socket for trigger input from the navigation system, e.g. if you
require to shoot in fixed distance. The trigger output to the Power Supply will come from Key Out
5) Key Out (trigger to Power Supply) BNC socket to provide the trigger signal to the seismic source.
Both in master and slave mode, fully opto-isolated
6) BNC socket signal in, single ended input for signal in from a third party streamer. NB the BNC cable
will carry only the streamer signal. The power supply to the streamer pre-amplifier must be generated
by an external battery box.
7) 4-pin socket to connect to a Geo-Sense mini-streamer. The connecting cable carries both the data
signal from the streamer and the power supply to the streamer pre-amplifier.
CHANNEL 2
8) Key In (trigger for slave mode) BNC socket for trigger input from the navigation system, e.g. if you
require to shoot in fixed distance. The trigger output to the Power Supply will come from Key Out
9) Key Out (trigger to Power Supply) BNC socket to provide the trigger signal to the seismic source.
Both in master and slave mode, fully opto-isolated
10) BNC socket signal in, single ended input for signal in from a third party streamer. NB the BNC cable
will carry only the streamer signal. The power supply to the streamer pre-amplifier must be generated
by an external battery box.
11) 4-pin socket to connect to a Geo-Sense mini-streamer. The connecting cable carries both the data
signal from the streamer and the power supply to the streamer pre-amplifier.
Pin assignment of the 4-pin sockets
Pin 1 +12 VDC power to pre-amplifier
Pin 2 Ground shield (earth)
Pin 3 Positive (+) signal from pre-amplifier
Pin 4 Ground signal from pre-amplifier
From experience we know that most of the electric noise problems are directly caused by bad
grounding
Very often new operators do not realize that their grounding is not good…………..
Very often the status of the mains 220 V generator is a problem !!!
In order to operate the system free of electrical noise, it is VITAL to ground the equipment properly.
Make sure the generator is grounded to the hull and to the sea
Make sure your generator works flawless and has regular RPM
Always use a UPS for PC based systems
Ground the Mini-Trace II unit, using the banana socket at the back, to a metal part of the PC
If possible also ground the PC ( laptop) on a metal part (for instance the VGA port), connect
the grounding to the same point
Ground the Geo-Spark power supply to a separate sea ground (provided with PS)
Connect the ground of the Geo-Spark power supply also to a metal part of the vessel
Ground the HV tow cable winch to the vessel (welding) and connect also a separate sea-
ground
All electrical contacts should be as clean and as tight as possible
Without proper grounding, the recorded data can be saturated by electric noise and the navigation
data can be corrupted due to the electrical interferences on the vessel.
Also, never disconnect the streamer when the Mini-Trace is switched on. You can blow up the
preamp