Measurement While Drilling (MWD) Signal Analysis, Optimization and Design

Trade magazines and review articles describe MWD in casual terms, e.g., positive versus negative pulsers, continuous wave systems, drilling channel noise and attenuation, in very simple terms absent of technical rigor.  However, few truly scientific discussions are available on existing methods, let alone the advances necessary for high-data-rate telemetry.  Without a strong foundation building on solid acoustic principles, rigorous mathematics, and of course, fast, inexpensive and efficient testing of mechanical designs, low data rates will impose unacceptable quality issues to real-time formation evaluation for years to come.

This book promises to change all of this.  The lead author and M.I.T. educated scientist, Wilson Chin, and Yinao Su, Academician, Chinese Academy of Engineering, and other team members, have written the only book available that develops mud pulse telemetry from first principles, adapting sound acoustic principles to rigorous signal processing and efficient wind tunnel testing.  In fact, the methods and telemetry principles developed in the book were recently adopted by one of the world’s largest industrial corporations in its mission to redefine the face of MWD.

The entire engineering history for continuous wave telemetry is covered: anecdotal stories and their fallacies, original hardware problems and their solutions, different noise mechanisms and their signal processing solutions, apparent paradoxes encountered in field tests and simple explanations to complicated questions, and so on, are discussed in complete “tell all” detail for students, research professors and professional engineers alike.  These include signal processing algorithms, signal enhancement methods, and highly efficient “short” and “long wind tunnel” test methods, whose results can be dynamically re-scaled to real muds flowing at any speed.  A must read for all petroleum engineering professionals!

Wilson Chin earned his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and his MSc at the California Institute of Technology. His work in fluid mechanics, electromagnetics, formation testing, and reservoir characterization forms the basis for ten research monographs, about one hundred papers, and almost fifty domestic and international patents. Wilson’s current interests address high speed mud pulse telemetry and advanced resistivity logging concepts.

Yinao Su, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, is affiliated with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) in Beijing, where he directs its MWD program. He is an expert in control theory and leads a new research endeavor known as “Downhole Control Engineering.” Professor Su holds over thirty patents, has authored numerous books and more than two hundred papers.

Limin Sheng is Senior Technical Expert and Department Head in oil and gas drilling engineering at the CNPC Drilling Research Institute. He has more than twenty-five years of experience in research and development focusing on MWD and downhole control engineering applications, holds more than twenty patents, and has published over two dozen papers.

Lin Li is Manager of the Downhole Control Engineering Research Institute, a laboratory for downhole information transmission at CNPC in Beijing. He holds joint positions as Senior Engineer and Director, Continuous Wave MWD and Electromagnetic MWD Projects. Li is also a key contributor to CNPC’s geosteering project efforts.

Hailong Bian earned his doctorate from the University of Electronics Science and Technology in China. He works as a Postdoctoral Fellow and engineer at the CNPC Downhole Control Engineering Research Institute. He is the lead technical focal point on CNPC’s high-priority continuous wave MWD mud pulse telemetry project.

Rong Shi is an engineer with the CNPC Downhole Control Engineering Research Institute. Shi, a key technical contributor to the continuous wave telemetry project, specializes in mechanical design and data acquisition.