A rigging of a USBL transceiver for use on a seismic vessel

In this article we present an application of USBL for seismic acquisition. In order to measure the far field signature of a source, a hydrophone, on which a USBL transponder is installed, is towed below the source. The USBL transceiver is rigged on a float. The float, which is a headfloat or a tailbuoy, is deployed short behind the vessel. This rigging is easier to perform on seismic vessels than traditional mounting of the transceiver on a pole. As this creates a noisy environment for the USBL system, quality of acoustic communication is assessed. In particular, the number of hydrophones acoustically valid in the acoustic array of the transceiver provides interesting information, and shows that most of the time the USBL works properly despite the flow noise.