SIGNAL ENHANCEMENT OF VIBRATORY SOURCE DATA IN THE PRESENCE OF ATTENUATION*

Amplitude spectra of input FM signals used in the vibratory source method of seismic exploration often show undesirable oscillations near the initial and terminal frequencies. These oscillations have an effect on the correlation background and distort the output signal. Considerable improvement in reducing the amplitude of these oscillations is obtained using a proper taper fuction. Attention is given to the relation between the tapering time and bandwidth of the spectrum. Analyses of the spectra of the received data from vibratory sources show considerable attenuation in comparison with the original field sweep. Since the matched filtering process will result in a series of waveforms which have the shape of the autocorrelation of the input signal, consideration is given to the autocorrelation function and its zero-lag coefficient of the FM signal in the presence of attenuation. A method has been developed which compensates for the attenuation and recovers the distortion of waveforms when the received data is correlated. The design of a waveform shaping filter for vibratory source data is given to reduce the influence of phase distortion on the received waveforms as well as to increase S/N ratio resolution. Parameters used for this filter are based on the properties of the FM signal and its autocorrelation function. Several examples from field data are presented to illustrate the methods. The results indicate that the use of the above techniques yields sections with good frequency resolution and improved S/N ratio.