Modeling and Evaluation of Geophone Energy Consumption in Wireless Seismic Data Acquisition Networks

Impediments associated with cable-based seismic data acquisition (SDA) have led to increased interest in enabling reliable wireless seismic data acquisition (WSDA)systems. As the SDA process can last for several days or weeks, it is imperative to ensure geophones remain active for extended data acquisition periods without frequent recharging or battery replacements. This paper presents an evaluation of geophone energy consumption based on a proposed IEEE 802.11-based WSDA network architecture operating in ad hoc mode that employs Routing Protocol for Low-Power and Lossy Networks (RPL). The evaluation was carried out using simulation in OMNeT++ simulator employing metrics like percentage energy consumed and network lifetime. Results show that geophones can operate continuously for up to a month, with energy consumption primarily influenced by geophone hardware specifications, especially the radio or transceiver unit and battery capacity. In addition, we present an analytical model that estimates geophone energy consumption based on the proposed architecture. The model is an extension of our proposed IEEE 802.11 Distributed Coordination Function (DCF) model, incorporating geophone radio hardware specifications. The model was validated using simulations in the OMNeT++ simulator.