SPE 113258

Highly Flexible Mud-Pulse Telemetry: A New System

C Klotz, SPE, I Wasserman, D Hahn, SPE, Baker Hughes INTEQ

Copyright 2008, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the 2008 Indian Oil and Gas Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Mumbai, India, 4–6 March 2008.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract
Mud Pulse Telemetry (MPT) systems enable the MWD/LWD companies to transmit to surface valuable directional and
formation data during the drilling process. This data is used to optimize the drilling process, making drilling operations more
cost efficient and allowing the drilling of more complex wells.
The major factors limiting MPT data rates include maximum downhole signal strength, signal attenuation, surface induced
noise and surface piping induced signal reflections. Most of these are not predictable, not arbitrarily adjustable and potentially
change their properties during the course of data transmission. To achieve maximum possible data rates under those
challenges, telemetry systems must be highly flexible, both downhole and at the surface receiver. Downhole, the transmission
tool should be able to support different signal types and different signal frequencies to optimally use the transmission channel
(the mud filled pipe bore).These signaling parameters should be changeable during operation. On surface, sophisticated noise
processing should be employed to increase the overall system Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR).
This paper describes a new system for mud pulse telemetry that supports two signaling types, different signal modulations
and various signal frequencies. The new system comprises a novel mud pulser and a digitally controlled, automatically
adjusted surface system. With the downhole mud pulser in the borehole, the new system allows the optimization of the mud
pulse telemetry process for maximum MWD/LWD information at surface while drilling the well.
This paper introduces the system and gives details on how the achieved high speed data rates of the new telemetry system
have helped to deliver real time answers while drilling.

Introduction
Mud Pulse Telemetry (MPT) systems share a common communication principle (Figure 1). Downhole, drilling fluid passes a
moving valve that in some fashion restricts flow and in turn generates pressure waves which travel to surface at varying speeds
depending on the drilling fluid properties. The mud channel (the pipe bore filled with flowing drilling mud) causes the
transmitted signal to be attenuated and further distorted. Depending on the severity of the channel conditions, signal reception
can be a difficult task. Major components affecting signal properties include mud pumps, pulsation dampeners, surface piping,
pressure transducer locations, drill string components, mud properties, well depth and others. Due to the complexity of the
involved parameters and their often varying properties, reliable high speed telemetry requires a system that adapts its
downhole and surface settings during drilling.
In this paper we discuss a new telemetry system comprising a novel, advanced and reliable mud pulser design and a new
surface data acquisition unit with enhanced signal processing capabilities. The system can automatically adjust its decoding
parameters during data transmission by making continuous measurements of the transmission channel conditions during
drilling. This assures high speed mud pulse telemetry even under highly varying mud channel conditions.
The entire system has been extensively tested and improved since 2001 and data rates of up to 20 bits per second (bps)
have been achieved in commercial drilling situations. Using this data rate increase of more than 200% compared to previous
offset runs, higher quality decision making was attained in various applications. Those optimized, high data rates are essential
to support present services and to enable future MWD/LWD services, including reservoir navigation service (RNS), wellbore
stability and drilling optimization.
In the next sections we introduce the downhole mud pulser and the new surface system with a focus on how to optimize the
quality of the signal received at surface. We explain the implemented features and highlight a case that showed higher data
rates to be the enabling technology for efficient Reservoir Navigation Service (RNS) operations.
2 SPE 113258

The New Mud Pulse Telemetry System

Downhole Transmitter
One of the major aims during system development was to design a single system that reliably provides a high bandwidth mud
pulse telemetry link for various scenarios, ranging from deep to shallow wells deploying water based to highly compressible
oil based drilling fluids. In addition, various downhole induced noise sources must be handled (e.g. Bottom Hole Assemblies
(BHA) comprising downhole motors or reamers). With such a variety of potential applications, different signal types for data
transmission are required due to changes in signal distortions. Therefore a development focus for the new mud pulser unit
included high flexibility of the supported transmission signals. As a result, the downhole pulser supports baseband modulation
with underlying Pulse Position Encoding in addition to three different carrier frequency modulation schemes, including
Amplitude Shift Keying (ASK), Frequency Shift Keying (FSK) and Phase Shift Keying (PSK).
With the first method it is possible to produce low frequency signals that minimize signal attenuation – the major
contributor to data rate limitations in deep wells or when deploying high viscous drilling fluids, or when using compressible
drilling fluids such as oil-based muds. When using this method signal components normally do not exceed 10Hz with the
majority of the spectral energy concentrated in the range of 0 Hz to 2 Hz. While appreciating the high reliability of this method
it comes with the drawback of limited data rates, normally not exceeding 6 bps.
Shift keying modulations place the signal around certain carrier frequencies. Limited by the maximum supported carrier
frequency of the pulser unit this allows flexible placement of the signal into a frequency range of the highest SNR. Proper
frequency selection is critical in this process. Normally, the more carrier frequencies supported, the higher the chances to find
a best-fit option. As for baseband signals, the maximum possible system data rates for carrier modulated signals firstly
depends on the limitation of the pulser unit in inducing high frequency waveforms in the mud column.
In order to achieve high signaling flexibility, downhole signal generation of the system described in this paper is
accomplished by use of a shear valve comprising a stator and an oscillating disc (rotor). By oscillating the rotor around its
middle position into the flow area and out, fluctuations of flow can be super-imposed on the incoming surface mud flow
(Figure 2). These variations in turn cause pressure waves that travel to surface. Either signal type can be generated because the
unit can be programmed for the disc to oscillate at low speed to create baseband signals or to oscillate with higher frequency to
produce carrier modulated signals. At any time, signaling type, transmission frequencies and other relevant parameters can be
changed by downlinking.
One feature that increases system reliability under varying channel conditions is the ability to switch carrier frequencies
without changing data rates. For example, at a datarate of 10bps the system can be set up to transmit at a carrier frequency of
10Hz, 20Hz, 30Hz or 40Hz, whichever results in the overall highest SNR. With a set of incrementally adjustable data rates and
various available carrier frequencies the downhole system supports more than 100 telemetry options. Such flexibility plays a
crucial role when facing highly challenging channel conditions. The lower the data rate, the higher the degree of freedom. For
example, at 6 bps the system supports six different carrier frequencies for PSK modulation alone (6 Hz, 12 Hz, 18 Hz, 24 Hz,
30 Hz and 36 Hz). If the channel conditions deteriorate, the system increases its frequency flexibility in that eight different
PSK carrier frequencies can be selected for a reduced data rate of 5 bps.
Pulser tolerance in Lost Circulation Material (LCM) applications is a critical aspect for all available Mud Pulse Telemetry
systems. The pulser design of this new system allows changing the area of flow by adjusting the angle of the oscillating valve.
The angle can be set to a value for maximum pulse pressure or reduced to increase the area for LCM particles to pass the valve
(Figure 2). These settings can be made during surface tool programming and adjusted during operations by means of
downlinking. In addition it is possible to downlink to the tool to fully open the valve. This allows keeping the valve fully open
for maximum flow area for as long as LCM material passes the downhole BHA.

Surface Receiver
As in any other communication system the receiver unit is the second critical part. In sophisticated designs the decoder must
be capable of automatically detecting and synchronizing with the signal. Normally, interference suppression and noise
cancellation is applied to further improve signal quality and to achieve maximum data rates. At the same time, processing
delay must be kept to a minimum to satisfy realtime conditions.
The MPT surface system described in this paper uses data from two pressure transducers installed on the surface piping,
normally placing one sensor at the standpipe and the other on the same line further up. Using two pressure sensors compared
to one allows the application of diversity processing algorithms to clean the signal of interfering signals induced on surface,
e.g. pressure fluctuations emitted by the pumps. Usually the energy of these signals is orders of magnitude higher than the
energy of the telemetry signal. The two pressure signals are fed into the data acquisition system that converts the analog
pressure sensor readings into digital format so that they can be used in the digital signal processor for noise reduction and
signal conversion. Demodulation and synchronization on the beginning of data frames is done as well. The processed signal
enters the realtime PC to retrieve the downhole encoded information. This machine is the hub for the various MWD/LWD
realtime applications.
In the data acquisition and processing unit, algorithms are applied to reduce the amount of noise the signal has been
exposed to during the course of signal transmission to surface. These include pump noise cancellation, diversity processing
and band filtering to maximize the SNR (Figure 3). The equalization filter reduces inter-symbol interferences caused by
SPE 113258 3

reflections of the telemetric signal on the pulsation dampener, diameter changes in the surface piping etc. During demodulation
the signal is shifted from the carrier frequency towards 0.0 Hz and is prepared for processing in the realtime PC.

High Speed Telemetry and its Benefits for Drilling Operations

Minimizing risk, controlling cost and maximizing reservoir coverage are not always achievable altogether. Mud Pulse
Telemetry provides essential BHA and formation related information on surface while drilling the well. Increasing the amount
of data enables drilling engineers to make better educated decisions on improving the drilling program. This in turn can lead to
lower risk applications and higher reservoir coverage while minimizing associated drilling costs.
The new telemetry system described in this paper more than doubles the bandwidth available from the best mud pulse
systems currently offered commercially. Realtime services that benefit from this improved telemetry data rates include;
• Reservoir Navigation – the positioning of the wellbore in the reservoir based on comparing current sensor readings
with modeled values. The greater amount of realtime data leads to a clearer understanding of the position within the
reservoir which in turn leads to improved drilling decisions. [1], [2]
• Drilling optimization – utilizing an advanced downhole tool that provides weight on bit, torque and bending moments
at the BHA to modify drilling parameters. Improved data rates leads to a clearer understanding of the drilling
environment and therefore better decisions which lead to less BHA damage and optimized ROP. [3],[4]
• Wellbore stability/pressure management – utilizing LWD imaging technology to take an image of the borehole wall.
The image available in real-time can be used to make direct decisions on drilling fluid properties to address issues
identified.
• ROP improvements – improved realtime data flow from today’s complex BHA’s means that ROP is not influenced
by logging requirements.

Effects of Higher Data Rates on Log Densities

A fundamental factor influencing the quality of decisions made is realtime log data density, normally defined as the number of
measurements per depth interval. Generally, the higher this value the more information can be extracted that in turn can lead to
various optimizations.
At any given time, the available bandwidth is shared between all delivered services, resulting in log data densities for the
services to be mutual dependent. That means if all other involved parameters are fixed (such as data rate and ROP,
compression methods), one service that requires higher data density will cause reduced data densities for all other services.
In order to get a better understanding of this concept we investigate a telemetry setup used for an operator in 2007. During
data transmission the following concurrent services were used:
• Directional data (2 curves)
• Gamma Ray
• Resistivity (3 curves)
• Density (4 sectors)
• Porosity
• Caliper
• High resolution electrical borehole imaging

Since the different data sources have different statistical properties each transmitted curve is compressed using an individual
strategy. This comprises specifically designed quantizers for analog to digital conversion as well as source coding algorithms
for further irrelevance and redundancy reduction. For example, while a quantization of 8 bits is sufficient to digitally represent
toolface information at an acceptable resolution, 16 bits are required for resistivity measurements. Similar logics have been
applied downhole for the various other information sources and the resulting bandwidth distribution of all those is shown in
Figure 4. The chart includes necessary system information that is required at surface to synchronize with the signal received
from downhole. Since drilling parameters were fairly stable during operations no specific drilling optimization data was
transmitted during most of the operations (downlink functionality was used to obtain this information whenever required).
While only 5 percent of the bandwidth was assigned to MWD information more than 90 percent had been allocated to LWD
data. This is a typical setup for deployments focusing on realtime directional steering based on analyses of realtime formation
evaluation data.
With the exclusion of the electrical imaging measurements, all services appear twice per frame (a packet of data words
logically grouped together). With a total of 604 bits in the data frame and a data rate of 6 bps, a full transmission cycle takes
104 seconds. At an ROP of 100 ft/hr (30.48 m/hr) this equals a drilled distance of 2.8 ft (0.85 m). Further neglecting the
electrical imaging service, two measurements per frame result in log densities of less than 1 pt/ft. As can be seen in Figure 5,
faster penetration rates cause the drilled distance to increase further. At some point data quality does not allow realtime
decision making.
The majority of current realtime log data density requirements specify a minimum of 1 pt/ft. Applying this scenario to our
case, and neglecting any drilling related aspects, the maximum possible ROP while still fulfilling this criterion is 70 ft/hr
(Figure 6, Operating Point 1). Much higher quality decisions can be made for most services at a data density of 2 pt/ft – a
4 SPE 113258

100% increase compared to the above determined minimum of 1 pt/ft. As can be seen in Figure 6, the maximum possible ROP
that still fulfills this criterion for our scenario is 35 ft/hr – a 50%decrease compared to the earlier case (Figure 6, Operating
Point 2).
As we will see next, an increase in data rates enables higher data densities. The well drilled with this new telemetry system
has achieved a data rate of 20 bps, more than a 200% increase compared to earlier offset runs. At this telemetry speed, the
maximum ROP possible while maintaining 2 pt/ft data density increased to 115 ft/hr, a penetration rate that was achieved
several times during the drilling process (Figure 6, Operating Point 3). In addition to the high log densities during peak ROP,
the telemetry system delivered an average of 4.1 pt/ft log density on an averaged ROP of 56 ft/hr. As a result the data quality
greatly enhanced the RNS service that included steering through thin, complex reservoirs.
One major benefit of the telemetry system described in this paper is its flexibility with regards to available data rates. By
supporting 20 different data rates the system is capable of supporting various operating points, increasing chances to find a
best-fit solution for a given transmission channel. For our case, Figure 7 illustrates this increased flexibility by showing the
different log densities that the system supported during operations. This includes operating at low data rates (<3 bps) in cases
of harsh mud channel conditions that do not support high speed telemetry MPT data rates.

Summary
In this paper we have described downhole and surface components of a new mud pulse telemetry system. The system is
capable of transmitting various signals from downhole. At surface, sophisticated processing algorithms are used to improve the
overall SNR. A scenario from 2007 was reviewed to illustrate the dependency of data rates and log densities. We have shown
that with the high data rates the system has delivered, log density standards have been considerably exceeded compared to
industry-wide requirements. In our case, this benefited various connected LWD applications.

Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the various involved development groups and operations teams for their contribution, support and
encouragement during development and field testing of this system. We also thank John Macpherson for his various reviews
and suggestions. Last but not least, the authors would like to thank the management of Baker Hughes INTEQ for permission to
publish this paper.

References
1. Tsili W., Chemali R., Hart E., Cairns, P.: “Real-time Formation Imaging and Dip, and Azimuth While Drilling from Compensated Deep
Directional Resistivity”, SPWLA 48th Annual Logging Symposium, 2007
2. Morris, S., Lofts, J., Lindsay, G., Fulda, C., Dahl, J.: “High-Quality Electrical Borehole Images While - Drilling: Increased Confidence
in Well Positioning and Drilling-Hazard Mitigation From Real-Time Data:”, IADC/SPE Drilling Conference, 2006
3. Heisig, G., Sancho, J., Macpherson, J.D.: “Downhole Diagnosis of Drilling Dynamics Data Provides New Level Drilling Process
Control to Driller”, SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, 1998
4. Robnett, E.W., Heisig G., McGinley, P.J., Macpherson, J.D.: “Real-time Downhole Drilling Process Data Complement Surface Data in
Drilling Optimization”, IADC/SPE Asia Pacific Drilling Technology, 2002

SI Metric Conversion Factors

ft x 3.048 E – 01* = m
ft-lbf x 1.355 818 E + 00 = N-m
gal x 3.785 412 E - 03 = m3
in. x 2.54 E + 00* = cm
lbf x 4.448 222 E + 00 = N
Psi x 6.894 757 E + 00 = kPa
* Conversion factor is exact.

Mud
Channel

Down hole Surface

Mud Pulser Receiver

Figure 1, Mud Pulse Telemetry transmission concept

SPE 113258 5

Mud flow area

Stator
Rotor

Downhole
pulse pressure
at valve

Time
Figure 2, Illustration of pressure signals created by oscillating shear valve (second from left: closed valve, first from left: open valve)

Pump Noise Diversity Band

Equalization Filtering Demodulation
Cancellation Processing

Figure 3, Surface signal processing stages of the described telemetry system

Electrical Imaging 26% Density + Porosity 26%

System 1%
Directional 5%

Gamma Ray 3%

Resistivity 37%
Figure 4, Bandwith distribution of investigated case

ROP DD
[ft/hr] [ft]
10 0.3
30 0.8
50 1.4
100 2.8
150 4.2
200 5.6
250 7.0

Figure 5, ROP vs. Drilled Distance (DD) of investigated case

6 SPE 113258

35 70 115
5
3 bps
6 bps
4 10 bps
OP4 (4.1 pt/ft; 56 ft/hr;20 bps)
20 bps
Log Density [pts/ft]

OP2 OP3
2

OP1
1

0
50 100 150 200 250
ROP [ft/h]
Figure 6, Log Density vs. ROP of investigated case (4 data rates)

4
Log Density [pts/ft]

20bps
2

1
1bps

0
50 100 150 200 250
ROP [ft/h]
Figure 7, Available data rates illustrating increased number of potential operating points (20 data rates)