Overcoming the challenges of designing optimized broadband vibroseis sweeps

Our sweep design methodology centers on creating a frequency dependent force-amplitude (drive) function such that the drive-level at each frequency is maximised but does not exceed the mechanical limitations of the vibrator. Bagaini (2008) showed how we can overcome the reduction in energy from reducing the drive-level by increasing the instantaneous sweep rate. This methodology has commonly been used to enhance the low-frequency content of the sweep but can be applied across the full sweep bandwidth.