Measurement of gain step accuracy in IFP amplifiers

The seismic method and data acquisition are reviewed. The operation of a seismic data acquisition system is outlined, with emphasis on the instantaneous floating point (IFP) amplifier. A derivation of the spectrum due to gain and offset errors in an IFP amplifier block is carried out. A method of estimating IFP amplifier gain step error is detailed. Potential error sources and methods of minimization are discussed. Synthetic data are generated with known errors, and the proposed method of IFP amplifier gain step error estimation is evaluated. Test data from an operating seismic data acquisition system with known errors are evaluated using the gain step error estimation procedure.