Engineering Commons^™

Downhole Rf Communication: Characterization And Modeling Of Waveguide Propagation In A Fluid-Filled Drill Pipe, Patrick Cote

Graduate Theses & Non-Theses

Current technologies for downhole communication in oil and gas drilling applications are severely limited in data rate and latency. This work proposes that a system based upon guided wave propagation could be designed to utilize a wireless, radio frequency (RF) signal to yield tens of megabits per second of data transfer. To determine the feasibility of the proposed system, a test setup was built to measure attenuation of RF signals transmitted through a pipe filled with various drilling fluids. A finite element analysis model was also built to further investigate waveguide propagation of electromagnetic signals in a fluid filled pipe. …