Gain Recovery

As the geophone sees it, a seismic signal decays with time ( Figure 1 ). This signal must be manipulated at least
twice by the recording instruments. First, the system preamplifier boosts the incoming signal to ensure that the
smallest recoverable signal is above the level of any later system noise.
Figure 1
This is a fixed preamplifier gain it is recorded in the header bloc! of the tape and in the observer"s notes.
#ext, to ma!e the best use of a limited range in the a$d converter, the system %balances% the signal ( Figure & ).
Figure 2
The gain is decreased and increased very 'uic!ly, to !eep the magnitude of the output within a narrow range.
(any systems !eep the output within a 1& d) range this is !nown as qua ternary gain-ranging. The re'uired
increase or decrease in gain occurs fast enough (within a few microseconds) that modern systems are regarded
as instantaneous. The record of gain changes needed to effect the balancing is stored in the gain code associated
with each sample this is the characteristic of the amplitude. The balanced signal itself is recorded in the data
words as the mantissa. The first tas! before us, then, is the restoration of the signal.
*ain recovery is often done as part of the demultiplexing step. The tape format dictates the location and meaning
of the gain codes, so we need to specify the format. For nonstandard formats that are not in the processing
center catalogs, the processor must provide the re'uired information.
+emultiplexing and gain recovery must be done as soon as all the field tapes are available this allows us to
evaluate the recording before too much field wor! is done.
At this stage, we are ready to examine our first 'c plots. ,ne set may be produced without any amplitude
ad-ustments other than gain recovery. These allow us to locate noise spi!es and noise bursts. For evaluation of
data 'uality and event continuity, some amplitude ad-ustments may be re'uired.
Gain Recovery Example
.e consider the case where the amplifier gain ranges in steps of /, and where seven such steps are provided.
The amplifier gain can therefore range over /0, or approximately 1/ d). There are 1 gain levels, represented by
gain codes2


Gain Code
1 0000
4 0010
4
2
0100
4
3
0110
4
4
1000
4
5
1010
4
6
1100
4
7
1110
For the sa!e of illustration, we consider that the digiti3er compares the signal value to a reference value of 1 this
value of 1 then represents the largest allowable value, or %full scale.%
.e consider the waveform of Figure 4 , and its samples a1, a&, a4.
Figure 3
.e wish to measure these samples to a precision of 1/ bits. Then the reference value must be 1 to this same
precision, or
1 000 000 000 000 00.
If a1 is very close to full scale, it might be
1111 1111 1111 11.
In this case the gain woul set itself automatically to 1, an so the sam!le woul be recore as"
(antissa *ain code
a1 1111 1111 1111 11 5555
#ow if we suppose that the value of a& is one$'uarter of a1, the gain would set itself automatically to /, and the
sample would be recorded with the same mantissa2
a& 1111 1111 1111 11 5515
The value of a4, as the waveform approaches a 3ero$crossing, is very small let us say it is 16/
7
of a&. For this
sample the gain automatically increases by a further /
7
, and the sample value is recorded as2
a4 1111 1111 1111 11 1115
.hen we come to recover these sample values by %bac!ing out% the gain codes, we can assume for illustration
that we have &1 bits available. Then, using the gain$recovery expression
sam!le # sign $ mantissa $ 2%gain coe
we have"
a1 # 1111 1111 1111 1100 0000 0000 0000
a& 8 5511 1111 1111 1111 5555 5555 5555
a4 8 5555 5555 5555 5511 1111 1111 1111
&e notice that the full 14%bit !recision has been maintaine, even on the tiny values.