Downhole wireless communication through mud-pulse telemetry has enabled directional drilling for decades and has been highly successful. But on the production end of the industry, applications for downhole wireless communication have been less clear, especially where long distances and long-term monitoring are concerned. In the complete paper, a history and comparison of wireless telemetry methods is provided and potential improvements to existing systems are discussed.
Background
Downhole wireless gauges for production monitoring can be likened to permanent downhole gauges (PDGs). PDGs are the standard for production monitoring in the industry, but they have the drawback of increased capital expense and a system failure rate of approximately 10% after 10 years, depending on downhole and surface conditions. The failure rate of the gauges themselves is generally 2–3% at 5 years, so downhole umbilicals, connectors, and surface infrastructure problems generally comprise the remainder.
