Systems and methods for determining downlinks for transmitting to a downhole tool

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12584403-B2
Application number	US-202418588339-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 27, 2024
Priority date	Feb 27, 2024
Publication date	Mar 24, 2026
Grant date	Mar 24, 2026

Abstract

In some embodiments, a method of implementing an operation of a downhole tool within a wellbore includes identifying a tool command for a downhole tool to change a current state of the downhole tool to a target state. The method further includes determining, from a set of candidate downlink commands, a set of one or more downlink commands associated with executing the tool command. The method further includes generating a downlink sequence of one or more downlinks for communicating the set of one or more downlink commands to the downhole tool. The method further includes providing the downlink sequence for transmitting to the downhole tool.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of implementing an operation of a downhole tool within a wellbore, comprising:
identifying a tool command for the downhole tool to change a current state of the downhole tool to a target state; determining, from a set of candidate downlink commands, a set of one or more downlink commands associated with executing the tool command, wherein determining the set of one or more downlink commands includes identifying the set of one or more downlink commands that is closest to the tool command in an n-dimensional space; generating a downlink sequence of one or more downlinks for communicating the set of one or more downlink commands associated with executing the tool command to the downhole tool; and providing the downlink sequence for transmitting to the downhole tool.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the current state of the downhole tool includes an operation mode of the downhole tool and a set of operation parameters with associated operation parameter values for the operation mode.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the tool command indicates to change the current state based on changing one or more of the operation mode or the set of operation parameters.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the downhole tool is a steering tool and the tool command indicates to change the current state based on changing one or more of a steering mode of the downhole tool or a set of steering parameters with associated steering parameter values for the steering mode.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein the tool command is associated with steering the steering tool in a non-vertical orientation.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the target state cannot be achieved by any single candidate downlink command of the set of candidate downlink commands, and determining the set of one or more downlink commands associated with executing the tool command includes determining a combination of two or more candidate downlink commands for executing the tool command.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the target state cannot be achieved by combinations of one or more candidate downlink commands of the set of candidate downlink commands.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the tool command indicates for the downhole tool to implement a target operation parameter with a target operation parameter value, and the set of one or more downlink commands associated with executing the tool command includes a sequence of downlink commands that instructs the downhole tool to execute the tool command based on:
a first downlink command indicating for the downhole tool to implement the target operation parameter with a first operation parameter value, wherein the first operation parameter value is not the target operation parameter value; and a second downlink command indicating for the downhole tool to change the first operation parameter value by a second value to implement a final operation parameter value for the target operation parameter.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the final operation parameter value is the target operation parameter value.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the final operation parameter value is not the target operation parameter value, and wherein the sequence of downlink commands is determined based on the final operation parameter value being closest to the target operation parameter value among operation parameter values from any combination of one or more candidate downlink commands of the set of candidate downlink commands.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the current state of the downhole tool includes a first operation mode of the downhole tool and first operation parameters with associated first operation parameter values for the first operation mode, and the tool command indicates for the downhole tool to implement a second operation mode and second operation parameters with associated target operation parameter values for the second operation mode, and wherein the set of one or more downlink commands associated with executing the tool command includes a sequence of downlinks including:
a first one or more downlinks indicating for the downhole tool to implement the second operation mode; and a second one or more downlinks indicating for the downhole tool to implement the second operation parameters with associated second operation parameter values.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the second operation parameter values are not the target operation parameter values, and the set of one or more downlink commands associated with executing the tool command is determined based on the second operation parameter values being closest to the target operation parameter values among operation parameter values from any combination of one or more candidate downlink commands of the set of candidate downlink commands.

13 . The method of claim 12 , further comprising executing, with the downhole tool, the set of one or more downlink commands associated with executing the tool command to change the current state of the downhole tool.

14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the downlink sequence to the downhole tool based on encoding the downlink sequence into one or more surface parameters provided to the downhole tool from a surface of the wellbore.

15 . The method of claim 1 wherein the tool command indicates for the downhole tool to implement a target set of operation parameters including a first target operation parameter value for a first operation parameter and a second target operation parameter value for a second operation parameter, and wherein determining the set of one or more downlink commands associated with executing the tool command includes:
representing the target set of operation parameters and a set of candidate downlink command combinations in the n-dimensional space, wherein the n-dimensional space includes a complex number space; and
selecting a downlink command combination from the set of candidate downlink command combinations based on a complex distance between the selected downlink command combination and the target set of operation parameters.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein a behavior effect of the first operation parameter on the downhole tool is dependent on the second operation parameter.

17 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the first target operation parameter is a toolface angle and the second operation parameter is a steering ratio.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the set of one or more downlink commands associated with executing the tool command is determined by a downlink generation machine learning model trained to classify the tool command based on a set of candidate downlink commands in the n-dimensional space; and the set of one or more downlink commands that is closest to the tool command in the n-dimensional space has a highest probability of achieving the target state among all combinations of one or more candidate downlink commands of the set of candidate downlink commands in the n-dimensional space.

19 . A system, comprising:
at least one processor; memory in electronic communication with the at least one processor; and instructions stored in the memory, the instructions being executable by the at least one processor to:
identify a tool command for a downhole tool to change a current state of the downhole tool to a target state;
determine, from a set of candidate downlink commands, a set of one or more downlink commands associated with executing the tool command, wherein the set of one or

Assignees

• Schlumberger Technology Corp

Inventors

• Ba Samba
• Liu Qiuhua
• Goel Prateek
• Dolejsi Jan

Classifications

• E21B2200/22

  Fuzzy logic, artificial intelligence, neural networks or the like · CPC title

• E21B7/06

  Deflecting the direction of boreholes · CPC title

• E21B47/12 Primary

  Means for transmitting measuring-signals or control signals from the well to the surface, or from the surface to the well, e.g. for logging while drilling · CPC title

• E21B44/00

  Automatic control systems specially adapted for drilling operations, i.e. self-operating systems which function to carry out or modify a drilling operation without intervention of a human operator, e.g. computer-controlled drilling systems; Systems specially adapted for monitoring a plurality of drilling variables or conditions · CPC title

• E21B7/04

  Directional drilling · CPC title