The design and implementation of the Durham university seismic processing system

Abstract

A NERC Research Grant, in late 1978 permitted the Department of Geological Sciences, at the University of Durham, to purchase a pdp 11/34 minicomputer system. Together with a pdp 8/e, already possessed by the Department, this system was intended to fulfill two roles; provide a computer tool for research work into seismic reflection methods and provide a system for production processing of seismic reflection data acquired by the Department, mainly as a result of marine geophysical investigations. This thesis describes the design of Systems level software, and its implementation, to allow the computer systems to be easily used as a general research tool, and the design and implementation of a suite of programs, to provide the basic facilities of a seismic reflection processing system. At the end of this work it was possible to reach a number of conclusions on how both the hardware and software could be developed to provide a more powerful system for the future.